Horses of various breeds in North Jutland, Denmark. Photo: Kjetil Løite

The Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, (DAD-IS

https://www.fao.org/dad-is/data/en/

), is a Global Databank of farm animal species and breeds. It is maintained and developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In this report, this database was used in comparison to the various national data sources. In some cases, it served as the only data source for population statistics if national stakeholders could not be reached or could not provide information.

DAD-IS contains information on breed characteristics, uses, population statistics, geographical distribution, and demographics. It also contains the risk of extinction status for each breed. Data from DAD-IS is used for reporting on the global status and trends of animal genetic resources, including the data for indicators of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under the supervision of the national coordinator for animal genetic resources, each country is responsible for updating their data in the system. DAD-IS allows the calculation of the animal element of SDG indicators 2.5.1 and 2.5.2 for each country, region or globally. These calculations are used in both regional and global decision-making processes.

A questionnaire was used to map basic information such as total numbers of horses, breeds, relevant stakeholders, and legislation. It was sent to a network of native Nordic horses maintained by NordGen, national coordinators of animal genetic resources in addition to relevant national authorities and breeding organizations. The academic researchers were also contacted in addition to NordGen’s horse network. Some information was acquired through interviews and personal communication. The questions can be found in Appendix A.2.

NordGen has made comprehensive breed stories of each of the Nordic native breeds based on scientific literature and information gathered from the horse breed associations. These breed stories in addition to additional relevant scientific literature has been used throughout the report. Sources can be found in the bibliography.