2015 WorldFengur Report

Here are some highlights (in my humble opinion):

In March 2016, WorldFengur, the Icelandic horse world registry, published a report on major trends in the registration of these horses.

Subscriptions to WF, currently 19,060 are up by 5% in one year. Over the past three years, the greatest number of users is in Germany 5,173 or 27% followed by Iceland at 4,028, Sweden 3,617, Denmark 2,639. Members are up by 11% in Germany and Sweden and down by 40% in Norway. (US is not mentioned.)

If you are a WF subscriber, you can purchase a service to view videos from Lansmot this year. WF is also adding videos from previous Lansmots that you can view for a fee.

Different countries now have different criteria for approval of stallions for breeding purposes. Iceland allows breeders to choose any stallion they want. Other countries have different criteria. WF continues to discuss if there should be standardization in this area.

There are 142 registered Icelandic horses in New Zealand.

“Should Icelandic horses always carry Iceland names? There are various takes on this topic: some studbook associations allow only Icelandic names, others are more liberal provided the name chosen is not offensive. In general, most horses get Icelandic names. At a WF meeting in Malmö in 2013, WF registrars discussed this topic and the outcome was that based on legal grounds, it is not possible to set stricter rules to the use of Icelandic horse names only, since this would infringe on the breeders´ freedom of choice.” P. 6 Personal comment: I sometimes get kidded about misspelling Blessi’s name (his barn name to me is short for Blessing). When I did a search in WF, I found about 17 or so mares named Pamela and 1 mare in Iceland named Pamela Anderson.  FEIF recently ruled that Icelandic horses should carry Icelandic names.

The number of foals born and assessed on a world-wide basis continues to drop steadily over the past 8 years. In 2008, 16,454 foals were born and 3,119 registered. In 2015 those numbers were 8,164 and 2,155 respectively.

In 2015, 1360 were exported from Iceland, compared with 1,269 in 2014. Export numbers: Germany—529, Sweden – 219, Denmark 165,US – 39.

The full report is no longer available online.