Re: Flash v/s Function
This message is from: Pat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I've been lurking with all the talk about type. Carol does liven up the chat room. I must say Anne is very articulate and conversations are interesting. Since Mike brought up the Quarter Horses, I have to jump in with a thought I've had for awhile. All this talk reminds me of the early 70's in the Quarter Horse world. This was a time of a major transition is the QH's and I feel like I'm reliving it. Halter classes were literally the tallest horse down to the smallest, and the more white the better. smooth muscled horses vrs the old bull dog. Big time change and alot of dissension. All I ever hear now is how the Quarter Horse has been ruined and how we the trainers, breeders, exhibitors and the guy who drug the arena and set up the speaker system has caused a down fall in the breed. The Quarter Horse Association is the largest breed registry in the world, I think they grew because the versatility of the breed reached out to the different avenues available. Yes, the hunter/jumper QH's now stand almost 3/4 TB in some cases, but a registered QH took the Jr Jumper Championship at Penn National this year. Look at Rugged Lark (by Really Rugged, a TB) what he and Lynn Palm did for the QH image and dressage, hunters...then think about the reiners and the QH's in the Olympics. If the QH remained the same, bull dog, cow working, calf roping animal in the sand hills of Texashummmin my opinion it would be a waste. There are still QH's built and bred for cow work, pleasure, and yes the horrible...horrible world of "only halter horse".although I do not agree that the halter QH is ruined either. To own a QH now means as an always asked second question, "what do you do with yours".the answer can mean everything from cutting to driving and everything in betweenin the late 60's-early 70's the english pleasure classes was a trot race, of short strided horses, noses stuck in their chests, seeing who could trot faster that the other, with the influx of horses like Swift Solo, Geetas Cat, Really Rugged and breeders like Jon Riker and Carol Harris, and trainers like Sandy Vaughn and Lynn Palm, QH's can now go back and forth in AHSA, USDressage Association, USCombined Training Association, ADS as well as AQHA ..OH.AND take little Sally to Pony Club or Sally's great grandmother on a trial ride safely. . I don't look to see Fjords becoming anywhere near the size and popularity of QH's, and I suspect alot of you would bail out before it did. But lets keep the big picture in mind before we condemn. We have 23 Fjords here and EACH one is little different, its fun and interesting to see and find what they each do well. I've gone on to long, and I still don't kiss horses. Pat with to much coffee @ Green Valley Farm
Re: Flash v/s Function
This message is from: "Meredith Sessoms" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Anne wrote ... >>>There were two mares left in the final selection of two or three year old mares at the show at Forde. One was a wonderful mover; free and uphill, pushing from behind; all those things that attract a dressage rider's eye. The other was not as nice a mover but was drop dead beautiful; a head and face to die for, striking in color and would turn anyone's head, horse person or not. The judges deliberated for a long long time and finally chose the nicer looking mare for first place. When I asked them why, they said that it was a tough decision but basically felt that it was more important to preserve type in the breed than to breed for more extravagant movement which, while it has it's place is not necessarily what is needed to pull the cart up the mountain slope or work the fields...I loved that moment because it took my trained sport horse train of thought and soundly planted it in the context of the breed at hand. <<< >Then Elaine wrote [EMAIL PROTECTED] : > >Since we are on this topic of type, your story from Norway left me a little >confused. It sounds like the judges where just going for looks and the >pretty face instead of function. I'd take a real homely, nice mover over a >gorgeous looking, average one. What's that old saying, "beauty is as beauty >does"...or something like that. But maybe I am brainwashed by years of >working with warmbloods! I got the feeling Anne meant that special, typey, Fjord beauty. There are some things that make a Fjord a Fjord and an Arab an Arab. What is a breed without these distinct features? For example ... they now breed Arabs with long ears, lots of bloodveins, long legs, and narrow faces with hard eyes. To me those Arabian have lost type. The Fjord people must pay special attention to detail to truly perserve breed type. Assuming both mares were good movers, one better than the other, I would go for excellent Fjord type rather than to go for movement. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that in-hand classes for horses and dogs are some kind of beauty contest. For some breeds that is exactly what it is. For other breeds, like Labrador Retrievers and Fjord Horses (and it should be for Arabians before they all turn into faux-Saddlebreds) conformation classes are an honest attempt to keep a breed distinctive and true to type. Without people agreeing on what makes a Fjord a Fjord - via the standard - and then educating people - via shows and evaluations and books - everybody would go by their own idea of what a Fjord should be, most probably based on the few Fjords they have encountered. The breed would lose type. It is a fad these days to say that a horse with a crest can't be athletic. If Fjord folks followed this fad we would loose breed type because a Fjord is not a Fjord without that strong neck. If this keeps our ponies from cutting cows like lightning ... then so be it. I don't want a horse that moves so fast she pops out from under me on a regular basis anyways! When you are talking about breeding Warmbloods, you aren't talking about preserving distinct features that make the breed instantly recognizable from any other breed. You are talking purely about conformation with some type thrown in, but not a distinct type. You could say, the Oldenburg has a longer ear, the Trakehner can have a dished face, but I don't know that anyone could take five typical broodmares from each of the Warmblood breeds and sort them out into their correct groups without looking at their brands. Recognizing type is very important with our Fjords. You can always breed for good movement within the breed but once breed type is lost can it be found again?? >>><<< Meredith Sessoms >>><<< Soddy-Daisy. Tennessee. USA >>><<< Dorina & NFR Aagot
Re: Flash v/s Function
This message is from: "Mike May, Registrar NFHR" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 11:50 PM 1/7/00 -0500, you wrote: This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anne, Since we are on this topic of type, your story from Norway left me a little confused. It sounds like the judges where just going for looks and the pretty face instead of function. I'd take a real homely, nice mover over a gorgeous looking, average one. What's that old saying, "beauty is as beauty does"...or something like that. But maybe I am brainwashed by years of working with warmbloods! Have you seen any of the "Beautiful" halter style Quarter Horses that can't even be ridden these days? Sometimes beauty is only skin deep too Elaine. I think what Anne was saying about the ones in Norway was that the beautiful one got the nod was that it also fit the "Type" better than the other one did. Not because it was "Beautiful" so to speak. Perhaps it was "Beautiful" because it was of the correct "Type". Mike === Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry Mike May, Registrar Voice 716-872-4114 FAX 716-787-0497 http://www.nfhr.com mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Flash v/s Function
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anne, Since we are on this topic of type, your story from Norway left me a little confused. It sounds like the judges where just going for looks and the pretty face instead of function. I'd take a real homely, nice mover over a gorgeous looking, average one. What's that old saying, "beauty is as beauty does"...or something like that. But maybe I am brainwashed by years of working with warmbloods! Elaine Olsen
