This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Arthur Rivoire)
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Hi Everybody from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia - !
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>Lynda commented - - -
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>appears that if these horses show any high-spiritness, any proudness, any
>trainable problems concerning handling, they are simply gelded as this avenue
>is certainly easier.
Thanks Lynda, This is the point I've been trying to make. The attitude of
so many Fjord people seems exactly that. That is, if a stallion is high
spirited, and hard for that particular owner to handle, the solution is to
geld him, rather than get a more experienced handler, assuming the stallion
is worth the effort. --- In my opinion, this is the way to diminish the
quality of Fjords in North America. The crude way I put it was "dumbing
down the breed."
As to the Danish stallion that stood in Holland for twenty years,
Hjerter-Knaeght ---- I really can't understand how anybody could say that
horse should have been gelded. #1 He was chosen as a breeding stallion
under the strictest of criteria. 40 Approved stallions in a Fjord
population of 12,000 Fjords. #2 Each stallion has perhaps 80 + foals a
year, and each of those foals are evaluated as sucklings, thereby
evaluating the stallions. If the foals don't measure up . . . That's the
end of the stallion's career. Those foals are evaluated again as
yearlings, two year olds, three year olds, and often beyond. Each rating
reflects on the stallion. Obviously, if Hjerter-Knaeght was kept in the
breeding program twenty years with this kind of scrutiny of offspring, he
was a tremendous stallion.
Regarding the gelding from CA, BDF Idar, Lynda asked why, if he was so
good, was he gelded? Good question, and probably a mistake on my part.
Idar was stallion material. In fact, I'm hoping that Maryke and Gjest
will make another Idar, and that one will be kept whole. --- We showed
Idar as a yearling to Larry Poulin, and Larry saw him move. He shocked me
by saying, "I think he's going to be better than Gjest." That put us in a
quandry, because we really wanted to keep Idar, but didn't need another
stallion. Eventually, because we didn't want to sell him (selfish), we
gelded him as a two-year-old.
The winter of his second year, we took him to Southern Pines, N.C. for
several months where he was trained to drive by Bill Long. Everyone who
saw him was very impressed. We kept Idar until he was a four-year-old, and
one of our Nova Scotia Learning Vacation guests fell in love with him, and
desperately wanted to buy him. So, we sold because that's what we do. We
sell Fjordhorses. If we didn't sell what customers wanted, we wouldn't
still be doing it after nearly twenty years.
I believe that if the Fjord breed in North America was more established,
more educated, more sophisticated than it is, there would be a strong
market for outstanding individuals and no really good stud colt would be
gelded. Unfortunately, that is not yet the case.
Re Brian's excellent explanation of legs. Thanks Brian. That was very
interesting to me. I'd never heard anybody talk about fat settling in the
legs. I don't have any kind of veterinary training. I pick things up from
horse people and from reading. The man I consider my mentor, Bob van Bon,
Chief Inspector of Fjords for Holland, has always used the expression -
"dry, clean, hard legs." And he's told me that very often Fjords have
"soft, spongy legs." Years ago he showed me what he meant by feeling the
legs of our horses.
Brian, you commented about the differences in Gjest's legs and the legs of
BDF Torolf. The differences I see reflect what I call "clean legs." Rolf
has almost no leg hair. I'd call those clean legs. Gjest has lots and
lots of hair. I don't have a name for that . . . "hairy legs?" These are
terms I've picked up over the years. Anyway, thanks for the excellent
explanation.
Van Bon isn't a scientific person either. For instance, when he goes to
Norway to buy stallions, he's told me that he hefts the testicles to see
how big and heavy they are, giving him an idea how fertile the stallion
will be. Sounds pretty unscientific, huh? Well, recently I read a
scientific report (can't remember if it was humans or horses) that said the
same thing. In case you're wondering why Van Bon does the "hand test"
rather than have a semen evaluation done, . . . Well, he has a good reason.
He can heft the testicles sureptitiously, thereby not showing he's
interested in purchasing the stallion. If he were to demand a semen
analysis, buyers from other countries would cotton on to the fact that
"Chief Inspector, Van Bon" was interested, and then the price might go up.
Not too dumb, eh!
Best Regards, Carol Rivoire
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Carol and Arthur Rivoire
Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II
R.R. 7 Pomquet
Antigonish County
Nova Scotia
B2G 2L4
902 386 2304
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/beaverdf
