This message is from: "Melinda Schumacher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Oh! Tell us the story of the Haflinger too! LOL I love reading your informative posts. Melinda cool and rainy central Ohio On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:37 AM, Eike Schoen-Petersen < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This message is from: "Eike Schoen-Petersen" < > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Some of them can get quite hot! - Never mind, what I wanted to say is > that this classification does not apply to the Fjord Horse. The origin of > the so called warmbloods is a long (>= 1000 years) history of mixing lighter > breeds (= desert horses like Sorayas, Arab, Achal-Tekke) into the heavier > populations of multi-purpose working horses of central Europe to produce > horses suited for a light = fast but not armored cavalry. In contrast the > heavy horse breeds in the same period were selected for carrying the heavily > armored knight into a more static person to person battle and later for > pulling the plow in the intensified agriculture on the richer and heavier > soils. Both groups have connections to the "original" wild horse types as > defined in Speed's theory of the different original types or subspecies of > the horse, but have been created largely by a long and intensive selection > process for their specified purpose. > > The Fjord Horse did not participate in much of those earlier selection > processes as its (multi-)purpose never changed until the 20th century and, > even though there has been some influence of the heavy Dole horse and the > certainly the lighter riding horses, the core of the Fjord breed is very > close to the original archaic pony type, the versatile, intelligent survivor > on poor forage and in adverse climate and rough terrain. Whereas todays > warmbloods and coldbloods are created by human selection for very specific > purposes, the Fjord has been selected largely by the natural conditions of > the Vestland and the more complex needs of the small farmer who had one > horse to do it all. > > For this reason we have such a good multi-purpose horse which is best at > versatility rather than racing or pulling or jumping. > > To me it is important not to classify the Fjord as warm or cold or heavy or > light, as this would not do our true multi-purpose horses and their origin > justice. If any association to a certain group is desired they are closest > to the group of pony breeds, with the Welsh, the Exmoor, the Dartmoor, the > Icelandic, the Shetland, the Highland, the Fell, the Dales, the Merens, the > Huzule, the Konik.... Not bad company to be in. Intentionally I did not > mention the Haflinger, as this is a very recently (in comparison) developed > synthetic breed with the starting point being a cross of a coldblood and an > Arab. That is a different story alltogether. > > Eike > Important FjordHorse List Links: > Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e > FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw > Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f > > > -- Coaching with Melinda Schumacher, MD Personal Empowerment through Equine Experiential Learning and Creative Expression "You wander from room to room hunting for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck." ~Jalal-Uddin Rumi "As she knotted the reins and took her stand, the horse's soul came into her hand, and up from the mouth that held the steel came an innermost word, half thought, half feel."~paraphrased, John Masefield Fly Without Wings www.flywithoutwings.net Gestalt Practitioner www.gestaltcleveland.org Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
