This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
We've just finished our first week of Nova Scotia Beginner Driving Vacations. It was an easy four days for us as there were only four guests. Thank goodness, because it's hard to get in gear again after the long winter. We used BDF Toril, 21 years old, the 7 year old mares, Saakje and Saskia, and our 5 yr. old gelding, BDF Quasar (Gjest x Holly-Solar). -- Just as he was all last season, Quasar was phenomenal during our first week of the Driving Vacations. -- This horse is so dependable . . . such a confidence giver, that all of us forget he's only five. And this happened yesterday when we decided to take BDF Toril and Quasar to the beach for the Wednesday afternoon Wine & Cheese Beach Party with Horses. -- We loaded Quasar on the trailer without any hesitation on his part, and took off for the beach. The normal procedure is for Arthur to park the trailer at the end of the beach road, and then two girls ride the horses to the beach while the rest go in cars. -- We can't take the trailer all the way to the beach as the road is extremely rough, and the "parking lot" much too small to turn a trailer. When Quasar and Candace rode up to our group on the sand, I asked how Quasar had done, and she reported he was a bit uptite, and hadn't liked passing the cows that came barreling down the hill to greet them. So, I told her to just ride up and down the beach a few times keeping Toril on the ocean ide. -- That did the trick, and pretty soon Quasar was calm enough for one of our guests, a sixtyish lady with arthritis, to take a nice, long ride on him way down the beach. You know, it was only in the car going home that I realized that my Quasar has never, not even once, been off the farm, and I'd loaded him in a trailer and taken him to the beach with surf crashing on the shore. -- And he'd done just great!!! -- A little uptite for a little while, but totally sane and in control. He's always so reliable, and such a good boy that I forget how young he is, and the fact he's never been anywhere. . . . . . Well, now he has! This cross of Gjest and Holly, the Solar daughter, has produced some superb Fjordhorses. -- BDF John Arthur (named after a grandson, who is now a father of twins), and BDF Magnum, both wonderful geldings owned by Beth Beymer and Sandy North of Starfire Farm. -- And there are lots of others of the same cross, including BDF Timberline owned by Laurie and Al Brown in New Hampshire. Laurie and Al bought Timmie in high hopes he'd turn out like Quasar, and from all reports, he's another great one. We anguished long and hard about gelding Quasar as he was a superb foal. We almost sold him as a stud prospect, and we're so thankful now the sale didn't go through. -- So many people say he would have made a wonderful stallion, and that's probably true, but it's hard to imagine him being any better than he is as a gelding. -- In any case, there will be a Gjest/Holly-Solar cross, a full brother to BDF Quasar offered at stud in a few years as Joy and Lloyd Record have purchased BDF Victor, Holly's 2004 colt. He's big and strong and vigorous, just like Quasar. Best Regards, Carol Rivoire http://www.beaverdamfarm.com Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II R.R. 7 Pomquet, Nova Scotia B2G 2L4 Tel:(902) 386-2304 Fax:(902) 386-2149 Carole Rivoire, author of THE FJORDHORSE HANDBOOK, only book in English on the Fjord breed, available from Beaver Dam Farm, $36.95 US includes P&H http://www.beaverdamfarm.com/book.htm .
