I've kept silent on the standards and breeding issues until now since you posted so eloquently about it. I was very disappointed when I went through the I & C process, and seeing the WHF arbitrarily changing their standards sort of puts another nail in the lid as far as my warm and fuzzy feelings about how breed standards are made and implemented.
I would second your notion of forming a North American haflinger breed organization, as this is in essence what the Frisian horse breed people had to do themselves ultimately in order to get control of their breeding in the USA. (In spite of that, my friend who was formerly a board member with the FHANA says they are still dealing with a glut of very low bred horses being "dumped" on the USA by European breeders, making problems for owners/breeders in the North America.) It is not about only licensing "approved" stallions and mares, it is really about the general mean quality of the average haflinger ultimately. We here in North America need to keep a wide gene pool of good stock, and not narrow our selection standards and breeding to just a handful of horses such is the ultimate goal over there. In the short run it may cure some of the ills of overbreeding and horse glut, but ultimately we run into some serious genetic diversity issues which is plaguing some other breeds where for too long, too few horses determined the entire breed's genetics.
Ultimately we are in it for the horses. A small, well bred haflinger is just as good as any other well bred horse. (My own haflingers are all tall by the way, but that is because I'm a tall man and it looks silly if my feet touch the ground when I ride!-LOL)
Changing the breed as a fashion whim is something that breed organizations are supposed to exist to avoid. Quality is the bottom line, not other artificial standards like making a different horse from the haflinger than it is under the old standards. A horse breed is after all just a set of genetic traits selectively kept consistent through generations of careful attention to core traits. Yes, you can change those traits, but why? Why not just breed a different breed of horse in the first place if you in essence want something different. If I want an Arabian, I'll buy an Arab, not a blond haflinger (I dearly love Arabians by the way).
The essence of the haflinger is a sturdy farm horse that is good natured, versatile and relatively small. Dicker all you want about draft vs. sport confirmation, but don't force the breed to become something else by changing its very nature. As a smaller breed here in North America we can control our breed's destiny and we can do so in a way helpful to all haflinger owners without high handed disregard for horse fashion vs. old old fashioned virtues.
Anyway, my two cents worth...
Andrew MychalusPocket Pony Farm Haflingers
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