This message is from: Nancy Hotovy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> My first comment would be in regards to having your farrier or veterinarian decide whether you have a stallion prospect or not. A farrier or veterinarian SHOULD be able to tell about conformation flaws however breed type is not something they would have any idea about. My farrier absolutely loved a 15 1 hand Fjord gelding I purchased that we nicknamed our "Thoroughbred Fjord" because he reminded us more of TB type than Fjord type. This horse had great conformation and a wonderful attitude but his type was totally out of sync with what a Fjord should be. Be careful in regards to judging a colt that is young also. Other than obvious conformational faults, they change a lot before they mature and all seem to go through an "ugly" stage at some point in their development. I'm not advocating keeping all colts in tact until they are older, but be careful in your assessment of a "good" or "bad" colt. No offense Brian and Steve but all veterinarians are not "horse" people.
As far as Fjord mares cycling different then other breeds, please explain further. Mine have always cycled pretty much like any other horse. Of course there are individual mares that have never read the book and do their own thing, however, we get many mares of all other breeds in our clinic for AI and there are a few of those that also do some very strange cycles so I would rather think it's an individual "mare" thing rather than a "Fjord" thing. My husband, Rich has done quite a bit of pulling over the past 10 years and has had teams that do very well (actually placing at draft horse pulls) and also has had horses that do not have the mind for pulling. Our best is a gelding "Anvil's Birger". He can pull and then be hooked to a cart or wagon and do fine. He truly is the exception as my feelings are that most horses can pull periodically but if that is all they do, they get that "pulling mentality". Rich works his teams in the woods quite a bit. Two years ago he logged 120,000 board feet one winter. He worked 6 days a week and his team was really "fit". Made him feel good when he went down to the barn in the morning and held out the collar and Birger put in head right in it - - never hesitated. Anyway he only entered the "fun" and "barnyard" pulls (the professionals really play hardball and some do use very controversial "training" methods) and placed near the top in every one against mostly Belgians. My personal opinion is that pulling itself is not cruel. It's one of those sports that people who are too competitive have made cruel, both by the training methods used and not knowing their horses well enough to stop when they have had enough. We sold a team to some VERY elderly people for driving. Heard later that they not only drove this pair EVERY day but would enter a pony pull periodically and had NEVER lost. I heard this from a very irate puller (who had just lost to them). He said he'd never seen anything like it - - the man couldn't walk very fast and his wife hooked the team and she was all bent over. The team just stood patiently and when the guy took hold of the lines and said "Let's go boy's" they just walked off with the load. This guy was soooo mad - sure those fjords were bigger than they measured. He didn't know who he was complaining to. Rich and I chuckled for weeks over that one. OK I'm going to quit chatting now. Sorry for being long-winded. I just have so much more energy with that heat index below 110! Nancy
