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Horse Registration Papers

Registering your horse is important, especially if you plan on breeding or showing your horse. Once you've registered your horse, you will receive horse registration papers to prove the quality of your animal.

What are horse registration papers?

Horse registration papers are a set of papers given to horse owners after the horse has been qualified by breed registries. There are more than 70 different breed registries in the United States. They have different qualification requirements and register different types of horses. Some breed registries register quarter horses, some register thoroughbreds and others register different horses.

When do I get horse registration papers?

You need to be sure to get horse registration papers if you want to breed your horse, show your horse or race your horse. Horse registration papers validate that your horse is what you say it is. For example, if you want to sell your horse as a quarter horse, you're going to need to prove that it's a quarter horse. One option is to register your horse with the American Quarter Horse Registry. To do this, you have to have papers that prove the parents of your horse are 100 percent quarter horse. If you can only prove that one parent is legitimate, you're horse will automatically be knocked down to the next qualification, which would be half quarter horse. Horse registration papers make it much easier to prove that your horse is legitimate.

Horse registration papers have become incredibly important because many horse breeders are mixing horses. The more mixing that occurs, the harder it is to track a horse. But, you should know that if someone's going to buy your horse or your horse's offspring, they're certainly going to want to know what they're getting.

You can also use horse registration papers to your advantage. If you want to sell, breed or show your horse, make sure you ask to see the horse's and it's parents papers. This will save you a major headache down the road.

Pleasure riding

Those of you who don't care about breeding, selling or showing your horse don't need to worry about horse registration papers. If your only intent is to ride your horse or use your animal as a workhorse, you'll be fine without registration papers. However, if you think you might do any other activity, you should ask to see your horse's paper before you purchase your horse.