The Stallion Woodland's Dustin
by Gayle Ware
-----Original Message-----
From: FofDFJORDS@aol.com [mailto:FofDFJORDS@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 11:37 AM
To: fjordhorse@mailing-list.net
Subject: Woodland's Dustin, "Dusty"
This message is from: FofDFJORDS@aol.com
Carol,
Thank you for your invitation/challenge concerning stallions and their get!
Your post gave me cause to pause! Did some very heavy thinking. It, along
with something that happened at the Libby show which I will explain later,
gave me a wake up call on some things which I have taken for granted where
Dusty is concerned.
This type of information about the stallions here in NA is much needed. This
is the type of information which I, for one, would like to see included in
our Stud Book. A synapses of general qualities which a stallion produces in
his offspring, accomplishments which he himself has achieved, accomplishments
of his offspring, and personal qualities which he posses himself. Not in an
advertisement format, just the facts, sans superlatives. Let them 'be known
by their deeds'.
The proposed "Evaluation Booklet" which is being spearheaded by Ursula Jensen
under the direction of the Education Committee, I believe, will also be an
INVALUABLE tool. It will have the results of ALL of the Evaluations held
here in NA thusfar. What a treasure chest of information that will be!! A
long OVERDUE document!! Thank you, Ursula and members of that committee, for
tackling this project. It will be a benefit to all of us who own Fjord
horses!
Carol, in your post you mentioned the fact that Dusty's legs are amazingly
clean even after 10 plus years of extremely stressful work. That is the fact
which I had simply taken for granted. SHAME ON ME! That fact was also
pointed out to me by Ceacy Henderson at the Libby show. Ceacy had asked me
if I would let her and some other folks 'get their hands on Dusty' so that
they could really examine him to see if they could figure out what makes him
able to move like he does. I agreed as I thought it would be interesting and
fun. Ceacy also asked me how long I had been riding him this hard. When I
told her that it had been over 10 years, basically since he was 2 (yes he
came to me for training as a 2 year old), she pointed out the fact that he
has no signs of stress whatsoever, even in his hocks. If any of you have
been around reining or cutting horses, you'll know that most of them show
stress in the hocks. Most of them have, at least, bog spavin. Their
conclusion was that Dusty's conformation, angles, etc., particularly through
his hip and hind legs, must be as close to perfect as could be since he has
withstood the stress and strain without showing any ill effects. Frankly, I
was really beating myself up inside for taking that for granted! Guess I
just BELIEVED the statement that Fjords are amazingly sound. Dusty, I
apologize!
Here is the result of some 'heavy thinking' concerning Dusty and his
offspring, thanks to your prompt, Carol.
Dusty is sired by Anvil's Pluto (Dan) and out of a mare named Cloudy. About
the only information I have on them is that his sire was imported 'in utero.'
They are both still owned by Gene Crandall of Bellingham, WA. They don't
have very colorful histories that I know of because their owner isn't into
doing any kind of showing or evaluating. He just enjoys having them.
Dusty came to me as a 2 year old for riding training. He then belonged to
Chip Lamb. Since I was a Quarter Horse person at the time, I did QH things
with Dusty and much to everyone's amazement, he did very well at reining,
cutting, (yes, Fjords can have "COW") , etc. I have shown him in many Open
Reinings, even Snaffle Bit Futurities, and he has 'kicked some serious QH
butt'!
Dusty was evaluated by the Norwegians at the last one which they conducted
here prior to the NFHR Evaluation program being implemented. I presented
Dusty for Evaluation in Conformation and Advanced Western at the first NFHR
Eval. He earned a Gold Medallion. I believe he was the first one to earn
that award. He was also evaluated in Introductory English at the Evaluation
which I hosted in Eugene, Or last summer. He was ridden by Anne Appleby and
received that medallion. So, I, too, have all of those score sheets
available for folks to see.
Dusty has also earned his Award of Excellence through the registry for his
accomplishments in Open shows as well as at our breed shows.
I strongly believe, however, that just a pretty face does not a stallion
make. Just because they have the 'equipment' does not necessarily make them
a good sire. Their proof must lie in their 'pudding,' their get.
Last summer two of Dusty's daughters, Dustin's Celebrielle and Dustin's
Snickerdoodle, owned by Dan and Carol Tripp, came to me for 90 days' training
in preparation for the Evaluation. Celebrielle earned a blue ribbon in
Conformation and both went on to earn their medallions in Introductory
Western.
Several of Dusty's offspring are now beginning their careers in performance.
Quad L's Reidar, owned and shown by Debbie Brown, has been winning and
placing well in a variety of Western classes at Open shows in this part of
the country. Reidar also won his halter class at the Libby show this year.
Dustin's Ely, owned by Tracy Apalategui, has won several Western classes with
me riding him and most recently won one and placed second in English with
Tracy riding.
Dustenai, another Dusty daughter, owned by Patty Peterson of Libby, won the
very nice mares halter class at Libby this year and also placed in driving.
The frosting on that cake was when Dusty won the Aged Stallions class at
Libby this year. He won that last year at Libby as well. He also won Aged
Stallions when I showed him in Turlock in '96.
Here is what I have concluded about the qualities that Dusty is passing to
his offspring:
Dusty tends to produce foals taller than himself, but tends to lighten the
bone structure of the mare. His offspring have nice heads with large, dark,
liquid eyes. They have smooth profiles. By that I mean that when you step
back and look at them as a whole, they blend together correctly (form to
function), one part flows into the next as opposed to having a choppy
appearance like someone stuck parts of several horses together.
They tend to have a bit longer back than a lot of Fjords, but that allows
them to have a longer, reaching stride as opposed to the choppy, pony type
gait that I often see. Many of his foals have his long, reaching extension
in the trot, not the high 'hackney type' action.
They have whithers to hold a saddle in place and they have good rear ends. I
am a stickler when it comes to a good behind. Could that be because of my QH
background? When I first became involved with Fjords, I noticed a common
weakness in that many of them were too steep through the croup, were quite
base narrow and cow hocked. When looking at a horse's hip both from the side
and from behind, it must be correct for that is where their 'drivers' are,
that is where the impulsion comes from. Looking at a horse from behind, the
hip from top to bottom should be square, not wider at the top than through
the stifle, gaskin area. From there down one should see straight lines from
the point of the buttocks through the hock and down through the leg to the
foot. Dusty's foals are like that.
Their legs tend to be pretty correct. Some may have minor angular
deviations, but nothing major. They have all stayed perfectly sound and have
excellent feet.
Dusty himself paddles some, but that is not something that I see being passed
onto his offspring. They all tend to have good chests, not excessively wide
(hindering performance) nor excessively narrow (also hindering performance),
but with a good 'v' between the front legs. They tend to be very smooth to
ride and have animated, ambitious walks.
Dusty foals tend to be smooth haired, not the furry beasty type.
So far his fillies that have been bred have all conceived without much
trouble and have foaled with no problems (one of his daughters, Celebrielle,
the evaluation blue ribbon mare, produced a gray colt this year sired by my
junior stallion). Dusty himself is very fertile. This year we had 100%
conception rate both with semen shipments and live cover. That is the norm
for him. We are getting 90% viable semen after cooling and shipping.
I have found Dusty's foals to be a bit on the more 'observant' side, not
spooky just aware. Not at all ho-hum. They tend to have a very good work
ethic and want to please attitude. They have proven to be very good for
beginners right on through advanced levels in all different disciplines from
Western to English to driving.
Thank you once again, Carol, for opening the invitation for this type of
dialog. I look forward to hearing from other stallion owners on our List.
Gayle Ware
Field of Dreams
Eugene, OR
