This message is from: "Meredith Sessoms" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Anne wrote ... >>>There were two mares left in the final selection of two or three year old mares at the show at Forde. One was a wonderful mover; free and uphill, pushing from behind; all those things that attract a dressage rider's eye. The other was not as nice a mover but was drop dead beautiful; a head and face to die for, striking in color and would turn anyone's head, horse person or not. The judges deliberated for a long long time and finally chose the nicer looking mare for first place. When I asked them why, they said that it was a tough decision but basically felt that it was more important to preserve type in the breed than to breed for more extravagant movement which, while it has it's place is not necessarily what is needed to pull the cart up the mountain slope or work the fields...I loved that moment because it took my trained sport horse train of thought and soundly planted it in the context of the breed at hand. <<< >Then Elaine wrote [EMAIL PROTECTED] : > >Since we are on this topic of type, your story from Norway left me a little >confused. It sounds like the judges where just going for looks and the >pretty face instead of function. I'd take a real homely, nice mover over a >gorgeous looking, average one. What's that old saying, "beauty is as beauty >does"...or something like that. But maybe I am brainwashed by years of >working with warmbloods! I got the feeling Anne meant that special, typey, Fjord beauty. There are some things that make a Fjord a Fjord and an Arab an Arab. What is a breed without these distinct features? For example ... they now breed Arabs with long ears, lots of bloodveins, long legs, and narrow faces with hard eyes. To me those Arabian have lost type. The Fjord people must pay special attention to detail to truly perserve breed type. Assuming both mares were good movers, one better than the other, I would go for excellent Fjord type rather than to go for movement. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that in-hand classes for horses and dogs are some kind of beauty contest. For some breeds that is exactly what it is. For other breeds, like Labrador Retrievers and Fjord Horses (and it should be for Arabians before they all turn into faux-Saddlebreds) conformation classes are an honest attempt to keep a breed distinctive and true to type. Without people agreeing on what makes a Fjord a Fjord - via the standard - and then educating people - via shows and evaluations and books - everybody would go by their own idea of what a Fjord should be, most probably based on the few Fjords they have encountered. The breed would lose type. It is a fad these days to say that a horse with a crest can't be athletic. If Fjord folks followed this fad we would loose breed type because a Fjord is not a Fjord without that strong neck. If this keeps our ponies from cutting cows like lightning ... then so be it. I don't want a horse that moves so fast she pops out from under me on a regular basis anyways! When you are talking about breeding Warmbloods, you aren't talking about preserving distinct features that make the breed instantly recognizable from any other breed. You are talking purely about conformation with some type thrown in, but not a distinct type. You could say, the Oldenburg has a longer ear, the Trakehner can have a dished face, but I don't know that anyone could take five typical broodmares from each of the Warmblood breeds and sort them out into their correct groups without looking at their brands. Recognizing type is very important with our Fjords. You can always breed for good movement within the breed but once breed type is lost can it be found again?????? >>><<< Meredith Sessoms >>><<< Soddy-Daisy. Tennessee. USA >>><<< Dorina & NFR Aagot
