Update on Canadian and British Reciprocity Moratoriums for Morgan Horses
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Editor’s Note: The following is reprinted from the AMHA with permission:
June 16, 2006
The Federal Livestock Act in Canada requires all Canadian owners of pedigreed livestock to register with the Canadian National Livestock Records (CNLR) Until Reciprocity between the Canadian Morgan Horse Association and the American Morgan Horse Association was established, this government mandate forced Canadian owners to double register their Morgans if they wanted American papers. Because of the expense involved in dual registering, some Canadian Morgans were not registered with the AMHA. Reciprocity with Canada was created in 1986 to eliminate the need and expense for Canadians to double register their Morgans.
In 1986, Reciprocity was granted to Canada for all Canadian Morgans that were blood tested back to American registered Morgans. Canadian Morgans that were not tested back to American registered Morgans were marked as being ineligible for U. S. Reciprocity. That designation remained with the horse until the blood testing requirements were satisfied. Some Canadian bred Morgans still carry that designation.
Twenty years later and several generations of horses later, we now have Morgans being imported into the United States whose parents and grandparents may not be in our data base due to reciprocity. The first rule of the Registry requires any horse being registered to have a registered Morgan sire and a registered Morgan dam. Therefore before the horse that is being imported can be registered with the AMHA, we must register the non-registered ancestors. The cost of registering the horse that is being imported is covered by the fee that is attached to the reciprocity application. However, until recently, there has not been a fee to cover the cost of registering the non-AMHA registered ancestors despite the fact that registering them is a more involved and time consuming process than registering the horse that is being imported.
During the April 2005 Registry and Board Meetings, a fee to cover the expense of registering unregistered ancestors in the reciprocity program was discussed and approved. A fee of $30 per non-registered ancestor was approved to cover the cost of entering this information into the AMHA database.
Along with this change, a moratorium on dual registering a horse was approved. During the moratorium, the owner of a Canadian or British registered horse could apply for an AMHA registration number at the reduced rate of $15 (normally $30) for their non AMHA registered breeding stock. The moratorium was to run from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2006. Late last week the Canadian Morgan Horse Association requested that we postpone implementation of the fee changes approved at the April 2005 Registry and Board Meeting. The President of the CMHA has requested that the moratorium be extended.
The Registry Committee met via conference call on Tuesday, June 13th and approved an extension of the program which will now be available through December 31st. An aggressive promotional program is planned.
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