Why??
I never realized it was such a “privilege” to be able to look up a horse’s show results that it should require membership to the organization. I feel this is a huge roadblock to people that are horse shopping and want to easily verify a horse’s show experience but are not presently USEF members.
Yep. But other people here disagree.
I made the argument that it costs me nothing to check the fei database, but others think it is unreasonable to expect to verify show records for free.
And yeah, i grasp that I could renew my membership or have a friend look things up for me. But I still think it’s ridiculous.
There is a whole thread on this topic. That other thread mentioned that
there is a smaller fee (I think they said it was $25) that allows you to look things up and watch videos and such.
Most breed registries do not allow you to look up a horse without being a member.
Ditto, this is the only National organization Ive ever been a member of that offered free access to their data base including horse and member searches and disciplinary action. Always surprised me it was free.
There is a cost to maintain that and I don’t think many members want their dues to go up yet again to support non member access. Sorry. 25 to get that access for non members, $2 a month seems more then fair or just ask a member.
There is a long article in last week’s COTH about the USEF strategic plan and its efforts to retain members/attract non-showing members with the $25 fee. I think that is smart because USEF has an incredibly high turnover for membership…basically people are only members if actually showing. My association I work for, in comparison, has a 97% annual retention rate. USEF desperately needs to grow the value proposition in membership to retain members because it is always easier to keep the members you have than to get new members. I think the campaign is smart, we’ll see how all the little details work out. I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road as they figure it out.
findeight, your forgetting anyone can look up pedigree and performance records with the Jockey Club for free …
Anyone can look up the last two years worth of USEA competition records for a horse or rider, too. While I find this change annoying, I can’t imagine finding it inconvenient enough to be worth rejoining. I’m poor, though.
I saw a USEF video I wanted to see, but I can’t justify $25 to watch a video.
I am trying to better understand the proposed scenario, where you have a need to look up a horse’s USEF results in order to horse-shop, but you have no need or expectation to be a member of USEF for the coming year, even at the $25 level. If you care about the accuracy of the results, isn’t it because you plan to be showing?
As far as I know in Canada if a person inquires directly to a breed registry to verify show results etc. of a particular horse that information is provided at no charge. I can think of three instances in which I have done this. I am not asking for personal information on the owner etc. but the breeding and show records are certainly available. I should not have to pay a “membership fee” to ascertain that information. Nor as a non current USEF member, living in Canada with no immediate expectation to show at any USEF shows, would I expect to be charged for that info either. Surely it can’t be that difficult to just utilize the website database already in place? That seemed to be working just fine. As they say if it “ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
I would like to see them offer an alternative to the $25 membership of charging $5 for 5 reports, or something like that. I get that there are costs to hosting and maintaining the data and search functions, and that there is some value in the reports. But it would be nice to have an option other than the $25/year just for that function, if you aren’t going to watch USEF Network or other videos.
Agree with Poltroon.
Why would one want to look up a horse show record if one wasn’t going to also show. Hence you would probably be a member anyway.
Its only $25!! For a year! That’s like 5 Lattes from Starbucks.
If you don’t want to pay that you can probably look up each show the horse went to on horseshowsonline.com
^^ What Blinky said. There are TONS of ways to verify a show record without going through USEF. Many, many shows post results on HorseShowTime, HorseShowsOnline, their own site, etc.
Sure, some member organizations give it away for free. Others don’t. If you don’t like it, send USEF an email. They’re very responsive.
My 2 cents!
As we all know, horse ownership is an incredibly costly endeavor. If you are horse shopping at the level where you care about a horse’s performance history, then $25 is usually a drop in the bucket, IME. PPE’s alone for performance horses can easily run close to $1000 if not more, and that’s for a horse you may not even purchase. I personally do not find it unreasonable to pay $25 to have carte blanche access to show records for an entire year if I am seriously horse shopping. Not to mention the obvious ways around it- such as having your trainer look up the record, or even requesting it from the current owner.
It is beyond my comprehension how people could expect to get information from a membership driven organization for free. Nothing is free people! The members are paying for the hardware, software and data entry so you can look up show records of horses you are never going to buy. If you don’t have the $25 for the membership and maybe can only pay the $5 for 5 searches (i mean are you really negotiating down from $25??, what do you call that membership level? the cheap and easy?) you probably shouldn’t be horse shopping. Or you could ask the seller to print the show record for the horse you are shopping. Just explain that the $25 was too much too spend as you pull up in your F350 dually that you just drove 150 miles to look at the horse and spent $35 in diesel fuel. I’m sure they would be happy to help in your dire circumstances.
It’s only $25! What’s the big deal? Everyone wants something for nothing. Horses are expensive, this is probably the smallest expense connected with them.
Don’t know about anybody else but 9 times out of 10 I only look up show records out of curiosity or because I had an iPad and somebody who didn’t have a device handy asked me to, not because I was contemplating purchasing the horse.
I look up hearing results and disciplinary actions because Im nosey…or somebody asked. I took out a lifetime membership long ago when it was equal to just a few years membership.
Thinking on it…most if the time people ask me to look something up, they aren’t buying any horses either.
I’m the same way (also a member). The OP stated this was a roadblock to horse shopping, the reality is more likely it’s a roadblock to browsing, curiosity, etc. Regardless the service isn’t provided or maintained free of cost and asking for a $25 membership is completely reasonable.
I would like to see the hearing notices and a searchable database available for free to everyone. I think that is a public service and I’m more than happy to subsidize that for nonmembers.
But the rest of it… if you care about someone’s show results or show in any form (even if not USEF recognized), you’re benefitting from the existence and rules and framework of USEF. I’m not going to feel bad for you about the $25. The videos are worth it too.
In the case of other associations, it’s more in their interest to provide data to nonmembers, and it’s less likely that nonmembers benefit from them in the same way. For example, I’m not sure peons even can join the Jockey Club. 
[QUOTE=Cannonball;9029821]
I’m the same way (also a member). The OP stated this was a roadblock to horse shopping, the reality is more likely it’s a roadblock to browsing, curiosity, etc. Regardless the service isn’t provided or maintained free of cost and asking for a $25 membership is completely reasonable.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. I look up show results all the time and I’m not in the market to buy any time soon. :winkgrin:
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