This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Arthur Rivoire)
Hi All - From Carol at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia where we had a hard frost last night, but today the sun is shining, and the grass is still emerald green. Our grass stays green into December, a fact people find hard to believe. I don't know whether the subscribers will find this little story as fascinating as I do, but here goes. A mare named Heidi was sent to us for training and sale. The mare's owner is named Carol B., Beaver Dam Farm is owned by Carol R. (and husband, Arthur, of course), the woman who bought Heidi is Carol M., and the owner of Heidi's dam is Carol W. It seems, "There's just something about Heidi." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Regarding the questions about Dutch fire branding. I've also seen it done in Holland. The flank area is widely shaved, and then the red hot branding iron is briefly applied. It's very fast. I haven't seen the older horses, or the foals, act like they experienced a lot of pain. No turning around looking at the flanks, for instance. We imported eleven yearling fillies in 1997, and that was the last year of branding. That was the "R" year, so maybe those horses will be collector's items, like the last solid silver coins. As I understand it, the reason the Dutch have stopped branding and gone to micro-chips is that branding has been completely outlawed in all the European Union countries. Bobbing the tails of draft horses is also not allowed anymore. The horses we imported in 1998 are all micro-chipped, and I don't know if the chips are readable over here or not. We borrowed a small "reader" that came with our horses. It costs about $250, and only reads this particular European system. I understand there are other "readers" at greater cost that read a variety of systems. Personally, I would much rather have the brands. One of the fillies that came here, had her chip migrate in her body soon after arrival. It either migrated, or broke. Bob van Bon in Holland has had experience with a few others that have broken, and he said the broken chip will show up on x-ray. It can then be extracted and a new one put in. I've always advocated the branding system. We've relied on it with the 90 or so horses we've imported. Once it's done, it's done for life, and is a visible ID, unlike all the other systems. Anytime that I need to positively identify a horse for shipment, pre-purchase, whatever, I just get my clippers and shave the area. The brand is there, clearly visible as it always is. I'm not going to bother arguing this subject as I guess the time for branding horses is passed, but I find it a shame as there's nothing that replaces it. Yes, as a breeder, I'll buy a reader as I get more and more micro-chipped horses. But what about the person I sell a horse to when he wants to show it, or sell it? A person owning two or three horses is unlikely to invest in an electronic reader costing $300. I think it's just another example of simplicity and the old fashioned ways often being better. Regards, Carol 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
