This message is from: "Dagrun Aarsten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello list,
well, better late than never! I had a blast at the fjord evaluation in Days Creek, Oregon. Hestehaven is such a wonderful place (I never want to leave) and Catherine, as always, had been working VERY hard to get everything ready. Much have been said already, and I truly enjoyed learning about the American evaluation system. I really like the performance tests in particular, I feel that we are lacking something there in Norway. During the riding and driving tests, I suddenly found myself as a test reader, with microphone, complete with Norwegian accent :-) I guess it might have added a little extra Norwegian touch... The youngster classes were interesting indeed, much to learn and fascinating to see how different horses grow differently and you can never really know what you get in the end. Catherine Lassesen had many wonderful babies presented and of course, the little grey Qvadmann is gorgeous, but I also particularly liked the little filly, Quinde. Lots of personality! The mare class was large and the horses were beautiful! I must admit I have been a little worried about American fjord breeding at times (I have seen quite a few not-so-typey fjords in the US to date) I am now not worried at all. These were truly great quality horses and it was a treat to see them all. As for the stallions - they were wonderful and VERY well behaved - even at the end when they were all in the ring together. It was a pleasure to see. All well muscled, well trained, and well presented! It was really nice to put faces to many of the names on the fjord list, and I truly would have appreciated having more time to speak to everyone, but it was a busy weekend and it went by too fast! Things that impressed me the most: Brian Jensen and Gayle Ware - you are both SO professional - (to the fingertips, as we say in Norwegian), everything looks flawless and fantastically well prepared. Many, many people did a great job of showing their horses but you two really blew me away! I had already seen Gayle in action but never in a "formal" setting, and this was my first time meeting Brian (and Ursula). Very inspiring! Catherine - I have never seen anything like your organization and management skills - I am impressed indeed. Whenever something went wrong, Catherine had a back-up solution already prepared. For example, when it was raining Sunday and the evaluators need a place to sit inside the indoor arena, this took away a part of the dressage size arena for the riding test (there are permanent letters on the wall). This can be pretty upsetting when you are used to riding on the markers and aming for the corner letters on diagonals etc. I was assisting in setting up the arena and wondering what to do, when Catherine stood there in the rain with cones with all the dressage letters on them, so we could set the letters up at correct distances. Just a detail, but a fine example of Catherine planning for EVERYTHING. Peg (Knutsen) - your horses are absolutely stunning! Congrats with the great scores - Sadie truly looked like something from another world! You must be very proud! And I LOVE Maggie McLaughlin's mare Hannah Synnove! In case she was going to do the utility test Sunday, Maggie and I successfully taught her to jump a 2-foot jump Saturday evening! Once she understood what it was about (after about 10 minutes) she cleared it with no problem at all. That was great fun! The performance tests were judged pretty strictly - I had imagined that I could have brough Quinn and breezed through the intro English riding earning a blue ribbon easily, but I soon realized that was not the truth! The horses who did earn a blue were consistently on the bit at all times, flawlessly ridden with very accurate transitions and square halts. And they have to stand completely still for mounting, in a rather exciting, new environment. SO that was tuly a humbling (and inspiring) experience for me, to see the level that is required! You western riders - Gayle and Sue - to see you ride through the utility class making it look effortless, with one hand, was impressive. I mean, in English riding, with two hands, you can do much more severe corrections and "tell" the horse what to do even if they don't really want to. Don't get me wrong, I don't say this is the way English riding should be, but in an emergency it's handy. Riding one-handed, it seems like the corrections you can make, if any at all, are very subtle, and the horse has to be obedient, attentive and WANT to perform. Just to get a horse to navigate one-handed thorugh those trot cones - must take TONS of practise. Hat off to you! Ursula - you've had so many congratulations already, but one more won't hurt: It was wonderful to see Raynor do so well (you should have seen her watching his riding test - she was riding every stride!) Congratulations on all the blues! Everybody else - it was great meeting you / seeing you again! Amy and Brian, thanks for coffee in bed in the morning! I could get used to that! Catherine, thanks for letting me stay (I showed up late, helped myself to food and drink and tried to get away with it by mixing drinks for people). Amy, thanks for life-saving Gin Tonics. Wishing you all a great weekend, and again, hope to see as many as possible of you in Carson City! Dagrun, San Jose, CA
