This message is from: "Arthur Rivoire" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hello Everybody from Beaver Dam Farm in Nova Scotia -
Recently, someone posted to the List a comment about the
contribution of mares in breeding. It may have been Jean Ernest. -- Jean
(?)
Something to the effect that 'stallions get all the notice,
publicity, and credit, when it's often a strong mare line that
makes for a successful outcome.
As a Fjord breeder of 25 years, I agree. In fact, this subject reminds me
of a time about twenty years ago when Bob van Bon was sitting in my
livingroom and made the same remark. --- For newcomers
who may not know who Van Bon is . . . He's the head of the Fjordhorse
Studbook of the Netherlands. He's the Chief Inspector of Fjords. He's one
of the world's foremost experts on Fjords. --
This was before we moved to Nova Scotia when we were living in New
Hampshire. -- Bob was sitting there thumbing through piles of horse
magazines, and he said
"Why do Americans talk so much about the stallions?"
"Why don't they mention the mares?" ---
He said that when he goes looking for a new stallion for the Dutch Studbook,
he ALWAYS insists on seeing the stallion's dam. -- He would never consider
buying a stallion that didn't have an outstanding mother.
I'd go a step further. -- Verifying the quality of the dam is important in
all horse purchases, not just with stallions. I always made sure to look at
the mothers when I was buying mares in Holland. I remember one time being
quite taken with a certain
filly; that is; UNTIL I saw her dam. The filly was really good looking as
a yearling,
but her dam was a runt which means that the chance of getting a high quality
foal out of the mare I considered buying was considerably dimished. Not to
mention that despite the filly's youthful promise, she might not mature as
good as she looks now.
Think about the importance of this! You're at an American evaluation, and a
certain young mare receives a blue ribbon. You decide to buy that mare on
the basis of her evaluation, and the fact she's by an evaluated
tallion. -- However, if you haven't studied the pedigree on both sides,
and if you don't know the dam, then you may be in for a surprise when you
breed your mare. For instance, if you intend to breed the mare, you might
want to know if the mare's dam has a good breeding history.
For the last 25 years, we've been breeding Fjords at Beaver Dam Farm. We
don't breed a lot of them, but we make every effort to breed good ones. --
We started our breeding farm with three high quality imported mares from
Holland, all bred to different approved Dutch Studbook stallions. -- In the
beginning, we used the stallions available at the time. They weren't the
best, but were the best available. Luckily, our mares were such good
quality, that the foals we produced were of decent quality.
.
Then, in 1985, on a trip to Holland, I saw a wonderful stallion, and
decided this is exactly what we needed to achieve our goals at Beaver Dam
Farm. == Unfortunately, he wasn't available at any price at that time --
Luckily, two years later he became available, and Arthur and I imported the
proven stallion, GJEST.
Gjest was as proven as it's possible to be proven. From what I've been
told by Bob
van Bon, Gjest is the only stallion in Fjord history that has an unbroken
sire line of approved stallions down through the history of the breed,
leading back to the "Matador" stallion, BARONEN.-- In other words,
Gjest's sire, Helgas-Jarl, was a Norwegian (and Dutch) 'Approved Stallion',
as was Helgas-Jarl's sire, and his sire before him, and his sire before him,
and so on down through the ages -- Such a bloodline is dependable,
consistent, certified, trustworthy, proven, reliable, tested. . . TRIED &
TRUE. --
Well, back to the importance of the mares, and my point that -- THE
STALLION CAN'T DO IT ALL! If a wonderful breeding stallion is bred to a
common mare, she'll likely produce better than she is, but the stallion
cannot do it all! It won't be a high quality foal. --When we imported the
stallion, Gjest, we had as good as they get. Yet, we knew we needed to
breed Gjest to the best mares we could find. And to that end, were careful
to choose mares sound in every aspect --- bloodlines, temperament,
movement, trainability. It isn't enough that the mare is beautiful! In
order for that beauty to be more than "skin deep", she MUST have been bred
for it.
We've learned how vital it is to have a high quality mare, no matter how
good your stallion is. When we first started, despite all the hoopla about
stallions --- which would make anyone think the stallion does it all --- we
knew that scientifically the mare contributes 50% to the resulting foal. --
Frankly, I've always thought she contributed more than half, and she does
when you consider how she imprints her own character on the foal. She's the
one raising him.
