During the November Board of Directors Workshop, the Board discussed updating the current MFTHBA fee schedule. “Many of the current fees have been unchanged for over a decade,” shared MFTHBA President Mark Mackie. “The Board of Directors felt it was time to review the fee schedule and make adjustments as necessary.” While some fee changes were voted on at the November Board Meeting, the final fee structure for registrations was not approved until December. “The Board tabled the registration fee discussion until the final vote on the DNA rule change,” added Mackie.
Not all fees will be impacted, and changes will not take place until January 1, 2022.
Registration Fees
Fees to register horses under 6 months of age will remain unchanged ($20) as will all pony registration fees. Fees associated with registering older horses will see slight increases. The fee for registering a horse 7 to 12 months of age will increase from $24 to $40 with the same monthly penalty to 17 months of age.
The new adult horse registration fee structure will provide two fee options for stallions and mares. Mares and stallions from 18 to 36 months may be registered for $200 and those three years and older may be registered for $350. These fees are a substantial increase for registering mares which were previously $100 for adult registration. Stallions were previously $200. Gelding adult registration fees are increasing from $65 to $100 with no separation on the age.
Please note that in December the Board accepted the rule change option to require all horses to be DNA tested before registration. This change will go into effect on January 1, 2022. Applications for registration postmarked by December 31, 2021, will not be subject to this requirement.
DNA kits may be purchased separately, allowing owners to spread out the expense.
DNA Kit and Unknown Horse Fees
DNA kit fees will be increasing to $60. This $10 increase is in response to increased processing fees charged by the laboratory. The Unknown Horse Research fee is increasing by $25, making the fee $75 instead of $50. Ten dollars of this increase is to address the increased fees charged to process the DNA test. The remaining $15 increase will offset the staff costs associated with researching the horse’s potential parentage.
Transfer Fees
Horse transfer fees are getting a new structure with a separate fee for horses and ponies transferred after 12 months of purchase. Ownership transfer within 12 months of purchase is increasing five dollars to $25. Transfers that are submitted after 12 months of purchase will cost $40.
“The MFTHBA primary mission is to keep accurate records and part of that is promptly transferring ownership of horses. Unfortunately, we have a good number of horses that don’t have their papers transferred for years after purchase,” shared Mackie. “The Board was looking to encourage owners to get horses transferred to their name quickly.”
Box seat transfer fees are also increasing. Transferring a box seat will not cost $35 instead of $25.
Other Recording and Service Fees
Other registry fees that will be changing include:
- Duplicate Registration Certificate: Increasing from $20 to $25
- Markings Change: Increasing from $20 to $30
- Pedigree Change: Increasing from $20 to $30
- Color Change: Increasing from $10 to $30
- Gold Paper/New Paper Reissue: Increasing from $10 to $25
- Late Stallion Breeding Report: Increasing from $5 per month to $20 with a maximum penalty of $120. Stallion owners are reminded that submitting the Stallion Breeding Report is free if submitted by the end of January.
- Rush Fee: Increasing from $25 to $50
The name change fee, stallion recording fee, shipped semen stallion permit, artificial insemination mare permit, and embryo transfer mare permit fees are not changing.
Membership Fees
Most membership fees are remaining unchanged. The Three Year Membership option is seeing a slight increase to $100, which is just four dollars more than the previous fee. However, the Board of Directors did vote to eliminate the Lifetime Membership option. Anyone interested in obtaining a lifetime membership can do so until December 31, 2021, for $500.
Show Card Fees
Exhibitors will notice an increase in the cost of their exhibitor cards as well. Professional cards are increasing to $35, a $10 increase; amateur cards are increasing to $25, a $15 increase; and youth cards are increasing to $15, a five-dollar increase. Amateur riders will also notice the requirement to declare eligible for limited and novice rider classes on the amateur card application. This change will assist the office in ensuring only eligible riders enter these classes. To help this process go smoothly, all exhibitors are asked to obtain their cards as early in the year as possible.
UPDATED 1/4/21: The New Customer Work Order Form is available under Forms/Registry or by following this link https://mfthba.com/pdfs/customer_work_order.pdf
