Board of Directors

The FEIF president has the over-all responsibility within FEIF Board.  He or she acts as a link between the Board Members and secures the best possible co-operation within the Board. The president shall work to the benefit of all FEIF member countries and co-operates the service towards the FEIF Member Associations in general matters.

Jean-Paul is from Switzerland, living and working near Berne, owner and CEO of the family company working in wood transformation and handlings technic. He has a license as international sport judge and Icelandic horse trainer; he is an active leisure rider and has been World Championships team leader for Switzerland or France several times. He was twice competition leader at the Swiss Championships. Jean-Paul has been a member of the national sport committee of Switzerland, and as their president a member of the board of IPV CH, later responsible for the national sport judges.  He has been FEIF Director of Sport and member of the FEIF Board since 2018.

Jean-Paul Balz (CH) is FEIF President, having been elected at the Delegates Assembly in Sweden in 2023.

The Director of Breeding is responsible for the Breeding department and thus responsible for the rules and regulations for breeding shows, for the registration of Icelandic horses in the global database World Fengur (in co-operation with the Farmers Association of Iceland (Bændasamtök Islands)),the education of international breeding judges,  and the definition of breeding goals.

Current Director of Breeding is Inge Kringeland (NO), elected February 2016.

Inge Kringeland was born on a farm on the west coast of Norway and has been working with animals including horses the most of his life.  In 1996 he came in contact with his first Icelandic horses with a plan to train and sell seven horses to earn some money.Those seven horses have grown to more than 70.  Inge is now living in the eastern part of Norway, near Oslo, together with Anita Martinsen on his farm, Kringeland. He has 5 adult children and 9 grandchildren.

Inge Kringeland has a Masters degree in animal breeding and nutrition from the Agriculture University of Norway and he has been working in the  agricultural business most of his life. At the moment Inge is the head of the office for agricultural affairs in the local authority. Inge has been involved in animal breeding from different angles. He has been leading the breeding program for honey bees in Norway for 13 years, been the leaders of the Norwegian breeding Council for all races of horses for 7 years and the breeding leader for Icelandic horses in Norway for 8 years. Inge has “given life” to two new Icelandic horse clubs in Norway, Hrani and Kraftur and he has been the chairman or a board member in both.

Inge has been involved in FEIF work since 2001 as Norwegian breeding leader, chairman of the FEIF registration group and member of the FEIF breeding Committee.  

The Director of Education has overall responsibility within FEIF for promoting international cooperation between the member associations in the field of education, and works with the FEIF Education Committee for the benefit of all FEIF member countries respecting the national diversities with the aim of guiding the achievement of the vision, mission and goals of FEIF.

Silke Feuchthofen is the Director of Education, having been elected at the Delegates Assembly in Reykjavík in 2014.

Silke is IPZV Ausbilder, trainer level 4, FEIF International Sport and Breeding judge, National Sport Judge (highest level) and Breeding Judge, examiner and instructor for IPZV education at all levels, including judges, young horse trainer and advanced horse trainer education and exams. She passed a professional education in horse Training, breeding and stud management with warm blood horses. Silke was IPZV sport leader for 3 years.

Silke is a member of the IPZV Education committee and FEIF Education committee and works as professional trainer and instructor worldwide. She regularly participates in competitions and was successful as a sport and breeding rider and team trainer at several World Championships of Icelandic horses.

The Director of Youth Work is responsible within FEIF for organizing and conducting the international co-operation between youth work in the member countries, the youth committeee and the FEIF Board. The stated aims of the Youth department are: (a) to promote excellence in riding and horsemanship skills, by supporting the educational youth work that happens in member countries; (b) to build up and foster cross border friendship and international networks that will grow and last beyond the teenage years of the participants, and (c) to promote sound knowledge and understanding of the Icelandic horse, its history and its culture.

The current FEIF Director of Youth Work is Gundula Sharman, she was elected in 2014 in Reykjavík.

Gundula Sharman and her husband run an organic farm in the North East of Scotland, cultivating cereals and vegetables. They also breed Icelandic horses on a small scale, and train all their own youngsters. Their aim is to produce well-trained, family friendly horses for the UK leisure market.

Since 1998, Gundula has been working as a lecturer and head of the German department at the University of Aberdeen. For many years, she was also involved with the British Horse Society (all horse breeds), which is an important voice in the national horse industry in the UK.

The Director of Sport is responsible for all sport matters within FEIF. This covers the sport rules and regulations and guidelines for sport judges, the international co-operation between member countries and the different bodies involved in sport, the annual meeting of national sport leader (Sport Meeting), the Sport Committee, the international seminars for sport judges, the licenses for international sport judges and the test to become a licensed international sport juge, World Championships and the WorldRanking.

Will Covert started in horses very young, first in Quarter horses and now since 1993 in Icelandic horses. He lives in California with his wife Asta and daughter Bella who share his passion for the Icelandic Horse. Will became the first American to make the finals at the World Championships in 1997 when he rode Dynur fra Ytra-Skörðugili in F1. In 1999 he won the World Champion title in T2 on Blær fra Sigluvík. Will spent time in Iceland training horses and speaks near fluent Icelandic. He was the first American member of the Trainer Association of Iceland and is a certified farrier. He became a FEIF International Sport Judge in 2007. He was one of the judges at the World Championships in Switzerland 2009 and appointed deputy Chief Judge at the 2017 World Championships in Holland, 2019 World Championships in Berlin, Germany. Will has served on the FEIF Sport Judges Committee.

Will is a very active member of the United States Icelandic Horse Congress. He was president of the USIHC and a member of the Board of Directors along with being an active member of the Sport committee and the Education committee and previously served as the US Sport leader. Will hopes to bring his experience from the many areas of the Icelandic horse world to help FEIF continue to grow and serve the member committee and the Icelandic horse.

Will Covert (US)  is the FEIF Director of Sport, having been elected at the Delegates Assembly in Sweden in 2023.

Even has been involved in Icelandic horses since 1983 and was the chairperson of a local Icelandic horse club from 1996-99 and has since then been involved at a national level. He worked as a teacher within the field of agroculture/forestry for 11 years. For the last 14 years, he has worked as a training manager / competence manager in two large Nordic companies in the field of HR in a Nordic construction companies with over 15,000 employees and several other professional organizations in the forestry industry in Norway.

Even was chairman of the Norwegian Icelandic Horse Association for 14 years. His focus has been on organizational development, long-term funding of NIHF and quality assurance throughout all parts of the association. He was the chairman of the Nordic Icelandic Horse Association arranging the World Championships 2015 and has also been an active part of the establishment of the Nordic Icelandic Horse Collaboration.

Even has been elected at the Delegates Assembly 2022. With his background and experience he will support all FEIF associations with focus on the development of FEIF.

Atli Már Ingólfsson was am born in 1973 in the western part of Iceland in a fishing village called Grundarfjörður on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. He started riding horses when he was 12 years old and since then horses have been his passion. His fiancée is Gígja Dögg Einarsdóttir, photographer with a passion for horses. Together they have six children age 3 – 18 years and they have about 20 horses for breeding, leisure riding, some competitions and longer horse riding trips during summer.

Atli Már graduated from law school in 2000 and completed MBA studies at Reykjavík University in 2007. Today he is one of the owners of Land law offices in Iceland. Since moving to Hafnarfjörður in the year in 1987 he has been a member of Sörli riding club, a board member since 2024 and president of the club since 2018. In addition, he was a member of the LH Disciplinary Committee until 2022.

For the past 10 years, Atli Már had a passion for introducing the Icelandic horse to children who do not have parents or relatives who own horses. And to develop ways to have children, young riders and experienced riders, participate in organized training, as is the case in all other sports. He believes that the Icelandic horse and the philosophy around the horses has huge possibilities within the international horse world and that are vast opportunities to explore in regards to introducing the Icelandic horse to new people and future owners.

Atli Már has been elected at the Delegates Assembly 2023.