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Welcome to the NFHR Website
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FROM THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE
Registrations and Transfers: Please refer to our Rules of Registration and Services and Fees page for NFHR rules and current fees before you send in your paperwork. Get your current years foal registrations in before they're 6 months old, to save on cost! If you have any questions, please contact the Registrar at 303.684.6466 or registrar@nfhr.com
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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PLEASE NOTE NEW MAILING ADDRESS FOR THE NFHR
5520 Conifer Trail, Minnetonka, MN 55345
NFHR Office Paused
The Board has approved pausing the NFHR office to help make the transition from CO to MN smoother. All email and phone messages will be addressed after 11/10/26.
Thank you for understanding.
A Letters to Our Members
October 23, 2026
Dear Members,
It is my great pleasure to welcome Alice Cho as the next Executive Director and Registrar of the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry. Alice has recently joined us, and she has the full confidence and the full support of this Board.
Alice brings experience in nonprofit business administration and a deep passion for the Norwegian Fjord horse. She enjoys showcasing the breed's versatility through classical dressage, obstacle work, and 4-H Drill Team, alongside her daughter.
We chose Alice from a strong field because of the qualities this job actually demands: precision with permanent records, clear and patient communication, and the judgment to know when to decide and when to ask. Registration records follow a horse for its lifetime, and we wanted someone who understands that weight. Alice does, and we are fortunate to have her.
Alice steps into this role as Jeanne Poirier retires after sixteen years as our Executive Director and Registrar.
Sixteen years is almost half of the working life of this organization. In that time Jeanne registered thousands of foals, processed the transfers that moved horses between us, tracked down the certificates that went missing, and answered the first phone call from countless people who had just discovered this breed and did not yet know what to ask. She maintained an accurate stud book of eight thousand horses and enthusiastically supported our breed and organization. If you own a registered Fjord in this country, Jeanne's careful work is somewhere in its paperwork.
What does not show up in those numbers is the steadiness. Boards changed, committees turned over, priorities shifted, and the office kept running, quietly and accurately, without Jeanne ever making it about herself. That continuity is rarer than it sounds, and this Registry has been the beneficiary of it for a very long time. On behalf of the entire membership: Thank you, Jeanne. We are deeply grateful, and we will mark your retirement properly in the months ahead.
Jeanne is spending these first weeks training Alice directly, and she has been characteristically generous about it. The two of them are working through the registry and the stud book, memberships and renewals, the books and the annual filings, the Herald, the website, and the hundred small practices that make this office run and exist nowhere but in Jeanne's head. Capturing that knowledge in writing is as much a part of the handover as the training itself, and it is the best gift Jeanne could leave the Registry on her way out the door.
Now for the exciting part.
Between November 1 and November 10, the Registry is moving from Colorado to Minnesota . Not just the files and the filing cabinets, but the whole office: a new location, a new mailing address (but the same phone number), and a new chapter for this organization. Sixteen years of records are going into boxes to be shipped and then unpacked in a different State, which is a little daunting as well as thrilling. It has been a long time since this Registry got to begin something fresh, and we are doing it with a stud book in good order and the right person at the helm.
Ten days of happy chaos, then. We will be watching email and the phone throughout and nothing will go unanswered, but we may be slower than usual while the boxes are in motion, and registrations, transfers and DNA kits may take a little longer to come back to you than they normally would.
One practical note while we are in the middle of it. If you have something time sensitive to mail, send it before November 1 or hold it until after the 10th.
We ask for your patience across those ten days, and we hope you will share a little of our excitement too. The Registry is in good hands, the move is a step forward, and we cannot wait to show you what comes next.
You can reach Alice at Alice@nfhr.com. Our new address is 5520 Conifer Trl Minnetonka, MN 55345. We will post it everywhere ASAP.
When you have occasion to work with Alice in the coming months, I hope you will take a moment to introduce yourself and make her feel at home here. For most of our members, the person in this role is the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry: the voice on the phone and the name at the bottom of the email. This community has always been a welcoming one, and Alice deserves that welcome from all of us.
Please join me in wishing Jeanne a very fond farewell and in welcoming Alice Cho to the Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry. We are genuinely excited about what is ahead for this Registry and this breed.
Warm regards,
Margaret Crespo
President, Board of Directors
Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry, Inc.
June 2026
Dear NFHR Members and Friends,
We want to write to you plainly, as one Fjord owner to another, because you deserve a clear and honest picture of where your registry stands.
First, an announcement. This summer, in place of our usual Herald, the NFHR will send a newsletter by email. We made this decision for two reasons. We did not receive enough article submissions or advertising to fill a quality summer issue, and at roughly $3,000 to produce, a thin Herald is not something we can responsibly fund right now. Rather than print something that falls short of the magazine you love, we are holding our content and energy for the fall Stallion Issue, which is proceeding as planned and will be worth the wait. If you have photos, stories, or stallions to feature this fall, now is the time to submit them.
The newsletter will also carry two time-sensitive items: the upcoming retirement of our Executive Director and Registrar, Jeanne Poirier, whose sixteen years of dedication, institutional knowledge, and commitment have helped guide the NFHR through significant change while maintaining the high standards of our registry, and the approval of our 2026 Evaluation Program. Watch your inbox.
As part of our commitment to transparency and open communication with our membership, we want to share a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities facing the NFHR today.
The NFHR has registered and protected the integrity of the Norwegian Fjord Horse since its incorporation in 1981. For more than forty-five years, maintaining accurate pedigree records and preserving the breed have been at the core of our mission. The quality of our registration and pedigree work remains second to none.
As part of our ongoing review of the organization's financial health, the Board has been evaluating the actual costs of providing registry services and whether our fee structure accurately reflects those costs. The clearest way to understand why this work is necessary is through the trends reflected in our annual reports.
In 2013, the NFHR counted 782 members. Five years ago, in 2021 we had 602 members. By 2025, that number had declined to 399. While volunteers, staff, and successive Boards have worked hard to support membership and engagement, the overall trend has been downward for many years.
At the same time, operating costs have continued to rise. The NFHR recorded a net loss of approximately $2,300 in 2024 and approximately $4,800 in 2025. While the organization maintains financial reserves and remains financially stable, we have not used any of the reserve balance and would like to keep it that way. Addressing that gap between revenue and expenses is one of the Board's current priorities. The Board is also evaluating how we can continue to provide value to members beyond registration services. Many members join because they believe in the mission of preserving and promoting the Norwegian Fjord Horse, but we also recognize that membership must provide meaningful benefits and engagement opportunities. This is an important part of our ongoing strategic discussions.
While membership has declined, interest in the Norwegian Fjord Horse remains strong. In 2025, a record 145 foals were presented for registration (compared to a total of 93 foals registered in 2021) , reflecting the ongoing commitment of breeders and owners to the future of the breed.
The challenge facing the NFHR is not a lack of interest in Fjord horses. Rather, it is the reality that a membership-based organization depends on membership and service revenue to support its work. As costs have increased over time, our fee structure has not kept pace with the actual costs of providing services and supporting the registry's mission.
It is important to note that this situation is not the result of irresponsible spending. Current and past Boards have worked hard to manage expenses conservatively, maintain reserves, and operate within the organization's means. The challenge we face is that membership and fee revenue have not kept pace with the increasing costs of providing services and supporting the registry's mission.
We recognize that many members face the same rising costs we do. However, maintaining an accurate registry, supporting breed preservation efforts, and operating a national organization all carry real expenses that must ultimately be funded if the NFHR is to continue serving its mission. We owe you an honest assessment of what this means for the future of the registry.
What We Are Doing About It
Your Board is working every angle we can find to raise revenue, reduce costs, and improve the value of membership, and we will continue doing so. Costs have been reduced to a bare minimum. Our largest expenses are the minimal salary paid for our Executive Director/Registrar, publication of the Herald (at a much reduced cost the most recent few years), insurance, bookkeeping and CPA tax return assistance. Due to Jeanne Poirier’s generosity, we do not pay for office space or utilities.
As an interim step, the Board has approved a 10% increase across all fees (not membership dues), effective August 1, 2026. We had originally planned a change for January 2027, but financial pressures required us to move it forward.
After completing market research to understand how our fees compare with those of similar registries, we anticipate a further adjustment by year-end to bring our fee structure more in line with current market rates and ensure that fees more accurately reflect the actual cost of providing services. We are sharing this information now so members have advance notice and understand the reasons behind these changes.
What We Are Asking of You
Membership is what drives this registry, and we are keenly aware of that as we look for every opportunity to strengthen the organization. So we are asking, directly:
o If you have not renewed or joined, please do so today if you can. Every membership directly supports the registry and its mission.
o If you are able, please consider supporting the NFHR through a donation, sponsorship, advertising, or volunteer service. These contributions help strengthen the organization and support programs that benefit both the breed and our membership.
You can renew, register, or contribute at www.nfhr.com, or reach us at membership.inquiry@nfhr.com with any question or concern. That inbox is read by every member of your Board.
When this Board took office, we promised to make the decisions that best serve the organization, even when those decisions are difficult. In the coming months, there will be more communication regarding our work. This letter is part of keeping that promise.
The NFHR is a member-driven registry, and with your support, your participation, your stories, and your commitment to the breed, we intend to keep it that way for generations to come.
With gratitude and optimism,
Board of Directors
Norwegian Fjord Horse Registry
Jeanne Poirier
Executive Director and Registrar
A message from the Board of Directors
As part of our commitment to transparency, we would like to share the facts behind the decision to make the NFHR pedigree database a members-only resource, effective February 20, 2026.
-Maintaining the pedigree database represents a substantial annual investment, amounting to many thousands of dollars each year in staffing, infrastructure, and technical support.
-NFHR is a nonprofit structured to support member services and is funded primarily through memberships, registrations, and transfers. There is no overarching parent organization, corporate sponsor, or other funding source supporting operations.
-The organization has one part-time employee and is otherwise run by dedicated volunteers.
-Access is not limited to a select group - it is available to all current NFHR members. Memberships directly support the tools and resources that maintain our registry, providing a trusted, accurate, and authoritative source of Fjord pedigrees and breed data. This support is funded by owners transferring papers, breeders registering foals, and members who value and utilize these resources.
This decision was made to sustain the tools and records that support our horses, breeders, and owners now and provide means to expand our resources for the future.
ADDITION TO THE REGISTER OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
At the 9/10/25 Board meeting, the board approved to add the WDAA (Western Dressage Assoc of America) to the list of licensed shows which qualify to multiply each point awarded by 1.5 points.
Visit our Awards Program page on the NFHR.com website to learn more about our awards program and apply!
TO ALL SELLERS ! CONSIDER GIVING A GIFT MEMBERSHIP !
The NFHR Board of Directors has approved a special for our Gift Memberships for the remainder of 2025.
As a NFHR member, you can purchase, for your non-NFHR member buyers, a NFHR Single Membership for only $60.00. Download the form below, complete it and submit it with your transfer paperwork and transfer fees. (for rule details, see the form). The special for 2025 Gift Memberships is they will expire on 12/31/2026! So your buyers will be able to take advantage of our online Fjord Herald and other member benefits for the remainder of 2025, and all of 2026.
Here is the Gift Membership form:
Click here to download GIFT Membership form
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FROM OUR PROMOTION COMMITTEE
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Become An NFHR Ambassador!
Bumper Stickers, License Plates, Posters, Banner, Rack Cards and Kids Coloring Book! All this is now available for a small donation, or for free, to show the world the wonder of Fjord Horses. Click here to select your items today. Take a look at the Fall Fjord Herald for a complete picture of what the Promotion Committee is up to. You will also be receiving a letter inviting you to join shortly from the NFHR. Thank you.
The NFHR Board would like to thank the Promotion Committee (Cynthia Madden) for all her hard work on our new Ambassador Program!
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NFHR FJORD HERALD
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Each membership will receive their Fjord Herald via their Membership Portal Login, electronically. If you would like to receive a printed Fjord Herald, you will need to do so by ordering a subscription. The electronic version will not be available to the public beyond our Summer, Fall and Winter 2023 issues.
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Gift Memberships from SELLERS to BUYERS |
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As a NFHR member, you can purchase, for your non-NFHR member buyers, a NFHR Single Membership for only $60. Download the form below, complete it and submit it with your transfer paperwork and transfer fees. (for rule details, see the form)
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Click here to download GIFT Membership form
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