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Registration, Exportation, DNA Typing - A Little Clarity

In the 1960's several countries banded together to form a worldwide organization that would bring together all the purebred Arabians of the world. Not a registration organization itself, the organization's purpose was to make it easier for all countries to find a common ground for registration of purebred Arabian horses, assist Arabians to move from one country's registry to another country's registry and to exchange ideas, information, and get to meet and know one another. Arabian Horse Registry of America was a part of this early foundation and an active member for nearly thirty years until late 1997, when a split occurred between the world wide organization and AHRA.

Many different reasons have been given for the split, none of which need to be explored here. As a result of the split, on January 1, 1998, the United States became a country with no recognition of its purebred Arabian horses as a registry within the world community which would allow exportation of its Arabians. Some have found ways around the rules; however if all rules are followed, exportation is NOT a reality.

To solve the problem of importation/exportation a registry was created called the Purebred Arabian Horse Registry (PAHR). While ALL Arabians registered in the AHRA up to December 31, 1997, are recognized as Purebred Arabian horses by the world, those born since that date are not recognized by the rest of the world as registered purebred Arabian horses in a Stud Book acceptable within their world wide group. The problem has become more complex since the registration requirement of blood typing has been changed to DNA testing. Horses born AFTER January 1, 1998, must have both parents DNA tests on file with the world recognized registry, and the parents' DNA tests must match the offspring’s DNA test results or the offspring cannot be registered with any world recognized Stud Book. Note: The parents do NOT have to be registered, just their DNA test results must be made available to the world recognized registry.

As of January 1, 2003, less than ten percent of all Arabian Horses registered in America have been DNA tested. Why should this matter to you if you never plan to export a horse?  Even if you never plan to export a horse, as your horses are aging, the day will soon come, that you will not be able to get DNA samples from the parents and grandparents you that you need to register foals from today's mares. Failure of owners to DNA test mares and fillies will eventually cause the permanent loss of many bloodlines from the Purebred Arabian gene pool. Whether you choose to get your horse's DNA on file with PAHR, AHRA, or choose the lower cost option of registering with US Arabian Horse Registry, we strongly urge you to get your Purebred Arabian mares and stallions DNA tested before the window of opportunity closes for them and their decendents forever.It is important to understand that once parent verification has been carried out from bloodtypes of the subject horse and its sire and dam, it is valid for life. There is no need to parent verify again by using DNA profiles. However, the changeover to use of DNA-typing rather than bloodtyping by the laboratories, and the de-commissioning of bloodtyping equipment, means that gradually, all horses will have to have their DNA types on file so that a) their progeny can be parent verified in future by DNA-typing and b) in the case of export, they can be re-tested by DNA for comparison and re-identification if necessary.

Today, the International Standard for Genetic testing has ruled that all three animals must have the DNA taken from the horse to be registered, plus the sire and dam. There is only one laboratory left in the United States that does this work and USAHR charges only cost for the extracting of the DNA type, but all fees must be paid in advance.

Most of the information is purely educational as it appear most of the breeding stock in use, has been blood typed and now DNA typed as well. However, there is still the occasional animal where the extra cost will be involved. And this cost IS involved in exporting if the animal has not been DNA tested and parent verified through DNA testing.

The DNA-profiling test is a different test than the bloodtyping one, using different laboratory equipment. So if you have a horse that was previously bloodtyped and parent verified, and it is used for breeding, you have to obtain either the DNA test results or the blood type results. IF you are exporting only, then you will have to obtain another DNA typing result for comparison with the previous blood test results. New parent verification by DNA will not be required by USAHR for domestic breeding as obviously for many horses this is simply impossible.