This message is from: Lori Albrough <l...@bluebirdlane.com>
On 1/27/15 12:48 PM, me.kint wrote:
This message is from: "me.kint" <me.k...@yahoo.com> And temperament/disposition--kind, willing to work are what our Fjords our known for. But unfortunately our system only allows a superficial evaluation of temperament by evaluators. The European system of evaluating temperament & trainability is a better more reliable, predictable system of evaluating temperament plus the ability to pass those qualities on to progeny are important in the final licensing of a stallion.
I agree with Mary Kint, and would love to see a focus being put back on temperament in the breed. I am always so pleased when mare owners who are interested in breeding inquire about Mogly's temperament. Temperament is a highly heritable trait and a very important part of the breed. A Fjord horse has to be sensible, kind, respectful, and want to work for you.
As Mary said, the European system has a much more thorough test of temperament, but not all stallions from Europe have been through that full suite of testing. It depends upon at what age and from what country they were imported.
Mogly has been through the 30 day stallion test in Europe. The horses stay at the test site where they are handled by impartial trainers (not owners) for 30 days. The trainers and judges evaluate all aspects of the horse over the 30 days they spend at the test site. Everyone involved makes notes of the horses temperament in all situations from in the stall to the training hall to trail riding even to being handled by the veterinarian. Mogly's temperament scores in temperament in this test were all 9 (which stands for Very Good).
This is important because temperament is a highly heritable trait. In Europe they monitor temperament closely. In Norway, for example, if the horse doesn't pass the station test with good temperament scores, he will lose his provisional breeding license. This shows as 0.pr on the pedigree in Norway. Unfortunately our pedigree system doesn't always show the 0.pr's when a horse is imported.
Some of the imported stallions such as Felix and Prydarson were evaluated in Europe at age 3 and brought over here before they were station tested, so they have a provisional breeding license which is known as K.pr. Stallions at age 3 are put through a smaller performance test in which the owner handles and presents them in several driving environments (eg, hitched to a 4 wheel wagon going up and down hills, hitched to a 2 wheel sulky on a 1km trot test). Temperament is scored as part of this, and mare owners would be encouraged to inquire about results.
Mogly and I spent a season training in Florida (a dream come true!) When I was away riding my other horses, the girl that groomed for my coach (the groom was about 5 feet, 100 lbs, 18 years old) told me she found Mogly was the easiest horse in the whole stable of geldings and mares to look after! She was surprised since he was a stallion and she had never before handled a stallion. She would tack him up and ride him through the streets of Wellington to the ring where my coach would get on and work him. I was so proud at that moment of the character of the Fjord breed and the system that had produced such a wonderful example of it.
I hope we never lose sight of the true Fjord temperament and always keep it foremost in our breed.
Lori -- Lori Albrough Bluebird Lane Fjords R.R.#3 Moorefield Ont Canada N0G 2K0 phone: 519-638-5598 email: l...@bluebirdlane.com http://www.bluebirdlane.com Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
