This message is from: "Karen McCarthy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to chime in on a variety of things here. i have been so swamped that i just do a quick scan of the List daily, but there are a few things I wanted to comment on: I mailed out the Application packets for the Carson City Eval just over a week ago. So far, I have only had one sent back and I mailed out almost 300! Boy was I stupid in forgetting to hire my barn rat teenagers to do the stuffing, adressing & stamping. It took me almost 9 hours! Live & learn ;~>) So...if you are in the Westren Region, and desire to apply for this eval, please email me privately and I will send you the info. Also I cannot emphasize enough that if you don't have a horse that is ready to evaluate, but are curious about the process and want to learn more, please come and watch, and even participate as a volunteer. You can learn LOTS and meet many of your fellow fjord owners and breeders & officials in the process. FYI, if you want to view the site where the Eval is to be held, I will be taking pictures of the Horse Centre and placing them on my Picturetrail site by 7/29. I will re-post this to the List at that time. --------------------------------------------------- Butterfly bits: The one depicted on the Countryside.com site is not a true Butterfly bit, as in the one used for driving, also referred to as a Post bit. In the traditional Butterfly/Post bit, there are 2 swept back "tear drop" shaped loops (shanks) below the bit's mouthpiece, (not one), and the cheek piece (that connects to the bridle cheeks) is not as high/tall, and has a round loop, not a reverse of the shank loops. Also, it is not very common, or desireable to use a snaffle mouthpiece on a curb bit, as this one depicts. Much more common to have a mullen mouth or low port = a solid mothpiece. I tried contacting the Glory bit company to order a 5 1/2" mouth Butterfly bit, but never got thru to them, so I had a bitmaker in the Sacramneto, Ca. area make one up based on a drawing I made for him. It took about 4 weeks & cost almost $100, incl. s&h, but I am very pleased with it. It is made of sweet iron,(not shiny silver, but dark metallic grey) with copper strips inlaid into the mullen mouthpiece.It has a very nice angle in the horses mouth too. One thing I really like about it, is that where the shanks join the mouthpiece, they are hinged by a "barrel" joint, so there is absolutely zero pinching. Very similar to a Myler bit, but unlike the Myler's, the shank and cheek pieces move as one, not independently, and are less squirrly. (Myler bits can have a bit too MUCH signal, making them confusing to the horse IMO - I have tried them on very well trained horses.) Anyway, if anyone wants a nice driving bit based on a traditional Butterfly, that can pass muster in a CDE presentation, let me know. I'll let you know who to contact. -------------------------------------------------- Swimming: be careful out there! Yes, it is a blast, but do be aware that some fjords ( and like myself!) have negative bouyancy (sp) , meaning that we SINK in deep water, not float. (too much bone/muscle mass compared to fat/lung capacity). Take it slow and easy when entering the water the 1st time, and let the horse figure out how to swim, by itself, before you try this as a "group" effort. I kinda learned the hard way the first time out swimming a not very bouyant fjord. We were ok in the end, but it was a bit disconcerting to see your horse disappear below the water while underneath you! Not to mention getting water n their ears. Also watch out for: waterweeds in ponds. They can entangle legs and make some horses a bit panicky, not a good place to be if you are swimming alongside. Make sure you have a good route out of the water, especially if you are creek swimming. And always respect your horse if it absolutely refuses to enter some section of a creek or pond.. It could very likely have a bit of quicksand under the water.* all of the above learned by experiece ;~) The most fun I ever had was in a deep creek channel, that we were able to approach very gradually, and once in, the horse swam and we were moved gently downsream at the same time. Big fun! Enjoy your summer! Karen McCarthyGreat Basin Fjords :: Carson City, Nevadahttp://www.picturetrail.com/weegees ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. Click Here
