ESTEVAN, Sask. – In 1997 Darren Severson made a pact with his wife: if she let him buy a couple of Norwegian Fjord horses, he would build her a house.
Eight years later, Darren and Janet Severson’s two-storey home perches on the edge of Short Creek, 13 kilometres southeast of Estevan and two km north of the American border.
Grazing in pastures that encircle the house are 44 Norwegian Fjords.
“She got the house; I got the horses,” Darren said.
Both Seversons had grown up with horses, Janet in Pelly, Sask., and Darren in Norquay, Sask., but it wasn’t until Darren took an artificial insemination course at Olds College in Olds, Alta., that he found the breed that would change his life.
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Norwegian Fjords, a rugged, light brown breed from Scandinavia, famous for their gentle disposition and penchant for hard work, were exactly what Darren wanted.
“They were stout and strong and really quiet,” he said. “I wanted a kid’s horse that would be nice and quiet and easy to handle. An all-purpose horse that you could ride or use for chores that didn’t have to be that big.”
What followed was what Darren calls “eight years of begging.”
He and Janet married in 1989 and at first worked with Darren’s father on the family dairy farm. The couple started a family – two sons and a daughter – and in 1993 moved to Estevan where Darren took a job first in the oilfield and later as a caretaker at the local high school. During this time Darren never forgot his Fjords and in 1997 Janet agreed it was time to make his dream come true.
They bought 160 acres on the flat prairie that stretches south of Estevan toward North Dakota and lived in a trailer for the first year before building their house in 1998. It was also in 1997 that they bought the beginnings of their Norwegian Fjord herd: not the two they originally planned but five bred mares, a yearling filly, a stud and a stud colt.
The plan was to sell horses not as foals but as trained three or four year olds.
“So many people were selling them off the mares but they couldn’t really tell you what that horse was like, what traits its parents had, whether it was head shy or balky,” Janet said.
“We wanted to know what characteristics our mares and our studs had so that we could guarantee a better line.”
This strategy has inevitably resulted in a larger herd, considering the Seversons produce between eight and 12 foals a year and keep them for three to four years. However, Darren said it has also paid off.
“When the colts hit the ground we have a pretty good idea what they’re going to look like, act like and behave like.”
This year, the Seversons will be working with the fourth generation of horses that they have trained.
Training on the Severson farm means work, not just for Darren and Janet, but also for the horses. When Darren needs to run a harrow over hay land, he hitches up the horses. When he needs to work the garden, he hitches up the horses. This summer he wants to summerfallow a 10 acre plot and plans to hitch six to eight horses to a plow.
While it’s good practice for the horses, putting the animals to work also has practical benefits, especially in the winter when Darren uses them to haul bales and keep the road cleared.
“In the winter time I don’t start a tractor at all,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about the dog unplugging the cord from your tractor or your hydraulics seizing up.”
He said there are also times when horses work better than a tractor, such as in the early years on the farm when he had a particularly heavy load to haul.
“If I had used the tractor on them I would have busted the loader because the tractor was too small,” Darren said.
“Where with the horses I just rolled it on to the stoneboat and dragged it away. If two couldn’t do it you hooked up three and if three couldn’t do it you hooked up four, but nothing ever got broke.”
Darren said the horses’ toughness and levelheadedness are two of their strengths. Some of the Seversons’ land slopes down into the valley, which contains brush and broken wire from decades-old fences. He said the horses move in and out of that obstacle with only a few nicks.
As well, they don’t require specialized diets and are easy to care for.
“With 44 horses, I’d be doing feet all the time if they were Quarter horses.”
The Seversons sell most of their horses at a Colorado auction that they attend two or three times a year. Customers use them for riding, chores, dressage and wagon pulling. While they haven’t yet received the prices they’d like, the Seversons are making connections with American buyers and say word is getting around. So far they have been breaking even but expect to see a profit in a few years.
“Just like any business, you’ve got to make a name for yourself,” Janet said.
While they both work in Estevan – Darren at the high school and Janet as a special care aid at the hospital and nursing home – their goal is for at least one of them to quit the off-farm job in five years.
“We were born and raised on farms and all we’ve ever wanted to do was farm full time and if we could farm full time, we would,” Janet said.
Added Darren: “It’s just looking better every year and we hope it just keeps going like that. They’re a lot of work, but we like them.”
