Slow Motion

Everyone seemed in slow motion today. Air temperature was warm enough, above zero - I think I read 13 at one point. But oh my the wind still whipped a lot. Sent a chill down my body when I was out.

Seemed like the ponies, although released from their temporary prisons, were in slow motion today. Not much moving around and mostly had their tails to the wind. Even Shiner, the stallion who was in for 6 days rather than 5, backed up to the wind break he has instead of his usual romp and stomp the jolly ball today. Oh yeah - I found his jolly ball finally. His brand new one, as well as the ball he stole from my dog a couple weeks ago.

My poor 2 year old stallion had to stay in today, he got to go out yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow all will be set back to right and all the boys will get to go out for their share of the day.

The barn is a mess, still. I declared it still too cold to transport poo poo to the manure pile. Tomorrow should be better. I decided to do more research.

I received an envelope full of articles from an old Magazine called Hackney World from a friend in KY. Wow is all I have to say. I did not realize when I bought Carnation and Tulip what I was buying into. But now I have some semblance of their existence and why their breeding is the way it is.

The packet also had a controversial article in it, about breeding and the true destiny of the Hackney pony. Although it was informative, I took debate with the author's ideal pony - always to be more than 13H tall, head set to be natural not man made. A few other comments about conformation rang true and I couldn't disagree, but it was the author's intent to try to sway the reader into discarding all of the smaller, under 13H ponies and for the breeder to never breed for the smaller version pony. He thought them to be unhearty and weak. I beg to differ, if he were to meet my Tulip, who is a mere 46" (that would be 10.3 Hands), and to see the lineage that she came from, it might have set him back in his chair.

Another article, written in commentary form expounds on breeding 'form to function'. Something I have had a very good friend of mine repeat to me over and over. She is a judge, and judges according to the creedo. "An eye for excellence, a solid knowledge of genetic inheritance, and a commitment to quality are readyily evidenced in the breeder of merit....all this plus a little genetic luck." The article pens that 'new genetics cannot be created from within a species or Breed, so the challenge comes form using the existing genetic variances within the population to create the next generation of superior individuals.' Extremely well put and has made the muffled thoughts in my head become crystal clear. So far, it has been by sheer luck and a good solid prayer that my breeding program has benefited much.

When pieces of a puzzle fall into place, the jagged edges of our precipiece that is set out before us is smoothed into a firm walking ground. That walking ground is the show ring. Our placings become our proof that the breeding program we set out on, or lack thereof, comes to fruition.