Certificate of Pedigree - Does it make any difference?

[Didi]

Hi!

In an earlier thread I outlined my situation, so I will be brief on that. I am leasing an unregistered TBxHanoverian (Rio Grande) mare for breeding a foal I intend to keep to Crown Affair (Holsteiner). The mare caught easily, and my foal is due in April.

I recently called the AHA to ask about purchasing a calendar (my baby daddy is Mr. April, so how could I resist :wink grin: ). The very nice lady I talked to mentioned a Certificate of Pedigree that I could get when the foal is born. She said it comes with a lifetime USEF number. Since I ride/show hunters I would also need a USHJA registry ($30). The USEF fee for a lifetime number for a foal newborn until Dec. 31 of the year it is born is $35. USEF requires proof of birthdate for this fee.

So… is a COP worth anything? Does it raise the value of the foal? Do I need it anyway in order to prove to USEF the birth information for the foal registration rate? It may sound silly, but the names I picked out don’t meet the naming criteria so I am not jumping to change them. I will, though, if this is something I should do.

Advice, please. (Also - I guess I am a glutton for punishment or am just so excited I want to talk endlessly about this - does anyone have any opinion on my breeding choice?)

Thanks!!

[tuckawayfarm]

I have raised fully registered foals, foals with COPs and foals with no papers. As prospects started under saddle, I have seen no difference in value. USEF will accept a copy of your vet’s foal exam or an invoice for the foal exam indicating name and date of birth as proof of age if you choose not to do the COP.

If the COP can be had for a reasonable fee, I would go that route. The USHJA fee will be additional either way.

[caper]

If you ever decide down the road to sell your horse is verifies his/her parentage/pedigree.

[Home_Again_Farm]

A COP verifies bloodlines, which could be important to a buyer. Most registries include COP horses in their awards programs. Because the COP comes with the USEF lifetime registration, it sound like a decent value to me.

Also, you can name the horse according to the registry’s conventions, but enroll it under a show name with USEF. That is a very common practice.

[KateKat]

Agreed, if you ever want to sell papers are really important to some people and a COP is better than nothing.

[_Tradewind]

Do you mean AHHA (American Holsteiner Horse Association)? AHA is the Arabian horse registry.

If the foal is a filly, I don’t believe COP fillies are eligible for approval for breeding, at least not with AHHA. However, a COP is better than no verification of pedigree, as others have suggested, and if it is a colt who ultimately becomes gelded, it shouldn’t make too much of a difference to most buyers whether he has COP or full registration (other than a registered/branded Holsteiner holding slightly higher value than a COP foal of similar quality).

[Didi]

Thanks, Tradewind! I DID mean AHHA :wink grin: Thank you all for your advice!! Here is Crown Affair’s pedigree: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/crown+affair2

and Rio Grande’s: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/rio+grande

if anyone wants to give me any clues as to what I might expect!

[DownYonder]

OP - you might want to contact OHBS/GOV. Your mare would be eligible for their pre-mare book II, and since Crown Affair was approved by them last year, you may be able to get registration papers for the foal. You would have to take mare and foal to an inspection (they usually have an inspection in NC), and the mare would go into their lowest mare book (pre-mare book II), but the foal would receive regular registration papers (dam’s side of the pedigree would be blank - other than her name - since she has no proveable pedigree).

[camohn]

I have had mares with a cop because of paint in their pedigree. I had no trouble selling a foal with cop papers. Now yes there is a big difference between trying to sell an un papered foal versus one with a cop. Most buyers are riders not breeders.if it has some sort of papers proving is is whom you claim they are happy.

[Didi]

Thanks, Down Yonder! I will do that. Also, you make a very good point, camohn!

[sid]

[QUOTE=caper;7903407]
If you ever decide down the road to sell your horse is verifies his/her parentage/pedigree.[/QUOTE]

Yes, and some people find value in that, whether for personal reasons, or for resale reasons or even for competition/showing reasons.