This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia --
Phillip Odden made a marvelous point in replying to my post re "The Importance of Mares" -- What he said applies to all Fjords, whatever gender" -- It applies to the issues I raised, but also raises another interesting point for discussion. What I always call the horse's character, as opposed to 'temperament'. - To a lot of people temperament means only . . . calm, gentle, friendly . . . but CHARACTER means so much more. A horse with a good character is a stable, confident, willing horse, not afraid of hard work! -- I'm always telling people who come to us looking for horses that the most important aspect of the horse they get should be its character, NOT necessarily how much training it has. -- If a horse has an excellent character, then the training will come quickly and easily. If he doesn't have a good character, then there's trouble ahead. In my experience, it's possible to assess the character of a very young foal. When you start working with them, you begin to know their haracter. -- I feel so strongly about this, and have seen the results so many times over the years, that I can confidently encourage even inexperienced people to purchase and train a youngster. I can and have done this many times with excellent results, But! ONLY if the young horse has the right kind of CHARACTER. Phil's comment . . . > It may be a different story when you ask the mare or foal to actually do > something. All children are good kids until you ask them to do something. It > is easy for a horse to be a 'good' horse if it only has to mope around the > paddock and is never asked to perform or may never have been tied. Temperament > and disposition is best assessed with the pressures of performance. Kind Regards, Carol Rivoire
