On May 23, 2008, at 8:23 AM, Wanda Lauscher wrote:
2008/5/23 Annie Shields <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
To the person who said it is wrong to separate 2-week old foals from
their mothers is ill-informed, as foals cannot be evaluated until they
are 4 weeks old. From what I observed, when foals began to panic
because of the separation, they were quickly reunited with Mom.
That's not to say I approve or understand everything I saw at the
Georgia evaluations, but we might as well stick with facts. Annie
Seriously though, what are you going to be able to tell from a 4 week
old baby?
Personality maybe...but conformation? Man...some of mine have changed
so dramatically from when they were small. Solon was the biggest ugly
duckling on the planet and then he began to fill out and now he's
rather nice....
I would think *evaluation* of foals (numerical marks given based on the
system used for adult horses) would tend to reward precociously mature
and large foals, and carry the risk of trying to grow the foals up
artificially for evaluation time. Aren't there *shows* where owners
can exhibit their young horses in junior horse classes in hand against
their age peers? -- still not ideal (IMO until the horse is an adult
under saddle you don't really know its quality), but at least it would
give the owners something to do.
Lynn Kinsky, Santa Ynez, CA
ranch: http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/napha/HighPoint/
