AQHA’s Incentive Fund program is the way to go!

AQHA Customer Service Rep Kayla Randall

For all of you who breed show horses, buy show horses or just plain get out there and show horses, AQHA’s Incentive Fund program is probably something you’ve been buzzing about in the barn. To someone in customer service, there’s nothing more gratifying than having the answer to the question or solution to the problem that just made someone’s day. And telling a member that their Incentive Fund check is in the mail would classify as one of those days!

Investment is a word that is so commonly used these days. Invest in stock. A car. A house. A darn good pair of boots. The possibilities are endless. And now, during tough economic times, we are all choosing our investments very wisely. AQHA’s Incentive Fund program works the same way. It’s an investment in your horse. Each year, a point payout is decided upon via a formula, and that amount is multiplied by the number of points your horse received that year. You, as owner, will get a check for 70 percent, the nominator will get 15 percent, and the horse’s sire nominator will get 15 percent. But what is all of this nominator and sire business? Read below for a quick and easy guide to AQHA’s Incentive Fund that anyone can understand!

The process starts with the stallion owner. This is where it can get a little tricky. Here are the rules:

• The stallion owner must nominate the stallion within 90 days of his first-ever breeding. (E.g. stallion breeds the first mare in April, then he must be nominated by July).
• The same stallion must then be nominated again by November 30 of that breeding season. This is because stallion nominations are due a year in advance. (E.g. nominate in 2008 for the 2009 breeding season that produces foals born in 2010).
• The price to nominate a stallion is $300 (flat) for the first breeding season, and then based on the number of mares bred thereafter. Click here for a price chart.
• After you’ve mailed your stallion nomination in the first time, you can call it in each year thereafter. AQHA even makes it easy by calling everyone eligible to nominate by phone each year!

Phew! We’ve got stallions covered. Now, how about those foals?

• Mare owners, breed your mares to AQHA Incentive Fund nominated stallions. It’s the only way to get your baby nominated! You can check the list online or call AQHA Customer Service with a stallion’s name and we’ll tell you the information.
• Once you have the stallion picked, the breeding done and waited about the longest year you’ve ever thought for that Incentive Fund foal, simply check a box on the foal application and be sure to sign, and AQHA will nominate your foal for the Incentive Fund.

Beginning January 2012, there are a few changes to the program. Everything listed above still stands, but the following changes have been made.

We’re trying to get more money into your pockets when you get your yearly Incentive Fund check, but that money has to come from somewhere. There will now be a $50 per year, per division licensing fee for each nominated horse. This may seem like quite an increase, but if you think about it, it won’t take that many points to earn that money back and then some, even with the payout money around $20 a point. With enough horses enrolled for that year, the payout money can easily get up to our goal of $50 per point. When that happens, one point gets your enrollment money back. The licensing fee requirement begins January 1, 2012.

There is also a licensing fee assessed to the person that buys your Incentive Fund nominated horse from you. This helps us out by keeping any payout money you earned while you owned that horse in your pocket, as well as keeping you from paying licensing fees for someone else to benefit.

The nomination fee for foals 7 months old and younger is increasing to $125. This will also help that point payout total get up to that $50 goal. Even with that increase, registering your foal by that 7 month deadline is still going to cost you less than $200 – and that’s counting a parentage verification test. With a higher point payout, that foal will earn you a whole lot more than that in its career. The nomination fee increase starts with foals born in 2013.

We’ve also changed the payout percentages and increased the amount breeders and stallion owners receive from 10 to 15 percent.

There are several more changes, including a point payout cap and a new nomination offer to second-career race horses. Read more about all the changes to the Incentive fund program here.

More helpful information: AQHA will need your Social Security Number or Tax ID number on file for you to be eligible to nominate your horse to the Incentive Fund. Don’t have a Tax ID number, but plan on joining this multi-million-dollar program? Click here for access to the United States Internal Revenue Service website and get one.

Congrats on a great investment!

As always, at your service…
Kayla Randall
AQHA Customer Service