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March, 2000.  It has been brought to my attention that I have not been absolutely clear about the AHRA registration problem and there is misunderstanding here. Those of you who interpreted my information as being that no AHRA-registered Arabian horse is eligible for import/export to WAHO-member registries, please let me clarify that misunderstanding.  As far as any WAHO registry not being able to accept AHRA-registered horses, they can accept any horse registered with AHRA as long as that horse was registered before 1/1/98. As of this date, AHRA was no longer a WAHO-approved registry and by WAHO rules, all Arabian horses must pass from WAHO-approved registry to WAHO-approved registry "ALWAYS" having unbroken WAHO-registry parentage verification; i.e., that unbroken verification must be from WAHO-member registry to WAHO-member registry all the way back for every generation of that pedigree to the generations that were initially researched, approved, and accepted by WAHO upon each registry's application to become a WAHO member. So, in essence, any Arabian horse registered by AHRA before 1/1/98 is registered in a WAHO-member registry--that will never change.

However, any Arabian registered after the termination of AHRA's WAHO membership puts that horse in the category of "not" being from a WAHO-approved registry. This is what causes the big problem for future generations of Arabians that have not also been registered with PAHR if they were foaled and registered in AHRA "after" 12/31/97. If the dam and sire were registered with AHRA "before" 1/1/98, PAHR can accept the "blood-type report (or DNA report)" from AHRA and "just" the offspring needs to be double registered with PAHR. That was pretty simple when this mess erupted.  

However, now  as we go into the 5th and later foal crops (1998, 99, 2000, 01, 02, etc.) after AHRA's termination, some of the dams and sires of these foals will have been AHRA-registered "after" 12/31/97 (and in the very near future that will include grand dams and sires, then great grand dams and sires, etc., etc.) and that means that in order for the foal to be registered with PAHR both "parents" (assuming the 4 "grand" parents were registered with AHRA "before" 1/1/98 when AHRA was still WAHO-approved) will have to be blood typed/DNA'd by PAHR (remember, unbroken parentage verification line by WAHO registries) in addition to the foal.  The importance of this is that any horse to be exported must be exported through the WAHO US Registry which is PAHR.   You can see where this can get out of hand in a hurry. As time passes, when we have foal crops who have ancestors that were "only" registered with AHRA "after" 12/31/97, we have 2 immediate parents, 4 grand parents, 8 great grand parents, 16 great, great grand parents, etc., etc. Every single one of these horses in these generations, in order to be blood-typed/DNA tested have to 1) be alive for collection of material and 2) have signatures of owners at time of foaling. You see how fast this can become a horrendous road block? That is when the U.S. breeders are going to realize that horses not being double-registered with PAHR could end up being of little or no value.  

This is when people are going to look for PAHR-registered horse to breed, buy, etc., etc. This is why, in addition to the original import/export problem (which has the same basic problem as time goes on) it is so important to the future of the Arabian horse breed domestically in the United States to get this mess resolved, immediately, before any more horses become ineligible. Once one of these horses dies or the original breeder dies or cannot be found that line can never be exported or be eligible for any foreign competitions. In essence, that line will loose its value. When this first started, this was an easy fix. Now that time has gone by, there are already horses in this "impossible" category and more are added as every day passes.

We "must" educate the masses and insist that whatever comes of this IAHA/AHRA merger mediation attempt, that any resolve "absolutely must" contain the provision that either AHRA accepts the WAHO definition and is re-established as the WAHO registry "or" IAHA starts its own Purebred Registry and is established as the WAHO registry.

Maintaining a stubborn stand on this "purity" issue which is based on erroneous information and supposition of fairy tale romanticism will eventually destroy all the U.S. bred Arabian horses who's owners did not have the foresight to double-register with PAHR.  Hope this clarifies any confusion. 

October, 2002. Regarding the Purebred Arabian horse/foal who is applying for PAHR registration, the reason that the first ancestor in every line reached in that animal's pedigree that is registered with AHRA "after" 1/1/98 must also be registered with PAHR is as follows:    

Think of the animal registered with AHRA before 1/1/98 as an "import" to PAHR; i.e., the transfer of that horse from one WAHO-recognized registry to another WAHO-recognized registry. Therefore, all rules are followed, there is no "exception to the rules," and there continues to be the "unbroken" transfer between WAHO registries.  

PAHR accepts the parentage verification test results from AHRA on these animals (which cuts some expense), but the registration process must be completed to register the animal with PAHR.

I will continue to keep posting updates on this unfortunate situation as changes or solutions evolve.  The next WAHO Conference is scheduled for April, 2007, in Damascus.  I am currently planning to attend and will report back here on this subject.