AQHA RESPONDS!!!

by Melinda Westrope

I received a submission about a week ago, that AQHA was now allowing cloned horses to be registered. As I could not find any information stating that they had already agreed to allow this, I went straight to the source. I sent an email to AQHA asking if this was true. This is the response I got:


Melinda:

Hi! AQHA does not allow cloned horses to be registered. As a member-driven organization, our rules are suggested by members and ultimately voted on by our board of directors (who are elected by our members) and executive committee.

Any rules involving registrations go before the Stud Book and Registration Committee. We have had members that have proposed changing the rules to allow cloned horses in the registry, but that has not passed.

We anticipate this issue to be raised again at the 2009 Convention in San Antonio and to make sure that everyone has the facts, we will be hosting a forum on cloning to allow a healthy debate on the issue.

Viagen will be one of the participants of the forum, as well as academic experts in the field of cloning. We will be sending out a press release with more details on the forum soon and that information will also be available on our home page.

I really appreciate you verifying our position. If you have more questions on this subject or anything else about AQHA, please do not hesitate in contacting me. Have a great day! -- Jennifer

Jennifer K. Hancock
Director of Marketing
The American Quarter Horse Association

I suggest that all members of AQHA keep a watchful eye out for this. Check their homepage often, so that you will have a say in what happens!