The AGM of the European Horse Network (EHN) and the Conference in the European Parliament took place took place in November 2017. The seminar in the European Parliament concentrated on the consequences of BREXIT and to a large extent on the future of the horse industry with emphasis on programmes for young riders. Thus it seems that FEIF is on the right way regarding the future with programmes for young riders, young trainers, young leaders and young members in committees.
Planned EHN topics for 2018 are further collaboration with the European Commission and MEPs on insurance topics, lobbying issues and the Equine Conference in Autumn 2018 as well as the impact of equines in agriculture and the importance of trade and movements of horses in EU.
For FEIF the most interesting items were legal aspects in horse registration as they could affect the position of FEIF member associations. Among them the new EU General Data Protection Rule (GDPR), effective as of May 2018 that concerns the data handling and issuing of horse passports, which might allow other parties to issue passports for Icelandic horses (EU rules about an open market). In some countries regional studbooks not connected to specific breeds are exploring the option to work across borders (EU rule about open borders) which has a drawback that WF issues IDs according to the rule that the soil where the horse is born is leading, while sport horse breeders use the breeding association as leading, independent of the location the horse is born.