This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi all,
Hope this gets through. The latest issues of blank messages from the list reminds me of how I look forward to "list news." While wondering what has gone amiss, I have been Contemplating NOT HAVING a Fjordlist at all. NOT A FUN IDEA! The information at THE BOTTOM of this post is about a "sport pony studbook" in the UK that came to me from another list....raising the possibility of registering some of the more athletic Fjords....as sort of downsized "warmbloods." Anyway...thought others might know more about the politics, etc of sport pony studbooks in the US, Canada, Australia, etc...and maybe generate some interesting discussion. Did Lisa Pedersen ever reappear? I know someone posted about her on the list, and I had been wondering what had become of her. Anyone ever hear? Now for the "Romulus Report." Romulus, my former naughty-boy stallion, has been in training with Beth Beymer at Starfire Farm for the last year while I have been trying to catch up with my life in California. Before that he had spent the winter with Brian and Ursula Jensen in driving training at Trinity Fjord Farm in British Columbia. Beth and Brian have done a fantastic job with him, which I will post about further when I actually DO catch up with my life, but I wanted to crow just a little bit about how well he is doing. Two weeks ago I went to Colorado on the occasion of Rom's first outing as Beth's "Horsemanship 1" steed at a Buck Brannaman clinic. Rom did unbelievably well! Listers in the West may remember Rom at Libby last year (where he was "Very, Very Good") ...and also several years ago (where he was "Very, Very Bad!"). Last fall Beth and Sandy brought him to the evaluation at Libby after having had him in training for all of two and a half months. (When I sent him there his ground manners still needed work, and he knew nothing about being ridden.) He was entered in the conformation evaluation, beginning driving, beginning English riding, and draft, where he earned blue ribbons in all but the English riding (the poor guy was just a bit too green to do those twenty meter canter circles). Rom's success was amazing considering the fact that he had been at Libby two years before, where he was essentially out of control! (After I bought him people wrote me e-mail "good luck and my condolences" type messages, reporting that they had considered buying him because he was so gorgeous, but thought he was way too out of control to even consider!...OOPS!) Anyway...Rom was an angel at Libby, and he was fantastic at the Buck Brannaman clinic. The Horsemanship 1 class was done in a small arena, with a lot of horses (30?), many with very green riders. In the old days Rom would have been screaming to all the mares, threatening all the geldings, and walking all over his handler....and yet there he was, after being hauled to the facility with Beth's mare, saddled and bridled in the open, performing on a loose rein with a snaffle bit, allowing Beth to hold the the lead rope on a gelding while Buck did a demo, and outdoing many of the quarter horses doing rollbacks on the arena wall! The second day I was helping tack him up and went to fetch Beth's bridle. I, of course, went for the REALLY NICE one, with Beth's treasured rope reins...not realizing that Rom had worn Beth's everyday bridle the day before. Beth looked at her favorite bridle, swallowed hard, and then said, "He has earned the right to wear this bridle" and put it on him. The brown, black and white reins looked gorgeous on him! And he went on to prove that he had, indeed, earned the right to wear them. At one point Buck congratulated Beth on her work with him, pointing out that he figured people in the arena had no idea they were riding with an intact stallion because his manners were so nice. (They hadn't...some began giving him a wide berth once they realized he was not just another gelding.) Rom even excelled at being ridden with a string around his neck (with bridle left on for safety...no stud is THAT trustworthy), though he did have a little problem with the back-up as he thought the signal for the back-up, i.e. a pull, and then "sawing" on the neck rope if that did not work, was just a new and better way to get his neck scratched! The idea was that he would try to stop the "sawing" by moving back because it was uncomfortable....but he thought it felt GREAT! Rom's transformation did not come easily, and was the result of considerable effort by Beth and Sandy and by Brian and Ursula. Rom had learned some pretty bad manners before I bought him. In addition, he has NO shortage of testosterone! Lack of libido is not his problem in life! When I bought him I somehow managed to talk Brian and Ursula Jensen into taking direct delivery of him for training to drive. He went to their place in Lumby BC just as winter closed in. I am sure Brian was horrified when he realized what he had taken on...but he started and persevered with teaching him to drive, at no inconsiderable physical cost. (Brian and Ursula sent me periodic "progress videos," one of which included Rom swinging around at the tie rail while Brian tacked him up...and stepping on Brian...with Brian limping off from the encounter! This sort of thing was typical of Rom when we started....he was not mean....just not the slightest bit concerned about where the human's body was when he needed to be scanning the horizon for MARES!) At first Rom was going to just board at the Jensen's for the dead of winter...but then Brian invented a new winter training tool....a travois with seat, and deep, deep snowbanks. I have a video of Rom getting silly while pulling this contraption with Brian aboard....and being turned into the deep snowbanks for a little reality therapy a la heavy white BC snow. Anyway....I am really pleased with Rom's progress and the wonderful training he has received . Someday soon I want to write an article for the Herald about the "Romulus Project" to document the help he has gotten and his remarkable transformation. Finally (before I post about the Sport Pony Study book), I wanted to report that Pilates training has done fantastic things for my riding skills, in only a few sessions. I had taken lessons for quite a while, with instructor yelling instructions, and no visible improvement or real understanding on my part. Then I went to a Pilates mat class and one private personal Pilates session at my gym. The difference is AMAZING. I can now feel when my seat comes out of the saddle on one side only (the difference in the tension in the abdominal muscles on the right and left is now noticeable...and can be corrected), when my right toe sticks out to the side because of a weaknesss in the inside quadricep from an old knee injury). My riding has improved, practically overnight and I can now use the Pilates instruction to strengthen the weak body parts that have been impacting my riding. If you can find a good instructor it could save a lot of money in futile riding lessons. (My instructor reports that her dressage rider clients particularly report the amazing difference the Pilates training has made in their body awareness when riding.) FINALLY....THE SPORTPONY STUD BOOK PIECE FROM THE SPORTHORSE LIST. Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-RCPT-TO: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi everybody I thought you might all like to know that the Department or Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has now officially recognised the Sport Pony Studbook Society in the UK. This is a very important stage in the development of the SPSS as it means that it will now automatically become a passport issuing authority for sports ponies in this country and will be recognised by the EU for that purpose. Those of you who do not live in this country -- and actually probably quite a number who do -- will probably be unaware of just how seriously and thoroughly DEFRA takes the recognition process. In our case it took over 9 months and required us to provide proof of our legal identity (ie registration as a company limited by guarantee), submission of our rules and constitution for examination, a visit by a specialist consultation appointed by DEFRA, three special meetings with the British Horse and Pony Breeds Committee and the National Pony Society and their representatives and a specific written declaration on our part that we would not issue papers for ponies eligible for'rare breed' or pure-bred Mountain and Moorland stud books or grade stallions and colts that had already been refused a licence by their original stud book. Of course, none of the above compromises our standards as a sports pony stud book in any way -- and were actually included in our rules already anyway. As Chair of the Sports Pony Studbook Society, this is a great day for me and my committee and means that we can really move on now and build upon the fact that almost all of the stallion and mares in the Pony A teams for dressage, plus several top eventing and showjumping ponies are already numbered amongst the almost 70 ponies graded or registered with us and provide a wealth of proven British and European bloodlines from which our sports pony breeders can now draw to maximum effect. Celia Celia Clarke Chair, Sports Pony Studbook Society Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
