Posted from an earlier FB post of mine: There is a petition circulating to request that USEF mandate that breeders farm name or initials can’t be removed from horse’s USEF registered name. I think it is worthwhile to share some other perspectives. As it is written, it is perfect for Welsh ponies as it mimics their Welsh registry requirements, but it does not fit all other registries or traditions. I applaud efforts to improve our industry and breeders, and I provide a respectful summary of my concerns with the petition while appreciating the efforts put in to it.
Firstly, personally I want buyers to keep my breeder suffix. I appreciate that it helps breeders build a reputation in the industry and gives recognition to breeder efforts. However, buyers pay a lot of money for horses and once they do, I think they should have the ability to change the name. We should educate the industry on the importance of breeder prefix and suffix so they want to keep it, but I don’t think we should add rules to force it upon the buyers. When buyers decide to keep breeder suffix/prefix, I think it shows great respect and it is very appreciated, but are we entitled to mandate that recognition (and marketing) when the horse is sold and the breeder was paid for it?
In Europe, owners often add their name to the front of the horse’s name to reflect the owner investment in the development of the horse- Glocks Toto or Blue Hors Romanov comes to mind. I have seen this in the US too, and maybe this is growing in the US warmblood scene more, where owners put their name or prefix on the horses in their barn. If they bought and are developing and investing in the horse too, why not? One of the petition leaders felt it was really poor taste for an owner to add a prefix if they aren’t the breeder, but I counter that this is not uncommon for warmbloods from Europe. I can see how it is misleading if the welsh ponies only use the prefix for breeding and they may not understand the traditions of other breeds- but it furthers the point that this “one size fits all” petition just isn’t right for USEF or the US horse industry as a whole as it stands.
The petition as written further doesn’t account for differences in breed registries: some registries say the “breeder” is the owner of the mare when inseminated whereas other registries say the “breeder” is the owner of the mare when she foals. If USEF starts regulating breeder names, which “breeder” would get lifetime naming rights? Would USEF have a mediator to pick in instances where the horse isn’t registered with a breed registry? There would likely be added fees associated with control of prefixes and suffixes, and who wants more USEF fees? Where does it end- If USEF starts mandating naming requirements, will that spill in to other naming restrictions? No more renaming your OTTB or QH (you know some of those names are not PG rated for your kid to show! Lol!)
I sincerely hope that buyers want to keep breeder prefix/suffix in the horse name if the horse was USEF registered with it, but it’s much more important to me that breeder information is registered and maintained in USEF (with the microchip) so it is associated with the horse for their lifetime. One horse will have one number assigned for life and tracked via microchip- which will include easily searchable breeder info. In my humble opinion (from my personal breeder and buyer perspective), US breeders should register and microchip their foals to ensure that their breeder info is associated with their foal forever instead of relying on buyers to add breeder information or pushing USEF to mandate naming requirements that may be off putting to other breeders or buyers. I appreciate that everybody has their unique perspective and may not share this opinion.
