This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hello from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
> This message is from: "John Bosomworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Carole wrote: > "I'd very > much like to have answers to the following questions:" > > I'm wondering why you want these answered... are you just curious? Will > we get a failing grade if we don't have the correct answers? > > ~Eunice > Deere Country Fjords > Ayton, Ont. > Well, yes, I am curious, and the curiosity comes from a long-standing concern about Fjord breeding in North America, and the whole thing came to a head recently when I "told the world" about the exceptional colt we had born here, a son of our magnificent stallion, Gjest, and one of the most beautiful Fjord mares in existence, the Norwegian mare, Stine. --- And you know what happend after I loudly "told the world"? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Not a single inquiry from any Fjord breeder in the U.S. or anada. --- Now I really find this curious and worrisome, and can't imagine the same thing happening in any other horse breed; or for that matter, any other breeding situation of any other species - be they goats, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, emus, ostrich, parrotts or agriculture -- If you're a gardener, and you breed daylilies or cabbages, and one day you find in the row a particularly good example of a named variety, then it's from that plant you're going to take the seeds or cuttings, divisions. You don't ignore this superior plant because the others in the row are "almost" the same. As I understand breeding, the object of the game is for a breeder to try to improve quality and performance through the mating of exceptionally good and proven bloodlines. People say that there are already too many stallions breeding in No. America. I say that the problem isn't in the number of stallions breeding, but that too many of them are not the best of quality. ---- There are many good Fjord stallions breeding. Just too many that are not good enough. Someone who contacted me regarding my Questionaire, voiced the opinion that there were too many stallions around anyway, and that our colt, BDF Titan would make a wonderful gelding who could do a lot to promote the Fjord breed. --- I agree that a big, impressive, athletic gelding like Titan would be good publicity for the breed, but I'm afraid I feel very strongly that the best use for the best horses is breeding --- passing on their good qualities for the benefit of future generations. Someone else, it was Margaret Bogie, right here on the List, voiced another opinion, which was BDF Titan has three full brothers who are actively breeding in the U.S. -- BDF Kanada King, BDF Malcolm Locke, BDF belisk. --- This is true, and is a good point. However, as I've said before, all of us here at Beaver Dam Farm strongly feel that Titan is the best of any of the other brothers. -- That's a very big statement because all the other stallions are truly outstanding individuals, and of course, I can't be 100% sure of it as Titan is only five months old. -- It's simply an educated opinion after 24 years breeding and studying Fjords here and in Europe, and foaling out 75 mares. I guess my big worry is I see a complacency amongst Fjord people, and I think this is fed by the nature and traditional use of our breed. What I mean by that is the description of the Fjordhorse as "An All-Purpose horse of good temperament, suitable for all family members from young children to grandparents." --- "A horse that can bring home the Christmas tree, take the family for a Sunday drive, be a kids horse, pull a plow, etc." --- I get the feeling that too many owners and too many breeders take this simple description of the Fjord breed, and say to themselves that just about any male Fjordhorse and any female can produce horses that can do the above jobs. Perhaps they also say to themselves that "it doesn't take a very special horse to do these simple jobs". The description doesn't say the Fjord must be an athlete, and yet EVERY HORSE needs to be an athlete; otherwise, he's of no practical use. The description doesn't say that the Fjord must be very well conformed . . . and yet, horses that are not well-conformed will not remain sound into very old age, and will not be able to pleasurably provide the services needed by the family. So, my point is that even the All-Purpose, Family, Recreation Fjord needs breeders who constantly strive to breed the best possible horses, and do that by culling and upgrading their breeding stock until they're using the best possible horses they can find. . . . . . . .My purpose in presenting the questionaire was two-fold. #1 - I would like to get the thinking of as many people as possible about Fjord breeding. And, #2 - I would like to get as many Fjord people as possible thinking about breeding. Think about this, please . . . This may seem like a contradiction, but I think we've got a parallel problem here. On the one hand, there are too many inferior stallions (inferior by world standards), breeding in North America, while at the same time too many high quality, potentially important colts are being gelded. This is happening because there's no system to help breeders and owners identify which colts should be kept entire, at least until age two or three. -- This is a real problem for breeders. Afterall, nobody wants a bunch of young stallions around the place making trouble, and young stallions are trouble --- no doubt about it. I dont' have a solution for this problem, but I do have ideas. The first thing is to recognize that it may be a serious problem that's having a serious detrimental affect on our breed. Any opinions, anybody? Best Regards, Carol Rivoire .
