This message is from: Arthur and Carol Rivoire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
Some months ago, I had a Dutch-bred horse to sell. The mare was one of our original Dutch imports registered in Holland, and subsequently transferred to the NFHR. The Dutch only show 3 generations on their pedigree certificate The NFHR Registration Certificate is set up for 5 generations,though they only require 3 for registration. When I received this mare on consignment and looked at her pedigree, it had a lot of holes in it. In the 4th and 5th generations, all the sire lines were complete, but none of the dam lines. All that empty space bothered me so I called Mike and asked if he could get in touch with the Dutch Studbook and request a full 5 generation pedigree for this mare. He said, no he could not do that, and if the information wasn't in his computer, he wasn't going to ask for it. The gist of the conversation was that if I wanted the information on the pedigree, then I should get in touch with whatever European Studbook was concerned, and ask myself. Somehow this didn't sit right. It seems to me that searching out this pedigree information with a goal to having as complete a data base as possible is part of the Registrar's job. And furthermore, it seems that there would be much less chance of error for Mike in his official capacity as Registrar to go directly to his counterparts in Europe and officially ask for the needed information. Frankly, I'd forgottent this problem until yesterday when I got a letter from NFHR president, Dennis Johnson which said --- . . ."Your request was discussed at length (BOD Conference call) and the final conclusion is that the NFHR Registrar has not been responsible in the past and will not be responsible in the near future, for locating and obtaining five-generation pedigrees on imported Fjord Horses." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The word "locating" is misleading. My suggestion was that the Registrar request from official sources (by fax) needed pedigree information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And when Dennis says the NFHR Registrar "will not be responsible in the near future for locating and obtaining five generation pedigrees on imported Fjord Horses" . . does this mean that the NFHR Registrar IS responsible for locating and obtaining five generation pedigrees on North American Fjords? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NFHR president, Dennis Johnson, goes on to say - ". . . .If such information is not presently in the database, then it shall remain the responsibility of the purchaser/seller to provide such information to the Registrar, if entrance is desired." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To me getting full and accurate pedigree information on every NFHR registered horse should be the goal of the NFHR Registrar. --- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Dennis Johnson said in his letter to me - " . . . A simple request to the Dutch and/or Norwegians to fax the needed pedigree information should do the trick." Dennis also says, "I have personally requested and received five generation information from the Dutch, and . . . it was very easy." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, if it's as easy as Dennis says (and I do believe it is), then why shouldn't the Registrar be responsible for obtaining this pedigree information? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In his last paragraph to me, Dennis says - "The Board discussed the option of assessing a fixed service charge of approximately two hundred dollars per request, for the NFHR to provide such a service. It was agreed that it would be more cost effective for the members to request this information themselves. Thanks for bring this subject to light Carol." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ $200 for a fax? Geeze! Give me a big-time break! That's really insulting to the membership, and pray tell, what's the point? Thank goodness reason prevailed, and they shelved that idea. Really, what would the point of a $200 fee be? Certainly not actual costs of sending and receiving a fax. Did they discuss charging $200 if the owner provides the information? Is this talk of a $200 fee" meant to discourage the desirability of a 5 generation pedigree. Sorry, I don't get it. ````````````````````````````````` TO SUM UP --- * I think the most important part of the Registrar's job is acting as watchdog over pedigrees, and doing his utmost to see that NFHR registered horses have as complete pedigrees as possible. * I also think the margin for error would be far less if the NFHR Registrar OFFICIALLY requests and receives pedigree information from his counterpart OFFICIALS, rather than various breeders and owners doing it themselves. * An official NFHR Registration Certificate that is set up for 5 generations looks rather foolish with a lot of blank spaces. * A NFRH Registration Certificate with a lot of blank spaces gives the impression that the registered horse has "unknowns" in his background. * In the case I'm talking about, all the sire lines back to the 5th generation are complete, but the mare lines (both sire and dam of the registered horse's great granddam's on both sire and dam's side, are incomplete) Anybody might presume that those horses are Quarter Horses or Morgans, or whatever, but maybe not pure-bred Fjordhorses . . . which, of course, they are. * I think the NFHR Registrar should make all reasonable efforts to complete all pedigrees to the 5th generation. In the case of imported horses, (except in rare situations), the 4th and 5th generations can be easily acquired with a faxed request. * I agree that this might entail considerable work with some North American Fjords, but not so with the imports as all this pedigree information is easily obtainable from their data bases. * And finally, in my opinion, this is the Registrar's job, and I'm surprised the Board of Directors didn't see it the same way. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Regards, Carol Rivoire Carol and Arthur Rivoire Beaver Dam Farm Fjords II R.R. 7 Pomquet Antigonish County Nova Scotia B2G 2L4 902 386 2304 http://www.beaverdamfarm.com
