This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Arthur Rivoire)
Hi Everybody, from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia - The other day, I got out the four studbooks I have from the Fjordhestlag in Norway. One of them was 1981, the year Gjest was approved and did his famous trotting test. I wanted to look through the books and see what the various times were of the stallions that did the test each year. Well . . .!!! I came upon Gjest's page, and you can imagine my shock . . . horror . . . cringing embarrassment when I saw Gjest's time for the kilometre recorded at 2.40, not the famous 2.12. "How could this be?", I asked myself. I'd been told about Gjest's time from Norwegian Fjord people as well as from B. J. van Bon, Chief Inspector of the Dutch Studbook. Van Bon had also recorded the fact in detail in the two editions of his authoritative book. Editions ten years apart. So, anyway, in panic, I put in a call to Van Bon to straighten this out. I said, "ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THIS IS CORRECT?" He said, "Absolutely! I saw him myself. I was there." Then I told him about the Norwegian Stud Book, and Van Bon said that there are inaccuricies in those books. He also said,( and this is useful for us), that the stallions do more than one trotting test for the Approvals. Sometimes they do three or four, and maybe they didn't record Gjest's fastest time, which seems odd to me since it was a record for the breed. Anyway, for those who are interested, here are some of the times - 1981 - REI HALSNAES, 2.59, BESTMIN, 2.50, HOVDAREN, 2.45, NORDAL, 2.51, PEDRO, 2.46, HILDRING, 2.50, SOLVGRAEN, 3.15, BRYNTE, 2.57, DRAGULV, 2.46, ERNARSON, 3.11, FJELLVIND, 2.58, STALGRAEN, 3.26, LJOSEN, 3.03, SOLAR, 3.09, SOLVAR, 2.46, TRAJAN, 2.31. 1984 - KARIBU, no time given -, BRONSE, 2.35, PLUTONIKK, 2.45, BRUSVEIN, 2.52, REIDMANN, 2.55, BRYNJO, 2.57, HALLING-BJORN, 3.09, LURINGEN, 3.19, EGGEPRINS, 3.01, RIVALEN, 2.49, GRA-JARL, 3.07, HELGAR-JARL, 3.07, JUBALO, 3.18, SILKEKONGEN, 3.23. Well, that's enough, you get the idea. Talking with Van Bon, he stressed more than once that it was not how fast a horse could trot, but how correctly. He felt that some of the Fjord breeding countries could be in danger of ignoring the quality of the trot in Fjords. He said he'd seen some deterioration in the quality of the trot in Europe since the seventies when, he said, there were a lot more really good moving horses than there are now. He stressed that the Fjord is, above all, a driving horse, and that he MUST have an EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD TROT. And that means a trot with a big, big, far-reaching stride. He reminded me that in Holland they do show classes to determine which horses have the BEST TROT. In fact, I've seen these during my trips to Holland. There may be twenty or thirty horses partipating. They'll be in a huge oval ring with riders, and the riders push them into big, extended trots, and they fly around and around that ring until the placings are determined. It's interesting! Regards, Carol Rivoire 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
