On April 14 and 15, the WorldFengur workshop 2023 was held in Frankfurt, Germany, with 25 registrars from 16 countries. 18 participants took part in the workshop on site, and another 7 participants from Australia, New Zealand, France, Norway and Belgium joined online, the seminar was moderated by Kristín Halldórsdóttir, chair of the FEIF Registration Group.
After 2018 in Berlin, this was the first event of the working group and the participating registrars of the FEIF member countries. In many countries, the registrars had meanwhile changed, so there was great interest in getting to know each other and exchanging views on current issues related to studbook work. In this respect, all participants were given the opportunity at the beginning to present the current role and use of WorldFengur in their countries. In addition, various speakers were invited to give in-depth insights into specific aspects of the registration system.
Dr. Elisabeth Jensen, Breeding Director of the Pferdestammbuch Schleswig-Holstein/Hamburg e.V., explained the legal basis of horse breeding in the EU and Germany and provided details about the cooperation with the studbook of origin and the cross-border activities of breeding organisations in the EU. Inge Kringeland, FEIF Breeding Director, presented the FEIF rules and regulations and their specifications for WorldFengur and informed about the breeding shows at the World Championships 2023 in the Netherlands. Lena Reiher, member of the Breeding Judges Committee in FEIF, gave an in-depth insight into the successful planning and execution of the Breeding shows and Elsa Albertsdóttir, Breeding Director of Iceland, explained the current breeding programme of the Icelandic horse and went into particular detail about the use of breeding values. Another topic was the colour project for Icelandic horses, presented by Kristín Halldórsdóttir. A modified colour key will be published in WorldFengur soon and will support registrars in correctly recording the colours
All participants participated actively in the discussions and the exchange of information. This workshop successfully supported the acceptance of WorldFengur and the cooperation between the FEIF member countries.