Re: RC: [arab-l] Re: Bill Sheets

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 10:49 PM 10/4/00, Mickie wrote:
>this colt had no idea what grain was -- my friend had to literally put it 
>in his mouth.

I know nothing about Bill Sheets or this sale or the horses, however I do 
know the power of the internet.  An eye witness report, which Mickie's 
apparently is, can get spread all over the internet - and unless the 
wording is very careful, can become something entirely different than when 
it was first posted.

So - I am not exactly defending Sheets, but I would like to point out a few 
things to think about.

We don't feed grain here so our young horses don't know what grain is by 
experience, either.  We feed hay, hay pellets, beet pellets and a 
supplement of blue-green algae.  Perhaps if/when grain was first placed in 
front of them, they might not be motivated right away to try it, either, 
but so what?  That's how jsut about any horse is with new food.  My point 
is that a youngster's not having ever been fed grain is not a indicator of 
abuse.

>Sheets also bred papers, with no regard for the actual animals.  This colt 
>at our barn was club footed and parrot mouthed

It is a rare breeder these days who knows what all or even most of the 
recessives are in breeding animals.  A few years back our stud and his 
daughter had an unauthorized one-time meeting which resulted in a colt the 
following winter.  The (now gelding) is very small (slightly under 14 hands 
at 4 years old) and has a club foot.  Neither parent has a club foot, both 
are 14.3+.  None of our stallion's other foals have club feet, and the 
dam's sisters don't either (we havent' bred her).  So - recessives 
happen.  You don't have to be a "breeder of papers" to wind up with less 
than perfect foals.

Of course, breeding by papers is a pretty common phenomenon.  Especially 
when the "papers" are accompanied by a National Championship ribbon or 
something.  Foals that were bred on that basis appear every year after the 
lastest flash-in-the-pan champion stallion is pinned at various breed 
national competitions.  People will breed to an AERC Jim Jones Stallion 
Award winner, too, even though winning that award doesn't *initself* make 
that stud right for a given mare.

>IAHA did tell the new owners that they would transfer the papers though 
>I'm not sure if that ever came to pass.

IAHA is not the registry of purebred Arabians.  Were these part bred horses?

Again, these bad news posts tend to get passed all over the 
internet.  Maybe that's how so many of these hoaxes start - originally 
based in fact but eventually distorted.  So - all I'm saying is be cautious 
when you post, especially an email that is critical of someone  - you never 
know how it will end up.

Lif  (the one time focus of an email attack based on incorrect info from 
someone else's email).


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