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LEAVING IT SIMPLE AND SENSIBLE KEEPS KARL F. VON GARDONY AT THE PINNACLE OF THE RACING PIGEON GAME by MIKE VAN DER JAGT Welcome to the first of many Canadian Racing Pigeon News Gallery features. This issue we will highlight the birds and methods of long time elite fancier Karl von Gardony of Bright, Ontario, Canada. Karl was an easy choice for the first edition as he has been a dominant force in racing since 1931. As a six-year-old boy in his native Hungary, Karl began his life long study of the sport. The fancy was well warned of the domination that would follow as Karl won the very first race he ever entered. Upon emigrating to Canada, Karl was quick to pick up where he had left off. Settling in the Toronto area, Karl also won the first race he ever flew in Canada. That was back in the early 1960's and he has never looked back. Of the 80 or so birds he has available to race each week, he will choose about 20 to go to each of two races that are flown every weekend. He often flies less than twenty to a race, but rarely more. The combine has a 25 bird per race shipping limit and he likes to stay below this amount. Unlike most of us, Karl does not handle the birds to choose his weekly candidates. He sits at his kitchen table with the loft book and decides who flies and who rests. Remember he believes that every pigeon has an obligation to be ready to go every week and physical or mental condition is simply not considered. Eight times in the last three years, Karl was 1st, 2nd and 3rd combine. Thankfully for the competition, the combine has a three bird-clocking limit. These consistently excellent results place Karl among the very elite in the North American Racing Pigeon scene. Karl's family of birds clearly bears the stamp of the master. This is not due to a long and faithful breeding program committed to the same group of pigeons or the domination of any one particular strain. It is the result of consistent selection with a heavy reliance on performance as the most important yardstick. To stay so far on top, Karl is relentless in his search for good pigeons. He will try a pigeon from any source, providing it meets his high standards. As an example, in 1987, Karl imported nine pigeons from Joop Beumer of Arnhem, Netherlands and eight birds from Raymund Hermes of Germany. In 1992, 16 Litherland Meulemans, 14 birds from Jan Grondelaers and 14 birds from Maurits Voets Kessel (the best of the Antwerp Union) were brought in. Today, all these bloodlines run through his flock, yet he was hard pressed to produce a single bird that was not crossed. Karl stated that if the true dominate racing fanciers ever resorted to wide spread inbreeding or even line breeding; it would spell disaster and the end of the modern day racing homer. Karl claims that if you examine the pedigrees of any truly outstanding performance loft, extensive crossing will be the order of the day. According to Karl, line bred families and pure this or pure that, only make for good champions. When the racing starts, these fancy champs disappear until fall auction time and the crossed birds take over as the boys of summer. No one particular family or key pigeon dominates Karl's loft. In fact, his 21 combined wins in the last three years were achieved by 20 different birds!He still has ten of these combine winners on the race team. It is this kind of depth that allows Karl to overwhelm the competition week after week. MEDICATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTS Health is an absolute must 365 days of the year. Any bird showing the least sign of weakness or disease will be dealt with quickly and severely. Perch space is at a premium and there is no room for a suspect bird. In the spring the birds are vaccinated against paramyxo virus and treated for five days with emtryl for canker and seven days with amprolium for cocci. No medication is given during the racing season unless a specific problem flares up. As suggested by the title of this piece, Karl tries to let Mother Nature take care of as many of the details around the loft as possible. He does not like the term "natural system" as nothing about racing is natural. He prefers to say that his birds race to the nest. Due to persistent pressure by hawks and falcons, Karl keeps his birds locked up during most of the winter. He will let them out occasionally if the weather and other conditions are just right.
A DEDICATED MAN SHARES IDEAS ON HIS SUCCESS... by Ron Allensen It was a glorious fall afternoon when I visited the von Gardonys at their home In Bright, Ontario. Sitting In lawn chairs, surrounded by the scarlet and gold of the Canadian autumn, I chatted briefly with Mrs. Von Gardony since Karl was In the lofts with some other visitors. It was Martha who gave me the first insights into the dedication Karl has for this sport. She compared Karl's work with his birds to that of a housewife, 'No matter how many hours Karl spends with the birds, there is always more to be done.' It is this kind of dedication that has made Karl Von Gardony the outstanding champion flyer that he Is. 14is birds and methods continue to prove themselves superior year after year. Karl is one of those flyers who just loves pigeons. He never bets on his birds; he just loves to see them winning - and win they do, from all distances. Karl's record of performance Is particularly outstanding from the long end. In '77, flying with the South Western Ontario Federation from Grand Mere Quebec. 720 km (450 miles), 50 lofts, he placed 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 with only 12 day birds in the federation. In the two Grand Mere races in '78, he received 50 day birds from the 59 shipped. No doubt this contributed to his being closed out of the federation the following year because he was 'on the short end.' Karl was not discouraged. In '79, he again took 1st and 2nd Grand Mere in club, 24 lofts. On being cut out of the big federation, Karl just took it in stride. He agrees he was on the short end but he insists the advantage isn't that great in a long race. He cites the '77 results and asks: 'If the bird that placed 2nd could do so flying 40 miles further, then where were all the birds in between?' EVERYBODY HELPED ME Karl has continued to be incredibly successful both in club and combine. In '82, his loft recorded the only day bird in the South Western Ontario Combine from Grand Mere, 81 lofts. The winning bird was 15 hours, 30 minutes on the wing. This hen goes back to the beginnings of Karl's family. She Is a direct descendant of 'Werner', a Paul Sion X Barker cock, C. U. Hall of Fame winner In 1962. Werner' is named for his breeder, Werner Wuebolt, who raced In Toronto In the '60's. In 1963, Karl approached Werner and offered him the equivalent of four weeks wages to purchase the cock bird. Werner would not accept the money but graciously gave Karl the bird. 'I was very lucky,' says Karl, 'I obtained top quality birds right from the start. Everybody helped me out. I had the best from everybody.' Karl has been very giving as well. Shortly after he arrived In Canada in '69, he joined the old Runnymede Racing Pigeon Club In Toronto. Despite his not speaking a word of English, he was promptly elected secretary of the club. He has served the sport, in some capacity or other almost continuously since he began to race pigeons as an 18-year-old. He has held positions on the executive of various racing pigeon organizations, including a term as president of the Canadian Union. When Karl came to Canada he was already an experienced and successful pigeon racer, having won numerous races and served as race secretary for the Budapest combine in his native Hungary. He remembers that post involved laborious hand calculation of speeds for 12 clubs. As Karl adjusted to Canadian culture and learned the language, he continued to race successfully from several locations In the Toronto area. However, it was not until he purchased his present farm in 1968 that he really began to excel. Karl believes it is much harder to be a great pigeon racer if you live in the city, and he credits his rural location as being a contributing factor in his outstanding success. When I first saw Karl's birds, I was immediately impressed with their beauty and outstanding vigor. They are mostly on the large side In terms of size and very powerful. Karl believes you need powerful birds to win on the tough east headwind course. I found it Interesting that Karl Is a firm believer in hopper feeding, and the birds have access to a mixture of up to 12 grains, as well as pellets at all times. He claims they never eat themselves full because right from birth they have all they want. Karl them to eat exactly what they want, not what he believes they should have. Even when they come home from a race, Karl feels they know best, what to eat and how much. The only exception to this feeding before the long races, when the pellets are removed to prevent the birds from going thirsty because of the salt content. As well, Karl feeds a mixture of up to 75 percent Canadian field corn for the longer races. No greens we fed because he believes the pellets provide all the might need. He uses broiler finisher pellets since he believes them to be fresher than pigeon pellets. Rounding out the program of nutrition is a grit containing cod liver oil, supplemented with oyster shells and chicken grower grit. He doesn't like using the red grit in its pure form, because he believes it has too much colour added. He also provides a mineral powder in galipots during the summer months. Twice a week, Vitapol is added to the water and the day after racing they are given Terramycin as a precaution against pannier stress and disease. As can be seen from this regime, Karl's birds are given the absolute best nutrition possible. To be successful, he believes that the birds must be looked after 365 days a year, and not just the 3 months during the racing season. As far as medication is concerned, Karl treats the flock preventatively twice a year: in the fall, and before mating. He finds it essential to maintain the absolute peak of health. Nitrofurazone is used as a precaution against Salmonella and Paratyphold. Amprol for coccidiosis and Emtryl as a precaution agains Canker. Karl cleans the birds' lofts very little during the racing season, only occasionally removing the 'top layer'. He cautions that if you are going to use a semi-deep litter, you must have an absolutely dry loft. He says that the birds themselves (particularly the feet) remain cleaner this way than in a loft that is scraped daily. The birds are kept free of feather lice by an early spring loft treatment with Harker's Duramitex. No powders or dusts are used since Karl finds them harmful to the bird's lungs. Karl doesn't believe in doctoring and this program of care has kept him from ever having had sick young birds. Karl also scoffs at eyesign or any other theories. He says he is not a dreamer, and he doesn't have to be, with his loft full of winners. Karl keeps about 150 old birds including breeders with a race team of about 80 birds. They are mostly blue checks and blue bars, with the odd black check and white flight. I asked Karl what kind of bird he likes a racer. He replied that he prefers medium to large birds, very powerful with broad backs. They must be built to fly mostly in side or head winds. He adds that they "don't often have yearlings capable of winning a 500-mile race on this course. The speeds are around 1,000 meters/minute, and it is most often a two-year-old or older pigeon that wins. Karl flys strictly the natural system because, as he puts It, 'I love my hens.' Karl's logic is that he's successful with the natural system, so why should he change. He adds, 'I love a good little hen beating those widowhood cocks.' Karl finds the hens are the best competitors, especially for the longer races. He has won more tough 500-mile races with hens than with cocks, and claims his greatest results are achieved with 2-year-old hens. In his words, 'Two-year-old hens are the fastest and the toughest; they can do anything that you ask of them.' I asked If he prefers to send his hens in a particular nest condition. He feels that it is definitely better when a hen has been sitting for at least 10 days. He has won many times by slipping a little, young one under a hen when she has been sitting 14 -or 15 days. Karl flys the cocks in any nest condition. He adds that he doesn't pool and he doesn't depend on one bird to win a race. He says it's a team; all the birds are capable of winning and he doesn't really care which one wins. Karl is known for having large groups of birds arrive together from the longer races. He remembers having 8 birds in two minutes from the 4O0-mile race. Many times he has clocked the five-bird club limit in one loft, and by the time he gets to the other lofts there are other birds already trapped who perhaps were faster. That doesn't bother Karl; he takes the ones within reach. Because he is considered the champ, other fanciers love to beat him. 'I can have 8 birds in the top l0, but if someone else takes 1st, I hear about it all over the district.' Karl laughs that good-natured laugh. 'But it is not often that they beat him. This year, of the 25 old bird races in club, Karl won 19 and he was never out of the top 6. An additional factor that aids In Karl's success is that he never seems to loose time in trapping. All of the birds are extremely tame and trusting of Karl. He likes to encourage the birds to walk in the loft rather than fly, and the traps are located at floor level. This is possible because the racing lofts are on the second level of the barn, about seven feet above ground. The landing board is 24 feet long and faces south on an open field. Being located inside the barn itself, the lofts are extremely dry. Karl leaves the wire-fronted windows of the racing lofts open almost year round so the birds get plenty of fresh air, even in the winter. The lofts are only 6 feet high since Karl doesn't want pigeons flying over his head. He will not tolerate any nervous or flighty birds, and insists that a good long-distance pigeon must be calm and collected. As mentioned earlier, Karl's family of pigeon's is based on 'Werner' - 'Old 1062'- Karl says that he was one of the ugliest pigeons to handle that you can imagine - 'but he would not give up. When others were sitting on the roof top he was still flying.' Over the years, Karl has always kept this line-bred family while constantly testing the best Canadian Pigeons for a judicial cross. An extreme few have been good enough to stay. Karl estimates he has to introduce 100 pigeons to get maybe one or two good ones. When Karl acquires birds, he likes to get as much of the winning family as possible for he will test them for up to three years against his own family. He adds that usually he will send out scouts because some people just don't want to sell to him despite his willingness to pay top prices. He recalls the time he offered a fancier 2,000 dollars for a particular cockbird but the fellow told him he wanted 4,000. Karl refused but subsequently purchased the same bird at auction for only 400 dollars. In addition to buying outstanding winners, Karl likes to buy the brothers and sisters of the winners as well as the parents, if possible. He laughs and says that quite often he ends up discarding the whole family. Sometimes he finds that the 'winning family' was just one bird and even it could not reproduce itself. He cautions beginners to stay clear of fancy strain names and pedigrees and instead buy from a winning fancier in your area. He remembers importing the aristocrats of the Gurneys' from England. He says they paid big money for the birds, but when they picked them up at the airport, he felt like disposing of them because they were such little sparrows. Karl went on to say they did fly fairly well, however, he ended up getting rid of them because they were just so ugly he couldn't stand having them in his loft. Karl has tried and discarded many families. The ones that have worked best for him are the Hector-Desmet-white flight family, the De Smet-Matthys, and more recently, the Tourniers and Van Wanroys. BREEDING When it comes to breeding, Karl believes in a good outcross. He thinks it is a joke that people say they don't outcross for 30 or 40 years. Karl contends that if you only have 20 or 40 pigeons in your loft, then you have to cross or you will end up with sparrows. He is a firm believer in 'hybrid vigour' and says a good outcross should be able to breed excellent pigeons as well as race. Karl doesn't believe in pure strains, eye sign or wing theory says you cannot look inside a bird, you have to know the pigeon and later the family. Karl contends that almost nobody has controlled condition breeding. When you have 50 pigeons in one loft, cannot be absolutely sure who sired a particular bird. To be 100 percent sure of parentage, Karl has several separate 'pedigree breeding lofts' where one cock is isolated with a hen. One of Karl's best old cock birds, isolated in this manner, this year produced 12 fertile eggs at 15 years old, a fitting testimony to the vitality and vigour of this family. He holds to the '3 month flying theory'. Karl usually mates up the breeders and racers at the same time, around the second week In February. The racers are only allowed to breed one nest. The rest of the year they sit pot eggs and are only allowed a youngster for a few days from time to time. Karl may breed 150 to 200 youngsters aside, not train them and pick 6 or 7 for breeding at the end of the season. The rest of Karl's breeders are made up of the best old bird racers. He told me that after they have put in several years of flying, there are not many left. Karl prefers a bird that can race consistently for up to seven years, and he says you can't just discard them after they have worked that hard for you. TRAINING Karl commences his old bird training a mere 2 weeks before the races start. The first toss is from 30 miles. From here they are jumped to 50 miles, from where they are trained for the rest of the old bird season. Even If It Is light rain the birds are still trained. Karl holds that they must be trained to fly under conditions that they might encounter on race day. Karl Is amazing in the zeal he shows to look after his birds and get them into top shape. During the old bird season he rises at 4 or 4:30 a.m. two or three times a week to train. He baskets the birds, drives to the 50-mile release point and then heads to work. After the birds have been home for about an hour, Karl's wife opens the trap and they are allowed open loft Karl comes home around suppertime. Karl likes to have all his birds well educated and well trained. The young birds aren't bothered until two week prior to the first race, when they are taken ten miles for their initial toss. From here they are taken to 30 miles twice and then 50 miles. They stay at 50 miles for the rest of the young bird season, being trained 4 or 5 times a week, always from the same spot. All the young birds are trained together since Karl doesn't have the time to single toss. If the bird has thrown two flight feathers two weeks before racing season then it is trained. Karl has noted over the years that often those youngsters that have just thrown two flights learn more quickly, turning out to be the better young bird racers. He thinks the younger the birds begin their education, the better the results. However, he adds he just doesn't have time to start training the early youngsters when he is still flying old birds. Karl will only keep the young birds that were not pushed to their limits. Promising young cock birds are often stopped early and those young birds that have flown further than 300 km are usually culled. Karl is truly a man who has dedicated a great deal of time and effort to perfecting his knowledge of the racing pigeon. His keen sense of observation and untiring energy has enabled him to remain at the top for many years. He laughs when answering what his advice to older fanciers would on how to stay on top. "Take 2 geritols a day, stay away from the booze, and get up early every day. If you slow down, your birds slow down." Karl laughs again, a brimming, full-bellied laugh that reflects his love of life. "I may call myself crazy when I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, but I love to fly pigeons just for the fun of it, not for the money. To tell you the truth," he says, "If someone were to say to me you can have first or you can have second and one thousand dollars, I would take the first." It's likely he will keep on doing just that for a long time to come because, above all, Karl von Gardony is a man who loves flying pigeons and to win.
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Karl von Gardony 
