This message is from: Arthur Rivoire [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi Everybody - from Carol Rivoire at Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
The eleven yearling fillies that we imported left Schiphol Airport Thursday
morning. They were to arrive in Toronto six hours later, but the plane
couldn't land in Toronto due to weather, so flew to a military base at
Niagara. There they waited, and three hours later, landed in Toronto. And
the weather was brutally hot and humid. Serious conditions for already
stressed yearlings.
We'd debated the merits of getting the journey over quickly by putting them
on a truck immediately and starting for Nova Scotia - or giving them a 2
day layover. We'd opted for the layover, but then had the worry about
whether that was wise or not considering the seriously miserable weather.
-- Then the transporter (International Horse Transport) called and suggeted
that we cut the layover short in order for them to travel at night which
would be cooler. We said that sounded like a good idea. -- The weather
had been hot and humid in Nova Scotia as well, which is an unusual situation
for us. Anyway, they left around seven Friday night, and arrived here 24
hours later.
International Horse Transport's equipment and drivers are top notch
professional. The truck had TV cameras in each stall. The truck normally
carried 15 big horses in standing stalls. For us, they'd divided the truck
into box stalls with two fillies in each, and a bigger stall for the last
three. The weather had improved. It was drier with a lot of wind. Not too
bad, we thought. And when the fillies came off the truck, they seemed
chipper enough, although the truck was hot and stuffy despite the state of
the art ventilation system. It was still hot!
We have four large foaling stalls with a run-in shed in the middle. We put
two fillies in each stall and the last three in the middle. The run-in shed
had a large field watering tank. Each stall had ten gallons of water in it.
--- By morning, the large tank was half empty, and the buckets in the stalls
were dry.
The whole day Sunday, we filled buckets for those fillies. They just
couldn't get enough water. I have never in my life seen horses drink so much.
We cut up a lot of apples, but most of the fillies wouldn't touch them. I
made huge bran mashes with lots of oil, salt, and electrolytes, and they
devoured those.
My plan was to let them all loose in the big field after a night's rest in
the stalls, but they seemed so tired this morning that I scrapped that idea,
and just let them be. They arrived extremely dirty, and I wanted to brush
them a little, but decided it could wait.
They are all even more beautiful than I remember (underneath the scurf).
Most of them are unusually big and tall, but I never judge Fjords on that
basis alone, so chose three or four little (but exquisite) ones.
There's quite a lot of new bloodlines in this group. There are two Ohlsen
Junior fillies. Ohlsen Junior is the sensational mover.
There's a Dragset, and I believe there's only one other Dragset in North
America, a mare we imported years ago.
There's a Nordal, one of Holland's three Elite Stallions.
There are two fillies by Arin. I'm almost positive there are no other
Arin's and Arin is very famous in Holland for the quality he produces.
There's one Briggen. Briggen is a grey, but this filly is brown dun, and an
incredible beauty.
There's one Tunar -- Also new blood.
There's one manus --- New blood.
There are two Lenngards --- New blood
There's one Larsto --- I believe I imported a Larsto last year.
Anyone seriously breeding or planning to, would do well to check out these
verey good young mares. Please call or email with any questions.
As of last night, we have thirty-two Fjordhorses here at Beaver Dam Farm.
Best regards, Carol from Nova Scotia
