We appreciate Hallie's sweetness, excellent "motor", and energetic nature ... and most people comment immediately on her cute face. You can't ride a face, but we do have to admit it's cute. Hallie has superior athletic abilities, and loves to demonstrate that. Hallie is also extremely sensitive, and very bright. You know that person who excitedly finishes all your sentences for you, sometimes incorrectly? That's Hallie!

We bought Hallie in hopes that she would become a good fit here as a trail horse and sometimes-broodmare.  We had always admired her sire Tico, and Hallie herself certainly exudes Tico's excellent type and talent!  But right after Hallie came to live with us, life took some rather unexpected twists and turns, and we almost lost her.

Faced with more horse training responsibilities than we were comfortable with (largely due to acquiring Hallie rather unexpectedly), we foolishly accepted an offer for Hallie to go out in early 2021 on a broodmare lease in exchange for having her bred back to the stallion of our choice and for evaluating and modestly improving Hallie's ridden skillset.  As Hallie's rideability window prior to foaling drew to a close, we were informed that Hallie couldn't relax at all on the trail and probably never would.  We were initially rather perplexed based on some earlier positive progress reports, and we were certainly disappointed even though we always knew this was a possibility — that's life with animals.  Eventually we realized that the assessment of Hallie's trail attributes might have been tainted by a conflict of interest, and this realization was heavily underscored for us when — among other things — Hallie was not relinquished to us at the conclusion of the lease.  We filed expensive civil proceedings to regain possession of Hallie, and after what seemed like forever, the Judge awarded us possession of our own horse (DOH!!!).  Hallie then had to spend some time at a "halfway house" while acquiring her interstate travel documents; she finally completed her return journey to Lost Creek in March 2023.

Hallie-luia!!!!!

We are really, REALLY enjoying having cute-and-spunky Hallie back, and especially showing and sharing with her the most important skill we have learned in her absence — Horse Speak®.  (Hallie definitely approves of Horse Speak®!)  In the two years while Hallie was gone, our herd dynamics and emotional state have radically changed; Hallie is a natural at taking the protector role, and that's exactly the role our herd has been missing.  Winny is particularly pleased with Hallie's return and has been doing her best to help Hallie feel more comfortable and welcome.  Although our time and capacity to evaluate and further Hallie's ridden skills is now everything that Hallie needs and deserves, before that riding part can happen Hallie needs some TLC from us and from a village of specialists for cutting-edge hoof care, bodywork, treatment for the newly-acquired chest sarcoid, a now-long-overdue dental, aaaaannnnnndddd ....

Hallie also brought home a surprise that stunned both us and our attorney — without our knowledge or consent, Hallie had been put in foal to OFI Siljar; she is apparently due around late summer 2023.  We definitely did not want to produce a third full sib from this pairing (the first two are fillies) nor did we want Hallie on maternity leave during our prime trail riding season, especially after having been wrongfully deprived of her for our prime 2022 riding season, but ... here we are.  Can't put that toothpaste back in the tube.

Hallie is a completely unique genetic combination with no full siblings, but she does have multiple half-siblings from both sides of her pedigree in use within Fjord breeding programs across the country.  Several closely related stallions are actively contributing to the gene pool:  Hallie's son in Montana (WHR Freyr by OFI Thorsten), a maternal half-brother in North Carolina (Wyldwood's Floki), and a paternal half-brother in western Washington state (OFI Federico).  Even one of these stallions can sire far more progeny and have a considerably larger impact on the gene pool than Hallie herself; between all three, her genetics are exceptionally well-represented.  So although Hallie herself remains a worthy and compelling individual for breeding, we have no genetic obligation to produce additional offspring from her, and that is a huge relief.  The severe emotional trauma we have suffered due to Hallie's wrongful detention and our subsequent expen$$$ive legal fight to get her back is going to take a long, LONG time to subside, let alone heal.

Hallie adores attention from humans and particularly finds Jim to be downright magnetic.  She is greatly relieved to be part of a sane and functional horse herd once again, and to be appreciated therein for exactly who she is.  If we could give her just one thing, it would be the certain knowledge that (to paraphrase the Louie Armstrong song), "Hallie'll never go away again!"

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Hallie's foals to date:

• OFI SHF Selja (2016 mare by OFI Siljar)
• WHR Freyr (2019 stallion by OFI Thorsten)
• DD Haldora (2022 filly by OFI Siljar; eligible for registration with both NFHR and CFHA/CLRC)

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"Haldana" means half Danish ... and Hallie's ancestry is indeed one-half Danish Fjord breeding.  She's been called "Hallie" (pronounced HAL-ee and rhymes with "Sally") since birth, with a couple of intervals of answering to her given name Haldana.  Hallie responds readily to her nickname, so we are continuing to use it even though we'd rather it wasn't short for such an impersonal and unoriginal given name ... not to mention so ill-fitting for her.  Hallie is definitely not "half" anything — she's an all-in kind of gal!