Current breeding and genetic health status of the Norwegian fjord horse
Abstract
The Norwegian Fjord Horse is known as one of the world’s oldest horse breeds. It has
maintained its characteristics through years of pure breeding, much aided in an early stage
by the shielded geographic location of its place of origin; western Norway.
The aim of this thesis was to gain an in depth view of the current situation of the breed as it
faces a dwindling number of new foals foaled year by year. I wanted to investigate how the
breeding of the Norwegian Fjord Horse is managed and organised and how this would
relate to the genetic health of the population as a whole.