This message is from: Nancy Hotovy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At the risk of opening up a whole new discussion, I would like to update everyone on some of the items the Evaluation Committee has been working on and would also like some ideas on a Proposal we are now working on.
As most of you know, each Evaluation has two Evaluators. In the past they have been Jim Havelhurst and Wayne Hipsley. As I understand it these two gentlemen were chosen because of their credentials and interest in the Fjord horse. They both had been to Norway to the stallion show and had studied under the Norwegian judges. As they did evaluations we were to have "Evaluators in Training" working with them to learn the process. Problem - We had no one interested in becoming an evaluator. A letter was sent to each approved NFHR judge this spring to come and learn at either the Evaluation held in Oregon or the one in Blue Earth. Wayne offered his services to instruct anyone interested. Again - NO RESPONSE. At this time the NFHR cannot sponsor any evaluations as we only have one Evaluator. Wayne resigned as Evaluator at the Libby meeting. He is still available for education and is giving clinics in Illinois and Oregon this next spring. However, for our evaluations to continue and grow we need people qualified to evaluate Fjords. As an evaluation is just that - an evaluation of the Fjord horse - NOT a horse show and not to be judged like a horse show, therefore we need people who can look at each type of Fjord and evaluate it properly. After many hours and much discussion the committee came up with a proposal and gave it to the BOD. We feel that in order to be a good evaluator you need to have a substantial interest in the breed - someone who cares about the Fjord and has it's best interests in mind. As evidenced in the past, we do not seem to have judges willing to make the effort. What if we pay them more?? Does that make someone more knowledgeable? Is that the type of person we want to do this very important job? I would like to put the entire proposal here on the list but feel it is too long so I will post the "highlights". PLEASE remember this is only our proposal and it is not going over very well at this time with some of the Board, however we would like to see your discussion and input on this and any ideas where our Evaluators should come from. PROPOSAL: (READER'S DIGEST CONDENSED VERSION) Each Evaluation should have 2 Evaluators, one a certified breeder and one an outside professional. Evaluators would be certified only after passing and participating in a series of educational sessions and participating as a learner judge for 2 evaluations. Pairing a certified breeder with an outside professional would act as a system of checks and balances whereby the breeder evaluator would ensure that breed type is not unduly influenced by the outside professional's preference to body type and professional outsider would ensure that the breeder evaluator's knowledge (history of bloodlines, family traits, genetic history, etc.) would not be unduly influential. By pairing the breeder with the professional, biases would be reduced and appropriately countered thereby maintaining the highest level of integrity. At an Evaluation each evaluator would score independently. Upon completion of the intial Evaluation, the 2 evaluators would come together to review and then present one final average score. Training New Evaluators: Two or three seminars dealing with classroom work on judging starting with teh basics of anatomy, structure, conformation, and way of going. Live horse judging would follow to develop understanding the methods of evaluating, identifying and analysis and establish comparative standards for decision making. The learner evaluators would make a trip to Norway and spend time judging all of the shows prior to the stallion show in Nordfjordeid. This would provide the opportunity to view 150+ Fjords prior to the stallion show. At the stallion show, participate in judging the classes. There should be 2 levels of evaluator status, Senior and Junior. The NFHR needs to hire under contract a Senior Evaluator to coordinate and be responsible for the continuing education of all Evaluators. At this point in time, Wayne Hipsley is the obvious person to be in charge of this project. In order to gather a list of persons interested in making the personal commitment of time and money to become trained as Evaluators, placed an invitation in the Herald. Our current list of judges should also be invited. Each applicant vying for status as Junior Evaluator must complete a resume which will establish their actual experience and background. >From this list a pool of perhaps 4 - 6 could then be chosen by the present Evaluators to become trained evaluators through seminars, testing and Norway trip. The Evaluation Committee and the NFHR board must concentrate on breeder education programs in advance of actual Evaluation, i.e. Pre-Evaluation clinics. Topics to include conformation and mvoement, presentation of horses for conformation and presentation of horses for performance tests. The Evaluation Committee proposes the NFHR Board contract Wayne Hipsley to formulate, present and conduct an evaluator training program. As I stated previously, this is a condensed version, but by now you should get the general idea we are presenting. This is NOT to say that every breeder will be recommended for an evaluator - only those willing to put in the time and committment needed to evaluate Fjord horses and remain unbiased. There will be a process to choose only the right one for the job. I realize this is a very long message but feel it is one of the most important items the NFHR needs to tackle and definately worth our time. Give all of this some thought and let me hear your opinions and suggestions! In the meantime, everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving. Nancy
