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What is a Kentucky-bred?
Show points equaling dollars is the sum of the program. With more than 1$ million annually to be awarded to non-racing breeds of horses from the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund (KBIF), requirements to participate become extremely important. The program was established to stimulate the horse industry within Kentucky and thus rewards only horses bred within the state.
But in this day of shipped semen, just constitutes a Kentucky-bred horse? The rules vary between breed organizations, and even within the performance horses’ disciplines. The two primary breeds affecting reiners, cutter and working cow horses are Quarter Horses and Paint Horses. (See the Kentucky Quarter Horse Association Web site at www.kyqha.com and the Kentucky Paint Horse Club web site at www.kyphc.org for complete details.)
For Quarter Horses participating in the show events to qualify for awards (rules for racing can differ), the primary requirements are:
· The sire must stand the entire season in Kentucky
· The foal must b e conceived in the state
· The foal must be born in the state during 2002 or later
· Both the sire and dam must be physically in the state at the time of conception
· The foal must be enrolled in the AQHA Incentive Fund
· Only one embryo offspring per donor mare is eligible to KBIF per year
Semen may be shipped within the state, but a horse cannot be considered a Kentucky-bred if conceived through shipped semen from an out-of-state stallion. If a Kentucky stallion’s semen is shipped out of the state, resulting foals from those conceptions cannot be considered Kentucky-bred.
Stallions may leave Kentucky during the breeding season for showing or racing.
Under these rules, a mare may leave Kentucky during her pregnancy, but she must return to foal in the state. With an embryo transplant, the donor mare must be in Kentucky at the time of conception, but can subsequently leave the state. The recipient mare must foal in Kentucky though she, too, could leave during the pregnancy once she has been declared to foal through the 42-60 day pregnancy test conducted by a licensed Kentucky veterinarian.
Paint Horse rules differ somewhat and have changed over the past few years. For Paint foals of 2009, the primary requirements are:
· The sire must be enrolled in the APHA Breeders Trust
· The sire must stand the entire season in Kentucky
· The foal must be born in the state
· Mares may be bred by any acceptable breeding method as described and recognized by the APHA registry handbook
The primary difference between breeds is that Paint Horse foals do not have to be conceived in Kentucky, though they must be sired by a Kentucky-based stallion. Thus, someone in another state could order shipped semen and bring the mare into Kentucky only to foal.
“We would prefer that the stallion breed the mare in Kentucky, the mare conceive in Kentucky and ultimately foal in Kentucky,” says Craig Wood, second vice president of the Kentucky Paint Horse Club. “However, we don’t require that the mare be in Kentucky for breeding or conception. We only require that the mare foal in Kentucky.”
Both state breed organizations require some sort of certification that the foal was born in Kentucky. That can require an additional fee. Owners also must be members of their respective breed organizations, both national and in Kentucky.
Paint rules differ from Quarter Horse rules in one other important aspect. Horses earning points in a recognized Paint Alternative Competition (PAC) program, such as many reining, cutting and working cow horse events, may earn money through KBIF. Ten PAC credits are the equivalent of on APHA show point. Youth points do not count from any competition-AQHA, APHA or 4-H.
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Diane