This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 8/8/05 9:46:25 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> > > Twenty or thirty years from now, you will be remembered as having been > dogmatic and shortsighted. I only hope that someone within the breed wakes > up, > speaks up, and gets a professional second opinion on this issue. > > You have well illustrated the uniformed fervor and inflexibility of those > who support the destructive practice of over-selection . Ruthie, Gosh, never in the wildest stretch of my imagination did I ever think anyone, other than my family, would remember who I was thirty years from now. Apparently you must think someone will consider me important enough to remember. Thanx! I would really like to end this discussion. It is serving no good purpose. However, I must correct the above emotionally charged misstatement about me because it is 100% untrue. Obviously you do not know me. I lived in Libby for over 20 years and I don't ever remember meeting you at any of the horse activities, show committee meetings, Nordicfest meetings, etc. Relatively speaking, you are a newcomer to the horse world and Fjords. I have been involved with horses for most of my life and not just Fjords. I have owned, trained and shown a number of top performance and halter horses both for myself and for clients ranging from Quarter Horses to Arabs to Appys and everything in between. So, when I became involved with Fjords, I brought with me the knowledge that I had gained throughout the years. My concern over the Fjords' relatively small gene pool began MANY years ago before I even owned any Fjords. I observed a number of troubling things happening. One was that I saw breeders who sold colts as 'gelding' prospects. Low and behold, those colts soon were 2 and 3 years old and were not yet gelded because their owners began thinking that they might be able to make some money standing them as stallions. They had no idea whether he was stallion material or not. Result - an over saturation of the same bloodline and a number of inferior quality stallions in people's backyards. The other thing that I saw happen when I was involved with Quarter Horses was that someone would buy a son of a famous, highly campaigned stallion and stand him around the corner at half the breeding fee, riding on the laurels of his famous father. I asked myself what I could do to help correct these things? I am just one person, but it (personal integrity) had to start somewhere. Mind you, this was 20 years ago so I don't think that qualifies me as dogmatic or short sighted. When I purchased Dusty, I decided it was my responsibility to see to it that his male offspring were gelded before I sold them. Since our foals were always sold as weanlings, some even before they were born, I began wondering if it would be harmful to geld them at an early age? I called Dr. Erfle in Kalispell and asked how young colts could be gelded and whether there would be any adverse effects. His answer was that as long as their testicles were descended it could be done and that, in Europe, it was often done at days old. He said the only thing was that would be sacrificed is neck and jowl development. Since Fjords have plenty of both of those, I decided to proceed with gelding my colts prior to weaning to give them time to heal before adding the stress of taking them away from their moms. I did this pretty much behind closed doors and did not make it public knowledge because at that time, it was common practice to leave colts whole until at least 2 years of age. Did I make the right decision? I hope so. I asked myself if it would make any difference 100 years down the road? I don't know, but I hope so. I hardly think that qualifies me as 'short sighted'. The other thing that I did was to contact Dusty's breeder. He still had both of Dusty's parents and was continuing to breed them. I tried to explain the 'big picture' to him and would check in each spring to see whether he had produced yet another full brother to Dusty. He did. At one time, he had a 3 year old full brother that he had bred to a couple of mares. ARGH! I purchased that one from him and gelded him immediately. I kept hoping that that cross would at least produce fillies since I couldn't afford to keep buying these colts from him! Had they been in Norway, they would have all been breakfast sausage and I'm very glad that did not happen. I still own this guy and he is an absolute love. That breeder did sell a full brother to Misha Nogha in Cove, OR. He did tell Misha of my concerns. She called me and we had a nice conversation about the 'big picture'. Very early on in my journey with Fjords as I was trying to figure out this part of the horse world, I had a conversation with Orville Unruh while we were at the Blue Earth show. I was puzzled because this was my first association with horses outside of the mainstream breeds. I found it to be very different. He told me that I was simply 'ahead of my time'. I do believe he was right. I felt the need to send this reply as a matter of self defense, but it is time to draw a line in the sand now. Ruthie, if you have anything further to say to me, please do so privately. Thank you. Trying to remain factual and unemotional - Gayle Ware Field of Dreams Eugene, OR www.fjordhorse.com
