Hi! First time poster, so please bear with me. I am also very new to the horse/pony world - my previous experience was a couple months of riding lessons as a teen. I hope to get started myself!
My daughter got started riding hunter at a lovely barn near us almost three year ago after not wanting to get off the pony rides at a fair. My daughter loves showing just as much. So we got ourselves together to purchase our first pony. We found a great pony and finalized the purchase. I am going to be intentionally very vague for privacy reasons. USEF horse search for this pony lists the breed as a named European breed, the dam as a pony with pedigree and the sire is a pony that cannot be found. However, there is a stallion with almost the same name with just one letter difference, which matches the age and type. So, I contacted the organization for this breed of ponies and this North American organization does not have our pony in their system. They suggested that we try to look for the registration if possible. From what I am being told, the pony had “great breeding” and was originally imported. We had a brief conversation with the seller at a chance encounter and asked about any passports that the pony carried. At the time, I was still uneducated about what this all means or the difference between passports and registration. I still don’t quite understand. The seller did not know. Then I found the barn from another state that the pony had been previously and asked if they knew about passport (not registration) and they did not get one nor did they care as the pony was not leaving the states. Everyone has been so very kind and understanding, but I think I am hitting a dead end without further pestering these people who have extended their good graces already. My goal for these registration papers is to hopefully register this “pony with pedigree” so that my daughter may find another group of people whom she can converse and learn more about her very first pony. I know that she can still join this group (which I already paid the membership for) as an enthusiast. However, if the pony indeed is of pedigree and can join this group as a proper member, why not? I do these background research as my full time day job that pays for the pony, so I enjoy this process and don’t mind the leg work. What I am lacking is the direction. I know this forum is full of people with experience and advice, so I am hoping for a connection! Where do I go from here?
I guess I don’t understand what kind of “group” your daughter hopes to join to discuss said pony. Passports, for Hunter/Jumper show horses, do often get “lost” or not transferred with sale, but if the pony was in fact imported, however, it absolutely had one. Still, if your child and you are happy with the pony, I’d just be inclined to enjoy your nice pony and let it go.
If the pony had a passport and you know it’s name and the studbook you can call and they will issue a duplicate.
That being said, a passport for a USEF show hunter pony in the US is unimportant, hence why they tend to get lost.
Has the pony been scanned for a microchip?
If the pony was born from 2006 forward and imported, it would have a microchip.
Thanks for the replies!
Just to answer above questions:
- “group” as in joining breed interest groups for fun. Because I don’t have any connections to the horse world, I am looking for clubs/mentors for my child beyond the barn. Joining the group of people who own the same breed of pony sounds like a fun activity, so I figured I would try. We would be fine not finding this group or registry, if it turned out to be annoying enough.
- The pony has been microchipped and it is recorded so on the USEF horse search thing for this pony. Does this help in any way? Can this be used to track it?
- I did some more sleuthing since this post. It looks like the pony might have had a name change since it was first born? I might be wrong. But when I look up the dam and all the “children,” a colt of the same year and description has a different name. Am I looking at a doppelgänger? A case of stolen identity?
Thank you! I hope we get to the bottom of it!
You definitely do not need papers to do this.
Having been in both the dressage world and the hunter jumper world, I can state with confidence that the HJ people don’t care a fig about pedigree, generally.
Warmblood registries give their horses names that either reflect the line they stem from, like Hannoverians and Holsteiners, or the year they were born, like Dutch WBs, but if the horse is sold to the HJ universe, it will be given a show name and a barn name and the original is forgotten about. Papers are frequently “lost” to enable the seller to shave a few years off the horse’s age.
This is just the way it is.
Maybe your daughter would like pony club or 4H? I can’t think of any breed specific group that is going to have all that much to offer a child unless you want to show at breed shows?
Can you be a little less vague about all the specifics? That might help?!
If what you want is clubs/mentors for your child, look to your local 4-H, Pony Club, or IEA team (https://www.rideiea.org/). These connections will be local, with in-person activities and events.
In the horse world, especially H/J land, “breed interest groups,” like what you seem to be thinking about, aren’t really a thing.
I’d be surprised if it hasn’t. Giving a horse/pony a show name that is different from his registered name is very common. Many horses will have a registered name (registered with the breed association), a show name (registered with USEF), and a barn name (what everybody calls him).
Can confirm! I have a Welsh pony and a Fell pony; different sport (combined driving) but their “official” names don’t come into play. If they go somewhere, it’s under a version of their barn name. It would be different if I went to a breed show, but I don’t, so…
Can also confirm that Pony Club is more likely to offer fun/social stuff/mentoring than most breed associations.
yes the chip should be trackable . If you already know its registry in Europe the number should help
start here
https://www.horsemicrochiplookup.com
The colt born same year as your pony would likely be the same pony, as long as you’re sure of the dam.
Many imports have their name changed for the show ring.
Passport and registration papers are like your own passport and birth certificate. Im not sure why you want to track down the passport of the pony, unless you thought that would help you track down the registration papers, but the chip will do that for you so the passport is unnecessary.
As for horse groups, I can’t imagine a breed group that would interest your daughter in any way. Pony Club is the place for her, with meetings, events, riding and skills taught, and everyone local talking about their ponies. Find the papers if you can, but its not the be-all and end-all of how she will enjoy her horse.
