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.