This message is from: "Warren Stockwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I think for the most part we have pretty savvy breeders here in NA. My concern is for the "back yard breeders" which most were at some point, not having enough knowledge. Some one mentioned a volunteer mentoring program which I for one would jump at. Education is key to doing anything with the quality it should be done in. I would bet that most of you started some place in the horse industry wide eyed and high hoped as did I. When it came down to having it all on your own farm it's a different story. I myself got the " now what did I get my self into " feeling. No matter how much I knew I wasn't aware how much I didn't. The horses taught me that: )) With out people wanting to continue breeding this wonderful breed where would it be?? So I guess my next question would than be why not educate new Fjord owners. Mentor them so we can have some quality education and basic knowledge so we might be able to head off the haphazard breeding and the keeping of poor quality studs or the handling of studs by folks that are either afraid of them, or not knowledgeable. Why would anyone have a stud with out having the skill to handle one is beyond me. Not to mention the legal issues that can crop. I take some offence to the term back yard breeder since that's where most breeders come from unless they were born on a breeding ranch and than it was there parents that started in the back yard. I don't know that the evaluation system is the complete answer. It is to difficult for most of us when we run farms to take time away. I for one had to drop out due to hay down. Gotta make hay when the sun shines : )) For those of us can't get to them maybe to run a taping and do video sales of evals. Have a mentor go through them with the newbies. There's a lot more thoughts in here SCARY : )) But I gotta take care of a sick kid. Roberta ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lori Albrough" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 12:32 PM Subject: Re: Research on behalf of Fjords > This message is from: Lori Albrough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I was just wondering what the technical definition of stallion > "over-selection" is? Isn't stallion selection a natural phenomenon, in > the wild that is? Not every male horse will grow up to breed, only the > fastest, strongest, most macho ones. The rest live in bachelor bands. So > if stallion selection is a natural phenomenon, what exactly is stallion > over-selection? There must be a technical definition, like a stallion > who is breeding so many percentage of the population of mares, or so and > so much inbreeding coefficient existing in the general population. > > I also wondered what likelihood we have of the phenomenon occuring here > in North America, where a "much-used" stallion breeds perhaps 10 mares. > I remember the year after Julie imported Flotren he was the most-used > stallion in NA and bred almost 20 mares. I wonder what that would be in > proportion to the population of breedable mares that year? And what > would be the average number of mares the average Fjord stallion breeds > in NA each year - 3 mares per year (Mike?) > > Clearly selecting for a specific trait, like breeding tall to tall to > try to get taller, is bad - but selecting for overall quality and > performance, and trying to make the most intelligent match of stallion > and mare, is good breeding sense. And whoever said breeding is a > crapshoot was right on the money. Horses have many ways to keep us humble. > > Lori Albrough
