This message is from: Mike May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 11:46 PM 4/29/98 -0400, you wrote: >This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (BRIAN C JACOBSEN) > >To recap: > >1. Voluntary evaluations are a great thing in the US, but mandating them >will not be well accepted. > I think you hit the nail right on the head Brian. This is a "Free Country". If the NFHR decided to make the evaluations mandatory we would probably see a lot of breeders registering their horses with a different registry.
>2. Breeders and serious competitors of Fjords will distinguish >themselves by participating in evaluations, thus attracting current and >prospective owners more serious about acquiring quality horses. Breeders >who don't participate will still sell Fjords, though in general more to >people only wanting "pets" or not as serious about breeding. > And I think this is the way it should be. >3. Evaluations will help keep our Fjords more true to their heritage >than the traditional American system of judging, which we currently use >at Registry shows. Also, since conformational judging is part of both a >show and an Evaluation, there is some duplication. So why have both? > Well one of the reasons I can think of is that the NFHR doesn't actually have any shows. We only have Evaluations. All of the shows are put on by the promotional groups. Most of them are affiliated with the NFHR but not all of them. At some of the shows any Fjord is welcome no matter what Registry it is registered with. So a Evaluation rating given at a show may not be as well received by a person with a non NFHR registered horse. I think that if someday we all happen to become one big registry then it might work. Of course we would still have the Canadian registered horses in some of the shows too. I think we could work that out though. >Now I will freely admit I am not an authority on showing. My >grandfather, who starting raising the Fjords, never felt the need, and >Barb and I are short on time and long on distance (from any shows). We >do consider ourselves serious breeders and are going to start >participating in Evaluations though. So perhaps I am overlooking a >simple reason for judging conformation (i.e. halter classes) at a show, >and judging it again at an Evaluation. If so, please tell me. If not, >why do both? Save time and money and just do the one which tells the >most about the horse. This would seem to be the Evaluation. > See above >Finally, there is no problem to making Evaluations more available. But >it takes two things: money and workers. If we as NFHR members are >serious enough about this idea, we can make it happen. > Yes I think you have it here. I think we are a pretty lucky group as it is to have the number of volunteers we do have already. We do still need people to come forward though and volunteer for stuff like this. Volunteers do burn out after awhile. And you do want new blood and new ideas all of the time. ======================================================= Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry http://www.nfhr.com Mike May, Registrar mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Webster, NY, USA (Suburb of Rochester) Voice 716-872-4114 FAX 716-787-0497 =======================================================