more on wolf teeth
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (BRIAN C JACOBSEN) Since my wife Barbara keeps accusing me of having a simple mind (she's joking, I think.), let me prove her right by adding to Marsha Jo Hannah's good but possibly-too-technical-for-new-horse-owners answer to Carol's wolf teeth question.I don't mean Carol, because she's not new to horses, but some others on the list are. Many of our veterinary clients are new to horses, so I tend to think in terms that new horse owners will understand. You do not see the wolf teeth when your horse opens its mouth. What you see there is incisors and maybe canines. To see wolf teeth you have to open your horses mouth and look back in there just in front of the first upper premolar. If you're not experienced at that, it's better not to try it yourself; A horse has been known to break a man's ARM by chomping on it, so one little misplaced finger of yours would not even be noticed as it was crunched! That's not to discourage you from at some point being able to look in a horse's mouth for wolf teeth, but it's best to let your veterinarian or someone who has had some experience show you how to do it. A wolf tooth is often the size of a piece of candy corn or smaller, but only the tip (the white part of the candy corn) is visible protruding from the gum. As Marsha Jo mentioned, usually the only time the wolf teeth cause trouble is when the bit is pressing against them and causing discomfort. Some owners, trainers, and veterinarians routinely just want them removed when the horse is ready to be started in training to ride. Others only have them removed if the horse seems to be resenting the bit and different bits have been tried and did not help. Not uncommonly, a horse will be blamed for having an attitude problem when it is actually an ill-fitting bit or wolf teeth that hurt. Also, visa versa, wolf teeth have been blamed when it is really an attitude problem. It is fairly easy to tell the difference by removing the wolf teeth and letting the gums heal, and then trying the bit again. A closing thought: If your horse is at a trainer's and he/she says they will take care of it (getting the wolf teeth removed), you might want to find out exactly what is meant by that. Some trainers do it themselves or have a backyard vet (not really a vet) do it. Since they are probably not going to sedate your Fjord or give him/her a tetanus booster, and since their instrument is usually a dirty screwdriver, it would probably behoove you to let your veterinarian do it. Don't really mean to make you nervous or suspicious; This doesn't happen as often as it used to. But we still do see it sometimes. Brian Jacobsen, DVM Norwegian Fjordhest Ranch Salisbury, North Carolina _ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Re: Nebraska State Fair, Driving Humor, Evaluations
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hear! Hear! Cynthia. I agree 100%. Especially about performance. I spend countless hours training all our horses. All above the age of three drive and by four years they are going down the road and into the woods in company and especially alone. Fortunately I have a very competent 13 year old daughter, a local neighborhood girl of 14 and an FEI level dressage rider to help out. We have started introducing jumping as the girls are very keen on that and in the interim I drive them in the ring and on the road. When they are ready to sell they've pretty much done it all on the farm and off. And they can be hitched safely alone which is very important. Right now Marnix is my top priority in terms of performance. He is currently being ridden and driven everyday getting ready for Gladstone and Fair HIll . Intermediate. He excelled at the VT Fjord show because of the time and effort we all put into him. Only time will tell wether or not his off spring will also have the conformation and temperment to excell in performance, but at this point in time he makes me look awfully good and is very well behaved so a delight to be around. Thre are many nice Fjords out there who would be his equal as performance animals if given the same amount of attention and conditioning. I would love to see more of the stallions out there prooving themselves in one discipline or another. Gayle Ware's Dusty in Reining for instance and Ann Appleby's dressage horses come to mind and are a credit to our breed, but this takes time and commitment. The warmblood industry has certainly made a huge commitment. However their horses routinely sell for larger dollar amount that is seen in Fjords so 100 day testing becomes more feasible as the payback is so large. Right now it remains the responsibility of the individual to prove their animal in the performance arena. I would also like to address the draft issue brought up in earlier posts because I see a correlation in draft type and the temperment issue. Draft horses aren't just big they are also steady and reliable as they would have to be for farm work and logging. They should have tractable dispositions, be attentive to their handlers and ready to do their jobs. Size alone does not make a good draft horse. Temperment and working disposition are also of the utmost importance. One more note an animal fitted up to do Indurance and other long distance equine sports will behave quite differently than one asked only to pull logs or plow fields. As aerobic and aneorobic condition improves the horse begins to be quite a bit more animated than in an unfit conditiion. If the horse remains attentive to his rider/driver when he's truly fit that is also something to be aware of. Congatulations on your great showing, Robin Groves tells me Tank is quite the fellow and also a credit to our breed. Keep up the good work Vivian Creigh
Nebraska State Fair, Driving Humor, Evaluations
This message is from: Cynthia [EMAIL PROTECTED] This message from Cynthia, home for the holidays, and having to wrestle the computer from Steve for a few minutes - he's asleep so its my turn. Nebraska State Fair - The horses, Steve and I are recovering from two hot and exhausting, but triumphant days at the Carriage Driving Show during our state fair. Tank and I got a second in pleasure driving ladies and a fourth in reinsmanship. Steve and Pferd placed first in the fault and out and second in pleasure driving men's. Steve got fourth and I got fifth in the scurry (this after he calls my horse the SUV model and his the sportscar model - we were pretty close behind him!). Tank is the only Fjord to show at the Fair. The thing I noticed so much this year is how people just have to smile when they see him trotting around waiting to go in for a class. Yeah, you get the cute horse remarks, etc. but the big smiles he gets are the best - people just can't help themselves. Driving Humor - John I loved it! Alison, your addition for Fjord is terrific! Evaluations - Although we also mention the Morgans a lot, we don't mention our part Trakehner mare, Skipper so often. We have had her a lot longer than Tank and became familiar with warmblood ways a long time ago. One of the reasons we have never bred her is that she just isn't up to snuff. We love her dearly and given the time she really deserves she would be a great using animal, but she isn't really breeding material though we were very tempted at one time. Having seen what has been done to Quarter Horses (they deserve as much criticism as the Morgans in my opinion), I have always agreed with the strict breeding principals that are espoused by the warmblood breeds and their adoption in a large way by breeders in this country. (Who by the way, receive good stud fees for their proven stallions and good prices for the approved mares and their progeny). Warmblood associations in North America do determine who can be licensed as breeding stallions and mares are rated and it is accepted. I understand why people who are already breeders and have made a serious investment in stock can be very reluctant to adopt a more critical and outside system to tell them who is better to breed and to breed to, but don't try to tell me it is because it is not the American way. It's an excuse and not a very good one. If in North America, we want to breed good horses, we need to hold ourselves to a high standard and not be afraid to be self-critical. Demanding good breeding stock and selling the not so good as using stock are just good breeding as well as good marketing practices. If all people who had stallions insisted on breeding to good mares, if all people who want bred their mares carefully evaluated them before deciding to breed them maybe the killer market wouldn't thrive so in this country. In only four years of owning my Fjord Gelding, I have noticed at Blue Earth, a great increase in non-breeder participants. There is a market out there for good using horses not of top breeding quality. I would also like to see performance standards and progeny produced part of the determination of whether or not a horse should be used for reproduction or receive increasingly higher approval ratings as the animal matures - not just conformation, but ability to do are important. If we adopt a really effective evaluation system now, we can ensure that breeding to the stallion down the road because he is close and cheap never becomes a practice as Fjords become more numerous. -- Steve McIlree Cynthia Madden -- Pferd, Keyah, Skipper, Tank -- Omaha, Nebraska, USA Princes learn no art truly but the art of horsemanship. The reason is the brave beast is no flatterer. --Ben Jonson(1572-1637)
BOUNCE [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Non-member submission from [Cynthia [EMAIL PROTECTED]]
From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Sep 6 12:02:05 1998 Received: from ha1.rdc1.ne.home.com ([EMAIL PROTECTED] [24.2.4.66]) by mailing-list.net (8.8.5) id MAA02721; Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:02:04 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mail ([24.3.231.19]) by ha1.rdc1.ne.home.com (Netscape Mail Server v2.02) with SMTP id AAA282 for [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Sun, 6 Sep 1998 11:02:04 -0700 Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 13:01:09 -0500 From: Cynthia [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Mailer: The Bat! (v1.027) S/N 307D0ECF Reply-To: Cynthia [EMAIL PROTECTED] Priority: Normal Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Fjord Horse List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Nebraska State Fair, Driving Humor, Evaluations Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This message from Cynthia, home for the holidays, and having to wrestle the computer from Steve for a few minutes - he's asleep so its my turn. Nebraska State Fair - The horses, Steve and I are recovering from two hot and exhausting, but triumphant days at the Carriage Driving Show during our state fair. Tank and I got a second in pleasure driving ladies and a fourth in reinsmanship. Steve and Pferd placed first in the fault and out and second in pleasure driving men's. Steve got fourth and I got fifth in the scurry (this after he calls my horse the SUV model and his the sportscar model - we were pretty close behind him!). Tank is the only Fjord to show at the Fair. The thing I noticed so much this year is how people just have to smile when they see him trotting around waiting to go in for a class. Yeah, you get the cute horse remarks, etc. but the big smiles he gets are the best - people just can't help themselves. Driving Humor - John I loved it! Alison, your addition for Fjord is terrific! Evaluations - Although we also mention the Morgans a lot, we don't mention our part Trakehner mare, Skipper so often. We have had her a lot longer than Tank and became familiar with warmblood ways a long time ago. One of the reasons we have never bred her is that she just isn't up to snuff. We love her dearly and given the time she really deserves she would be a great using animal, but she isn't really breeding material though we were very tempted at one time. Having seen what has been done to Quarter Horses (they deserve as much criticism as the Morgans in my opinion), I have always agreed with the strict breeding principals that are espoused by the warmblood breeds and their adoption in a large way by breeders in this country. (Who by the way, receive good stud fees for their proven stallions and good prices for the approved mares and their progeny). Warmblood associations in North America do determine who can be licensed as breeding stallions and mares are rated and it is accepted. I understand why people who are already breeders and have made a serious investment in stock can be very reluctant to adopt a more critical and outside system to tell them who is better to breed and to breed to, but don't try to tell me it is because it is not the American way. It's an excuse and not a very good one. If in North America, we want to breed good horses, we need to hold ourselves to a high standard and not be afraid to be self-critical. Demanding good breeding stock and selling the not so good as using stock are just good breeding as well as good marketing practices. If all people who had stallions insisted on breeding to good mares, if all people who want bred their mares carefully evaluated them before deciding to breed them maybe the killer market wouldn't thrive so in this country. In only four years of owning my Fjord Gelding, I have noticed at Blue Earth, a great increase in non-breeder participants. There is a market out there for good using horses not of top breeding quality. I would also like to see performance standards and progeny produced part of the determination of whether or not a horse should be used for reproduction or receive increasingly higher approval ratings as the animal matures - not just conformation, but ability to do are important. If we adopt a really effective evaluation system now, we can ensure that breeding to the stallion down the road because he is close and cheap never becomes a practice as Fjords become more numerous. -- Steve McIlree Cynthia Madden -- Pferd, Keyah, Skipper, Tank -- Omaha, Nebraska, USA Princes learn no art truly but the art of horsemanship. The reason is the brave beast is no flatterer. --Ben Jonson(1572-1637)
NW Fjord Group? Heard?
This message is from: Betsy Bauer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello all, Would anyone know if we can supscribe to the Fjord Hearld via email? or reach the contact person.? Also, who is the person to speak with who represents the NW Fjord Group. Some of you know that I market fjords across the country via the Internet - visit www.fjordpony.com With the interest generated from all the great showing that you all are doing, I have had a burst of inquiries from NY and Idaho. If you have fjords for sale please contact me directly - yes I know about David's and have sent many people his way. I have told them about Libby and wish you all best of luck with your showing. My daughter and I are gearing up for Turlock - can't wait to meet some of you there. Happy ridin' Betsy Bauer
Re: fjordhorse-digest V98 #163
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 98-09-06 04:21:11 EDT, you write: I ride in a Western synthetic saddle, and find that it fits the Fjords and is the most comfortable ride I've ever had.It was not expensive, at around 400.00. My husband has the same one... Take care all, see you at the chat! Lisa I do not envy you your heat. It's been only 85 degrees or so here in Oregon, and I hate it. Will start praying to the Gods of The Weather for a break, especially for your area. I bought a synthetic western saddle for my son a couple months ago. It fits Juniper wonderfully and he is so much more secure in the saddle. For those who don't know, Raymond has autism, and has to work ever so hard to do things that come easy for most of us. Since he started riding in the western saddle he is more there for Juniper. He will now try to initiate commands, turning and stopping being the most dramatic breakthroughs I am seeing. It doesn't sound like much, but we've been working with him for about 6 years in an english saddle. I'm now selling the english one. g anyone want to buy a cute little childs saddle? I still love my aussie saddle for day to day riding, but will be in the market for a dressage saddle in a few months. Pamela
naming the foal
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is there a registry standard for naming the Fjord foal? We notice a three-letter prefix on most of the names in the pedigrees. With registered Holsteins you use the prefix of the owner of dam at time of breeding. With our dogs (American Kennel Club) it can be the owner at time of birth. Julie knows what I'm talking about--we bought Viola from her, but she was bred in Missouri. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Barbara Lyn
Re: fjordhorse-digest V98 #163
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello List! Thanks to everyone who responded about my question about Gretel, it helped put my mind at ease! I wanted to invite all of you to Fjord Chat, Sun. night 9:00 Eastern time, ( thats 6:00 Calif. time ) at PETSnVETS. Its been very hot and humid here for the last 2 weeks, and I will admit that this heat is getting to me. 112-114 last week, and now its cooled off to a still sweltering 103. The Fjords have been conserving energy, and drinking TONS of water, and of course they have not done anything except eat, and rest. They all line up for their 4 times daily baths with the hose. I hope that all those headed to Libby Mt. have a safe and uneventful trip! Wish we were headed there myself, but couldnt do it this yearWe are hoping to get to Turlock, as long as this heat breaks and we can get out and train a little. I ride in a Western synthetic saddle, and find that it fits the Fjords and is the most comfortable ride I've ever had.It was not expensive, at around 400.00. My husband has the same one... Take care all, see you at the chat! Lisa Pedersen PAV FJORDS A HREF=http://www.petsandvets.com/index.html;PETS AND VETS/A
