Fjord Pony

Origin: Norway.

Height: 13-14.2hh.

Color: All shades of dun, characteristically cream or yellow, with dorsalstripe and often stripes on forelegs and thighs. Mane and tail are black andsilver, the central ridge of the mane being dark and the outside hairs light-colored.

Character: Hardworking, tireless, gentle, sociable and self-willed.Physique: Smallish, well-shaped head with broad forehead, wideset eyesand small ears. Upright mane, characteristically cut on a crescent about 4inhigh at the center, on a short, thick neck that merges into the shoulder with-out much definition at the point of join and into the back with almost novisible withers. Body immensely powerful and muscular with a long backand rounded hindquarters. Short, sturdy legs with feather on the heels,sloping pasterns, and hard, long feet. Sure-footed and extremely hardy.

The Fjord pony is one of the few breeds to have kept its identity recognizablythroughout the centuries. It has changed little from the horse the Vikingsbred and used for horse-fights, and is still bred all over its ancestral Norwegian lhomeland. It flourishes throughout the otherScandinavian countries, and is especially popular in Denmark, to which ithas been exported in quantity during the last century.

It is a stoutly-built, primitive sort of pony, fond of company, and with agreat deal of charm in its appeaorance and personality. It is indispensable inhigh mountain areas that are toco steep or too cold for the tractor or the lorry,and because of this it seems likeely to endure as a working pony. It will pulla plough or a cart, will pack a looad on rugged mountain paths, or serve as apleasant, weight-carrying ridiniig pony; and additionally it is frugal andcheaply fed, indifferent to cold, and endlessly hardworking.