ASGARD means "Home of the Gods" in Norse Mythology.
We are a family-operated Arabian breeding program located on a 250-acre mountain farm in beautiful Greenbrier County, West Virginia near Lewisburg.
We got our start from the Kale's Arabians with the fine Crabbet-type mare Gretora by Tornado, purchased as a weanling in 1976. The friendship and generosity shown to us by Dr. Kale and family, who shared knowledge, philosophy and hands-on study of their fabulous breeding program with us, makes them our true mentors.
After we moved to Virginia from Seattle, WA in 1980, Gretora produced daughters and grand-daughters from a variety of Kale/Russian and Russian-bred stallions including *Ptersk, Fan-Tastik, Muscastar, *Muscat, *Namiet, *Moment and *Princip. A good proportion of our stock descends from the best of those.
We acquired more young *Moment (Salon-Priboj) daughters from Morning Glory Arabians to add to those we had bred, and also a group of Tamerlan (Arax-Pomeranets) daughters to breed to *Statistic.
For ten years we focused intensely on breeding the Priboj-linebred "straight-Russian" stallion *Statistic (Kossack Stud Holland, 1979). In addition, his two maternal half-sisters, Statura (*Ptersk) and Mystyque (*Muscat) provide strong representation from the great Topol racing line through their dam *Statistika.
*Statistic died in November of 2007 at the age of 28, after several years of infertility. Our search for a world-class successor led to the lease and eventual purchase of the imported chestnut French/Russian stallion Bandjo de Falgas from dedicated race-breeders Eric and Randi Moreau-Sipiere of Centurian Stud. He will be bred to Statistic's finest daughters for several years, with unabashed great expectations from the cross.
Our program now produces 20 foals per year.
Our horses run loose on good hilly acreage in large natural groups and have run-in shelters. We geld early. The native mountain pasture is nutritious, rich in clover, and fescue-free. We raise our own hay -- both grass and alfalfa-mixes. The water supply is natural, spring-fed. The climate (at 2,000 feet) features moderate winters and comfortable summers with (generally) well distributed rainfall. The horses are accustomed to all sorts of footing from hardpan to ice to mud and everything in between.
We do almost all of our own breeding and veterinary care, including palpation, ultrasound and artificial insemination.
We maintain a "closed" breeding program for health purposes.
We are primarily a breeding, not a training facility. The foals are taught to lead, tie and be handled. As yearlings or two-year olds, they are round-penned (ala John Lyons/Clinton Anderson) to create a positive attitude and improve ground manners.
Several horses we have sent to the race track have retired sound and advanced to excellent endurance careers. We increasingly see our horses sought after by top endurance riders, but are happy to sell to riders at all levels of our sport.
Please take a look at our endurance page.
