US Equestrian’s Horse of the Year awards program is one of the oldest nationally recognized multi-breed award programs in the nation. To be eligible for these awards, equestrian competitors must have their horses actively recorded with USEF. To facilitate this process, US Equestrian offers multiple options for horse recording, including a lifetime recording for any foal recorded before December 31st of its foal year, which costs just $35 compared to the regular lifetime recording cost of $300. 

Renée Tucci owns Murder Hollow Farm in Spring City, Pennsylvania. All the horses she breeds are recorded with USEF’s lifetime recording program. 

“We have been utilizing that for the last five years. It’s a great program in terms of being able to track your horses that you've bred and make sure you can follow them around as they show or change ownership,” Tucci said. “It just makes it so that we can know where our horses are.” 

“I can follow my babies as they compete all over the country,” added Katharine Klein, who breeds and raises Welsh ponies at her farm, Voxton Welsh Ponies in Camden, SC. “I'm still attached to that foal as they get sold down the road to different people.” 

Another breeder of Welsh ponies who utilizes the lifetime foal recording program is Dr. Ruth Wilburn of Rollingwoods Farm in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Wilburn, the president of the Welsh Pony & Cob Society of America, described that the database helps pony owners and breeders confirm pedigrees of their ponies. 

“In the old days, before we had computers, it was really hard to search things. Now that we have the database available, you can go click on a pony’s record or any horse’s record. People are a lot better now about putting the actual pedigrees in there,” Wilburn said. “Our breed society is very strict on pedigrees, and so we want the database to be the same way. We want it to be true and accurate.” 

Klein agreed that recording new ponies is easy, and the software is intuitive. 

“I can do it right on my phone. I can fill all the information in and send it. I don't have to do any paperwork or send it by mail,” Klein said. “I'm not very good at phones and electronics, but it’s really easy.” 

Pedigree confirmation also helps Wilburn determine winners of the Welsh Pony & Cob Society of America annual awards, as well as the bloodlines that win these awards. 

“Sometimes, (owners) go, ‘Oh, it's a Welsh pony, but it has unknown parentage.’ You can't (officially) say you're a Welsh pony if you’re unknown. We have to verify that…we work really hard to make sure the pedigrees are true,” Wilburn said. “You can see which bloodlines are actually competing and winning, and those would be the bloodlines I would want to go back to.” 

Foal recording information can be found on the USEF website under Horse Services (usef.org/compete/resources-forms/horse-services). Horse owners can apply for a foal recording at members.usef.org/horses/add. 

Frequently asked questions about horse recordings can be found at usef.org/faqs/horse-recordingid.