A Diamond in the Rough: A year or so after I bought Magic, my mother called to tell me that there was an ad in the Pacific Prairie Horse Journal for a Fjord stallion in Alberta. Well, being a single mom, although I was intrigued I knew I couldn't afford the cost. However, I let her talk me into calling the owner, a PMU farmer named Art, and I ended up asking him for pictures. But when a month had gone by and there were still no photos I assumed that the horse had been sold, and I figured it was just as well since I couldn't afford to buy him anyway.

I was wrong. Art called me several weeks later to ask if I was still interested in the stallion, and I told him I might be if I could see those pictures. He sent them to me the next day along with the horse's name: Anvil's Lorens.

Art had bought Lorens from a neighbour as a youngster and had been using him as a herd stallion in his PMU operation. He was six years old and halterbroke, but beyond that had barely been handled. The pictures showed a bedraggled, beat up, skinny stallion sharing a pile of grain with some babies. He certainly wasn't much to look at. Then I noticed the sorry state of his hooves and almost cried. In that instant I knew I had to buy him so I could trim the flippers he was walking on. However, I quite simply didn't have any money to buy him - that is, until my dear friend Bette offered to loan me what she had.
So I called Art and told him I would like to buy Lorens but that I wasn't able to pay the asking price of $4,000. He told me he had a soft spot for this particular horse and if I didn't buy him he'd be sending him to the auction. He asked me how much I could afford and I explained that I only had $1,500. I think I was in a state of shock when he said he would take it. I was about to own an untrained mature breeding stallion of very uncertain appearance.
A week later, with a borrowed trailer, I went to pick up Lorens from the transport company's yard in Langley. He wasn't as skinny as he had been in the photos, but he was in rough shape and almost fell while trying to walk down the truck's ramp. His overgrown hooves were impeding his ability to move.

Despite his long journey, obvious discomfort and lack of experience, he was very accomodating and stepped right into the trailer. I spent the ferry ride back to Victoria standing on the side of the trailer watching him sleep - the poor boy was exhausted. After an uneventful ride home he settled right in without any drama at all.
I gave my new stallion a few days to recuperate and settle in, but his mane needed trimming and his tail needed combing, and so the bonding began. He really knew almost nothing at all (picking up his feet at first was like trying to uproot a tree) but he was consistently gentle and very willing and tried hard to please.
After the farrier removed the first of many lengths of toe he was able to move around better and became much more animated (although he remained incredibly tractable) and I was able to start the training process.
I use John Lyons methods with lots of ground work, gound work, ground work. The herd life at the PMU farm had taught Lorens good social skills and definite respect for an Alpha, so he was a fast learner.
Lorens proved to be cooperative and brave and he never balked at anything I threw at him.
For example, within an hour of introducing him to a tarp he was wearing it like a cooler and dragging it around the ring.

The fifth time I rode him, I took him out onto the trails and busy roads and we never looked back. He has always been safe and sane and solid in his outlook.

With time, exercise and a good diet, he started to gain weight and develop muscle. His body changed and became something that I couldn't have hoped for. He became more than "just" a sweet and willing riding partner.

He was also ... beautiful!

Months later I discovered that he came from one of the top breeders in North America (the Unraus of Anvil's Acres in Rock Creek) and carried the bloodlines of champions. Imagine my surprise! His sire is the fabulous imported stallion, Leidjo, and his dam is Anvil's Lyna, by Rudaren.

Lorens is now my all-around riding horse and Magic, the little mare who started it all, is now my son's.

I really cannot adequately describe how much I love this stallion. I've never known a horse who was so willing, so sweet, so capable, so absolutely safe, and so much fun.

Anvil's Lorens, the horse I bought on a gut feeling and out of pity, has turned out to be an incredible stallion with a stunning pedigree and he has so much to offer that it's a real shame not to breed him. So I'm buying a brood mare - and soon there will be fuzzy foals running around the farm. I can't wait!


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