Today's Horse - Ask the horse expert: Registering

boarding facilities and teaching equine management courses at the college level. More about Laura

Question
I have just purchased a registered Spotted Saddle horse...I have her Certificate of Registration and I am sure she has Tennessee Walking horse background...although it does not give this on the certificate. Can I double register her as a Spotted Saddle Horse and Tennessee Walking Horse...and if so...how do I go about doing it?

Thank you for your help.
Carol

Answer
Hi Carol, The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association (TWHBEA) changed their rules a few years back and now are requiring blood-typing to be done before they will register a foal (or adult horse) in their registry. First, you would have to prove Tennessee Walking Horse parentage and give registration numbers for both of your horses parents.

Then, you would have to hope that both parents had been blood-typed by the TWHBEA in order so that their offspring can be registered with the TWHBEA. Unless you could conclusively prove your horses parentage, then getting her registered in the TWHBEA could prove to be very difficult, if not impossible. If there are any names on the Certificate of Registration that you possess, then I would try to contact those people and get any information from them regarding your horse. I would also call the TWHBEA and see if they perhaps already have a horse registered under your horses name as it appears on the Spotted Saddle Horse Certificate of Registration. You never know, maybe your mare had already been registered with the Tennessee Walking Horse registry and the papers were lost at some point, so later owners never knew they existed in the first place. You might get lucky and find out she might already be registered as a TWH and then you would have to get a signed affidavit from who ever is the last person's name that appears on the papers. If you could do that, then you would just pay a fee for a transfer and new papers might be issued. Go to the TWHBEA web site at: http://www.horse-previews.com/695articles/twhbea.html and locate a phone # to check to see if your horse is already registered. If she is, great! Ask them what you need to do now to get duplicate papers. If your mare is not registered with them, then try to track her history through previous owners and see if you can find out her parentage. It might be a long shot that she can be registered TWH, but it might be worth a try!

Good Luck,
Laura Phelps-Bell

Thank you for your help. Carol

Thank you for your help.
Carol