Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Action Plan for the Conservation of the Faroese Horse
Nordic Council of Ministers, The Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen).
Búnaðarstovan.
Felagið Føroysk Ross.
Felagið Føroysk Ross.
Show others and affiliations
Responsible organisation
2024 (English)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Horses were brought to the Faroe Islands by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries. Over the centuries, the geographical remoteness in the North Atlantic Ocean forced these horses to adapt to their surroundings. Only the horses that could withstand the weather survived, and the Faroe Islands became home to a horse breed that was small, strong, hardy, and agile. The small horses were used by farmers for agricultural purposes and occasionally for transport between villages. Most of them roamed the mountains all year and no targeted breeding took place. The oldest record available of horses on the Faroe Islands is from 1857, which counted 844 horses with 396 mares, and 476 foals and stallions.

Exportation of the horses to coal mines in Britain combined with modernization of the agriculture on the Faroe Islands, resulted in a breed that nearly went extinct. By the 1960s, there were less than ten horses of the breed left alive. A rescue operation was initiated, and suitable horses for breeding were used, however many of them were already related. All Faroese horses alive today, are descendants of only four individual horses.

In 1978, the Faroese Horse Association (Felagið Føroysk Ross) was established to conserve the Faroese indigenous horse breed and they have kept a studbook ever since. In 2018, the online pedigree registration system Føroya Fongur was created, in which online access is provided to the studbook with extensive information about the Faroese horse breed.

By the end of 2023 there were 82 living Faroese horses. The breed can thank their survival to the hard work and dedication from individual horse owners and enthusiast through the years, and through the work of the Faroese Horse Association. You could say that the conservation of the Faroese horse this far is a success story as the breed has managed to survive and increase in numbers over the years. However, there are still several big challenges and threats facing this small and hardy breed. There is a critical need to act today to secure that the breed will be around for future generations as well. The Faroese horse is, after all, a living and breathing part of the Faroese cultural heritage.

All Nordic countries, including the Faroe Islands, have adopted The Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources (GPA) established by FAO in 2007. This framework obligates all parties to contribute to the conservation, sustainable use and development of animal genetic resources. One of the main areas of concern expressed in the GPA, is that there is too little research and information about many of the native farm animal breeds. Increased characterization, involving phenotypic, genetic, and historical information on breeds is needed (FAO, 2007).

The purpose of the Action Plan for the Conservation of the Faroese Horse is to highlight concrete actions and measures that need be implemented to conserve the horse breed for the future.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 41
Series
NordGen Publication Series ; 2024:02
Keywords [en]
Faroese horse, genetic resources, breeding
National Category
Agricultural and Veterinary sciences Biological Sciences
Research subject
Agriculture; Agenda 2030; Biology; Genetic resources; Sustainable development
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-13116DOI: 10.53780/KZAS7267ISBN: 978-91-986029-4-4 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:norden-13116DiVA, id: diva2:1846319
Available from: 2024-03-22 Created: 2024-03-22 Last updated: 2024-03-22

Open Access in DiVA

Download PDF(1367 kB)344 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 1367 kBChecksum SHA-512
e9da0d418f8cc76b2d4e908dcaf07405598d8db94364571cc46a8b66da8981cad704bddf920a11160bb8dd33b597d36847b2e63547b95b567ba9dbd8bed9fa4c
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full text
By organisation
The Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen)
Agricultural and Veterinary sciencesBiological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 344 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
isbn
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
isbn
urn-nbn
Total: 1675 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf