It's voting time! Ballots are now out in the mail. Please return them in the enclosed ballot envelope postmarked no later than 11/14/2022.

There will also be a BOD Candidate Townhall on October 25, 2022, 6PM MST, to give the membership an opportunity to meet the candidates and ask them questions. Please see the following link for candidate biographies:

CLICK HERE to view election candidate biographies

NFHR Election Candidate Town Hall Zoom information:

Topic: NFHR Election Candidate Town Hall Zoom
Time: Oct 25, 2022 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88355878491?pwd=ZlEzQ0ZsMWlZaENHV01pdzUzcUh4QT09

Meeting ID: 883 5587 8491
Passcode: 624890

NFHR Members:

We want to sincerely thank the membership for their comments and suggestions related to the proposed rule changes from earlier this year. The topic of crossbreeding is what stood out the most and the BOD took this topic to the top of our list.

After the Membership Townhall and June 30 comment period ended, the board thoroughly reviewed and discussed the membership comments. The common theme was the membership wanted action taken to clarify the rules of registration as it related to crossbreeding. While the board had stated earlier in the year we wanted to hold off on rule changes for 2022, the membership comments indicated otherwise. The Rules Committee was given the task to come to the board with their recommendations.

At the BOD meeting on August 9, the Rules Committee brought 4 motions to the table for discussion. All 4 motions were discussed at length amongst the board and voting was conducted to accept the 4 motions. A 5th motion was also brought forward based on the newly accepted rule updates.

The Rules of Registration and Transfer have been updated accordingly on the NFHR website. A summary of the approved motions are as follows:

Motion #1:
It is hereby moved that all issues concerning modification of Rules of Registration shall be addressed and adopted by the NFHR Board of Directors within the existing NFHR Rules of Registration and not be codified in the NFHR By Laws.

Motion #2:
It is hereby moved that the following amendments to the NFHR Rules of Registration be adopted by the NFHR Board of Directors:
ARTICLE I - CRITERIA FOR REGISTRATION
D - OUTCROSSING PROHIBITION
Delete "In the interest of protecting the genetic purity and the highest standards of the Norwegian Fjord Horse, the NFHR Registrar will withdraw from the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry any mare or stallion that is used for crossbreeding with another breed or species. Violators may have their membership suspended and may lose all membership privileges including registration, transfer of horses and any voting rights. The names of horses who have been crossbred and their owners will be placed on the suspended list."
Add "The NFHR prohibits NFHR registered horses from being outcrossed with other breeds of horses."
"If an NFHR registered horse, mare or stallion, has been proven to have been used for outcrossing with another breed, the NFHR Registrar will withdraw that horse from the Registry and so remove any registration privileges to that horse and to any future progeny of that horse."

Motion #3:
It is hereby moved that the following amendments to the NFHR Rules of Registration be adopted by the NFHR Board of Directors:
ARTICLE IV - REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
SECTION B - DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR TRANSFERS FROM OTHER REGISTRIES
Add: 8. Horses registered in Foreign Registries that have been used for outcrossing may not be transferred to the NFHR except in the following circumstance:
a. If the horse was outcrossed to another breed, and that horse’s home Registry does not prohibit such outcrossing, that horse may be transferred to the NFHR with the stipulation that future outcrossing of that horse is prohibited and violation of that prohibition would result in the same penalties as those described in Article I, Section D.

Motion #4:
It is hereby moved that the following amendments to the NFHR Rules of Registration be adopted by the NFHR Board of Directors:
ARTICLE XI - APPEALS REGARDING REGISTRATION, TRANSFERS AND FEES
SECTION C. HARDSHIP SITUATION
(Delete bullets numbered 1, 2 and 3):
C. Hardship Situation
1. The definition of a hardship situation is the inability to provide the required paperwork due to:
a. Death or incapacity of a required signer
b. Inability to locate a required signer
2. Proof of parentage will not be waived.
3. In the case of a hardship situation appeal, the appellant must make a diligent effort to locate the required signer and disclose their process and findings to the Board of Directors.
Add:
1. The definition of a hardship situation is as follows:
a. The inability to provide the required paperwork due to:
*Death or incapacity of a required signer.
*Inability to locate a required signer.
b. Other hardship situations as identified by the NFHR Registrar and Board of Directors.
In any hardship situation, proof of parentage will not be waived. In the case of a hardship situation appeal, the appellant must make a diligent effort to locate the required signer and disclose their process and findings to the Registrar and Board of Directors.

The NFHR Rules of Registration and Transfers can be found at this link [ click here ].

In addition, there have been questions about the Zoom meeting recordings. For clarification, the recording of the BOD meetings are for use by the Secretary to generate minutes. Zoom BOD meeting links will not be shared with the membership.

We encourage members to listen in via Zoom to the live meetings and ask questions at the end of the meeting. The dates and times for the meetings are posted here:
Calendar

Meeting minutes can be found here:
Meeting Minutes

Please send comments or requests to the BOD using the contact information found here:
Contact Information

Our Summer issue Fjord Herald is now available to view on our website. You will find each electronic Herald on our "Fjord Herald" page on the website.

We thank each member for supporting the NFHR and understand our need to cease sending our magazine to all members. For those who have subscribed, they have been sent out in the mail. You will receive them soon.

Visit our Herald page, by clicking the menu selection on the left, "Fjord Herald".

To directly view the current, 2023 Summer issue, click here.

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Board of Director meeting Zoom recordings are posted on our "Reports/BOD Mintues" page. The recordings will be available until the approved minutes are posted. When the minutes are approved and posted, the recording will go away.

This video is the property of the NFHR and custody of it is officially retained by the NFHR. No one is authorized to re-publish any portion of it without the express written permission of the NFHR. While the minutes are posted so people can see what transpired during the meeting, our written board-approved minutes are the official record of the NFHR. The video is not the official record.

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The NFHR is pleased to announce a planned evaluation on September 9-10, 2023. This evaluation will be held at Ironwood Farm, in Rixeyville, VA. There is a cap on number of entries accepted, so first come, first served. We will begin a waiting list, should we reach capacity. We are excited about holding our first evaluation with our updated program.

To download the entry form [ click here ]. Complete this packet and return it to the NFHR office. You can scan/email if you choose. Deadline for entries is July 10, 2023.

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On 12/23/22 the NFHR board voted to cease sales of microchips. Microchips may be purchased by other means and reported to the NFHR. To report, go to our forms page [ click here for link ] and download the "Notification of Microchipping" form. Complete that form and return it to the NFHR office.

If you have no other means to obtain a microchip, you can order using this link: [ click here ]. "The perfect microchip for all things Equine: Proof of Ownership, Health Certificates, FEI Passports, USEF Rules, Event Registration and more."

These proposals have not been initially approved by the NFHR Board of Directors. They are being provided to the NFHR membership for comments. Please comment on which proposal you prefer. You can comment on all 4 or any number of proposals. Members can provide their written comments concerning these changes to the NFHR Office until June 30, 2022 (email to jeanne@nfhr.com or letter to NFHR address (see contact page)).

[ Click Here ] Proposed Rule changes for Article I, D of the Rules of registration (crossbreeding clause) Please send your comments to the NFHR office.

At the NFHR Board of Director's Face-to-Face meeting on January 30, 2022, the board approved these changes to the Rules of Registration and Transfer. Please carefully review the changes in red. Members can provide their written comments concerning these changes to the NFHR Office until June 30, 2022 (email to jeanne@nfhr.com). After the membership comment period, the Board of Directors will consider the comments before approving with a two thirds majority or disapproving the changes.

Please note; this document is not the entire Rules of Registration document, but only the items in the RoR which are being proposed for change. You can find our entire Rules of Registration at the link below:

[ Click Here ] Proposed Rules of Registration changes, Please send your comments to the NFHR office.
[ Click Here ] Entire Rules of Registration document

We are currently planning two evaluations this summer.

August 6-7, 2022: Granger, IA - Jester Park Equestrian Center. -- CANCELLED

August 27-28, 2022: Klamath Falls, OR - Klamath Falls Equestrian Center-- CANCELLED

Download the new Evaluation Program Handbook -- [ click here ]

The 2022 Annual NFHR Membership meeting was held on FaceBook Live, via the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry (NFHR) Group FaceBook group. Due to COVID restrictions, the board of directors met this year, however are not offering an in-person annual membership meeting. The video of the meeting can be watched on FaceBook at the link below:

FaceBook Group: Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry (NFHR) Group -- [ click here for video ] (fast forward about 7 minutes to find the beginning of the meeting)

The NFHR would like to introduce our new online studbook (pedigree website)! It will be accessible via the NFHR.com website, top navigation menu, "Pedigree Search".

In June 2021, the NFHR began using our new database. With the new database comes a new pedigree website. This website offers much of what our old one has, with some more added features.

A few items which are added: the new database gives us the ability to record color genotype DNA records. If you choose to do color testing on your fjords (not a requirement for NFHR registration), please forward the reports to the registrar and it will be recorded. The new pedigree website displays those that have been recorded. The new pedigree website allows multiple pictures to be uploaded. For now, all pictures need to be forwarded to the Registrar for uploading, jeanne@nfhr.com. Once Phase II of the database is completed, the member will be able to upload their own. The new database offers a Theoretical Cross feature for planned breedings, as did our old pedigree website, however, the new one offers a toggle to view horses that appear more than once in the given pedigree. Once you turn this on, you will see a red box around duplicate horses. The new pedigree website also gives us a complete history of owners for every horse. The new database also allows us to record any UELN numbers for any horse who may have one. The new pedigree website is updated in real-time with changes made to any records in our database.

If you find any incorrect information, or anything that appears to not be working properly, please feel free to contact Jeanne, jeanne@nfhr.com, to have her look into your concerns.

The NFHR office has released our membership list including members' contact information to Mr. Heussy, a Vermont attorney, who represents several unknown members. The members requesting the list wish to remain anonymous.

Although the list should only be used in certain circumstances under our privacy policy, we are required to release it to members by Vermont statute 11B VSA, paragraphs 16.01 and 16.02 where we are incorporated.

The request from the anonymous group states through their attorney that they wish to address the proposed changes to the Rules of Registration and be informed of the nominees to the Board for the current upcoming election so they may promote certain candidates.

Please refer to the minutes of the September 14, 2021 NFHR Board meeting for further background on this request.

Please note that there are no proposed changes to the Rules of Registration and that nominations had not closed at the time of the request. Nominations have now closed as of September 1st and have been posted on the NFHR website.

We regret the inconvenience and consequences if anyone has requested that their personal information remain private.

The link below is a letter the NFHR Board of Directors has written asking for input on a topic that will be discussed at the January 2022 Board of Directors meeting. In addition, it will go out to all the membership in the October renewal mailing so all members will be able to comment. Feel free to comment now or later. Please send comments to Rory (rory@nfhr.com) or any board member. Please do not comment on Facebook.

[ Click here ] to download and read the letter.

The NFHR Board of Directors have tentatively approved one evaluation for 2021.

The first evaluation will be held at Belinda's Best Little Horse House, in Cambridge, Iowa on Sep 19 & 20. The hosts are Jenny Olson, jen-jen74@hotmail.com and Sydney Baker, luckyfoxfarms@gmail.com. It will be held at the International Agri Center - Equestrian Center, Tulare, CA on Oct 30-31.
The host is Sara Jongsma, sara.jean@yahoo.com.

The link for the entry form for this evaluation is below. As in the past, we need application submitted by the deadline for each evaluation. If there are not enough entries submitted, the evaluation may be cancelled. The deadline is: Aug 31, 2021.

[ Click here ] to download the Tulare, CA Evaluation Entry form packet.

[ Click here ] to download the Midwest Evaluation Entry form packet.

Since we are living in a different world these days, all these plans are subject to the status of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time and the effect it has on traveling to the evaluation. The NFHR is watching the COVID-19 pandemic closely. NFHR especially is monitoring other equestrian gatherings that are scheduled around the same time as our evaluation this Fall. We will be watching the COVID-19 restrictions for California, the NFHR will not hold the evaluation. Checks and entry forms will be returned to the participants. Credit cards will not be charged. Before you submit an application, please review the NFHR Evaluation Handbook sections on NFHR.com to prepare you for the evaluations.

The NFHR is happy to be finally offering evaluations again! We need to get past COVID-19! If there is not an evaluation near you this year, we hope to be offering more in different parts of the country in 2022. Please support the evaluations the best way you can.

The links below are our new Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Use Policy. These are new documents created and instituted by the Board of Directors effective immediately. The Privacy Policy was created to protect the privacy of our members and state our usage of member information. The Website Terms of Use Policy outlines the regulations for use of our website.

[ Click Here ] Privacy Policy
[ Click Here ] Terms of Use

The improved Evaluation Program documents are now available. Sections 1-3 and 5-6 have been completed. Section 4 (performance) is still under review and will be posted in the coming months. The largest change is the linear scoring system which will allow a better understanding of each individual horse. The next step is for NFHR to hold or encourage clinics around the country to educate Fjord owners about the value of the new system. As soon as possible we will begin to hold official Evaluations again.

[ click here ] to visit the Evaluation Program page to find these .pdf downloads

The Board of Directors has extended its temporary moratorium on evaluations through 2018.

The purpose is to allow sufficient time for the Evaluation Committee to review the recommendations from the select evaluation committee regarding the suggested improvements to our current evaluation program.

As of October 1, 2015, all membership fees will be increasing. As of January 1, 2016, all other NFHR service fees will be increasing. (Fees and Services)

The NFHR Annual Membership meeting will be held on April 2, 2016 in Johnson Creek, WI. This year you may attend in person, *or* attend via your computer, smart phone or tablet!

Many thanks to all who participated in our survey conducted last year. The results were very interesting! The report will be a topic of discussion on the annual membership meeting agenda, in April, as well as the Board of Director's annual Face to Face meeting.

The NFHR and Trail of Painted Ponies proudly announce the release of "Little Big Horse", the first collectible Fjord Horse figurine!

Little Big Horse stands 7 1/4 inches tall, is 10 1/4 inches long, and is 2 3/8 inches wide. These are numbered, limited edition figurines.

Registrations and Transfers: Please refer to our Rules of Registration and Services and Fees page for NFHR rules and current fees before you send in your paperwork. Get your current years foal registrations in before they're 6 months old, to save on cost! If you have any questions, please contact the Registrar at 168极速赛车 or registrar@nfhr.com

As a NFHR member, you can purchase, for your non-NFHR member buyers, a NFHR Single Membership for only $45. Download the form below, complete it and submit it with your transfer paperwork and transfer fees. (for rule details, see the form)

Visit our page showing a video compilation of the TV coverage of the NFHR's entry in the 2014 Rose Parade. There is the RFD-tv piece they included in their program "Gentle Giants", of the fjords at the Rose Parade. Also on this page is a link to view pictures which were taken, as well. Many thanks to those who supported the fjords both in spirit and with generous donations.