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.
*Statictic (now 26), became infertile in
2003. Our search for a world-class successor led to a lease 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. Prior to sale, we
round-pen (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.
Please take a look at our endurance
page.