This message is from: Mary Thurman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- Ursula Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This message is from: Ursula Jensen > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > In Norway the 6week test is a good way to test all > areas of the horse's > personality, character and tractability. At this > last Eval. some horses were > excused from the program for their stall behavior > and marked down in their > scores for undesirable manners during testing. ....The > interesting thing that > the judges told us was that they did not Premium > (ikke Keuring) or ribbon > some of the animals because of the way they behaved > 'in hand'. Just think > about that....an animal gets faulted and possibly > slaughtered because the > handler is at fault Do they try to determine the cause of the bad manners? For example, if it were due to poor handling, might the horse respond better to a different handler? Or do they just go on what they see at the Evaluation in the ring? I would hope that the 6 weeks program would allow several different people to handle the horse and thus determine whether his behaviour was the result of poor handling or was a personality trait. We all have seen horses that were unmanageable in some hands and became calm and better mannered under better handling. They might still try their "tricks" with the new handler, but quickly abandon them when confronted with someone who puts up with no nonsense. Then. . . there are horses that are just ill tempered - even Fjords. Or horses who don't care what their "people" want, unless you TEACH them to care. Glendar can be that way - he doesn't care if he steps on you or knocks into you, unless you make behaviour like that UNCOMFORTABLE for him. Then he is Mr. Manners! You can even watch him "bring himself up short" when he has a Bad Thought - it's funny to watch. He will reach toward you with his nose, for example, then suddenly pull it back and lick his lips. It seems like he thinks you can read his mind! He WAS THINKING about biting, then thought better of it, pulled his head back and apologized. Funny to watch when you catch him at it. Some days he has lots of Bad Thoughts, so just gives up with a big sigh and hangs his head. He is smart enough to know what will get him in trouble, but we have to be smart enough to pick up on it and make it uncomfortable if he goes too far. Sindar, on the other hand, rarely has a Bad Thought. Mostly he is Mr. Polite. Now that he is grown he is really quite good looking when I get him all trimmed up. For a long time I thought his front legs would never match his hind legs! He looks a little like Samstein - at least from the last picture I saw of Samstein. Must go out and trim those unruly manes - show season is upon us. Mary === Mary Thurman Raintree Farms [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
