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        IPAA  Frequently Asked Questions 
You have questions, we have answers.


 Q.  How is it different from other Appaloosa associations?  

 A.  IPAA is dedicated to the preservation, breeding and promotion of the original Foundation Appaloosa bloodlines towards the development of Purebred      Appaloosas.  IPAA has developed registration requirements for purebred Appaloosas based on scientific principles and accepted animal husbandry standards.  IPAA’s rules are perpetual and cannot be changed –this insures the future integrity of the IPAA registry.  IPAA is unique in these regards.


Q.  Why should I join IPAA?

A.  If you are interested in preserving and promoting the Foundation bloodline Appaloosa horse, owning or raising purebred Appaloosas or just want to get
involved with an ethical, family oriented organization to have fun with your horse and share in the experience - then IPAA is for you!
 

Q.  What activities and services does IPAA intend to offer?

A.  IPAA started out by developing our registry.  Memberships and registrations are available.  Promotions, shows, meetings and other events are planned
for an ongoing basis.  Announcements can be found on the IPAA web site and membership news.


Q.  Is there anything I can do to get more involved with IPAA?

A.  Yes!  IPAA strongly encourages active support from our members.  Feel free to contact IPAA officials or your IPAA representative.  And if you have
a suggestion or idea for an IPAA event, we want to here from you!


Q.  Does IPAA offer discounts and lifetime memberships?  Does it have a calendar of current events?

A.  Yes!  Please visit the IPAA web site (http://www.purebredappaloosa.com) for information.


Q. What are the requirements for an Appaloosa to be considered an IPAA purebred?

A. The horse must meet the following:
   *Parents must be registered with IPAA or an approved breed association.
   * 75% ancestry to IPAA Designated Foundation blood Appaloosas
   * The fifth or greater complete generation of Appaloosas registered with IPAA or approved breed associations (“F5”).
   * Is not disqualified by characteristics or genetic issues listed in IPAA rules as Horses Ineligible for Registration.

Q. Why does IPAA specify a Foundation-blood requirement?  Isn’t the standard purebred livestock / equine requirement eight full
generations of registered breeding?

A. Much misinformation exists about what is really the “standard” requirement for designating purebreds.  Part of this is due to the fact that 7/8ths foundation blood is a common requirement for purebred and it sometimes gets “morphed” into an “eight generation requirement”.  Below is a sampling of the information and advice IPAA received supporting the IPAA requirements.  Please note that this information was given to IPAA officials only as an aid in developing our purebred requirements and was not intended for publication.  Therefore we have listed the title and / or department but not the name of the individual(s).

>From a professor in the Department of Animal Science:
“I support the argument that a percentage of the foundation blood (usually 7/8 or 15/16), sometimes along with a minimum number of generations registered within the breed (typically "F4" or "F5") is used, … and valid for purebred.  Research into genetics by another professor at the university would seem to
support the concept of five generations for a purebred.”

>From a Director of the Equine Parentage Testing and Research Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Science:
There is no all-inclusive or standard definition of an equine purebred (this includes the idea of only requiring eight generations breeding), but purebreds do
need to be derived from a fixed base of foundation stock.  It is up to the registries to define their own foundation stock and purebred requirements.  But there
are accepted “norms”.  The accepted norm is approximately 7/8ths - 31/32nds foundation blood for purebreds.  A few registries are ultra-conservative with
higher requirements and closed books, while others are not nearly so stringent as even the 7/8ths requirement.

>From an Animal Registration Officer, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada:
The 7/8ths (foundation blood for purebred requirement) is based on having at least 3 generations of inter se mating, that is, inter-mating of animals from a consistent fixed base.  Again, this is somewhat arbitrary and derives from genetic theory, regarding approach towards genetic equilibrium.  Depending on the number of traits chosen, their heritability, selection pressure and accuracy of selection, etc. the best advice regarding number of generations before equilibrium
is reached may vary considerably.  Three generations is a good starting place, but some associations have defined purebred as high as 63/64ths.” 
(This is equivalent to IPAA F6). 


Counting registered generations in a pedigree.

Q.  IPAA counts the horse itself as one generation in its pedigree.  Isn’t the correct way to count generations to stop with the parents- in other words, to not count the horse itself as one generation?

A.  There is much confusion on this issue.  Actually registries can use whichever method they desire unless a government agency or law specifies otherwise.
 In the United States, either method is acceptable.  However, the method used by IPAA is the method typically used in genetic research and complies with the Canadian Animal Pedigree Act.
  * IPAA uses the standard method for counting filial (“F”) generations as used in the field of genetics. 

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:
(“F1”) Filial Generations: a generation in a breeding experiment that is successive to a mating between parents of two distinctively different but usually
relatively pure genotypes
Baylor College of Medicine
F1 or “first filial” generation - heterozygotes (i.e. “crossbreds”) that resulted from our original parent cross
In this method a typical pedigree format is read from right to left, with the first filial (“F1”) generation beginning with the first (oldest) generation in a pedigree
that does not contain any members of another breed.  Each successive generation is another ”F” level.  Counting this way one can see that the horse itself is certainly a member of a filial generation and if bred to another horse it would keep the same “F” level in the pedigree of its offspring.  For example, if a horse
 is an IPAA F3, when bred to another IPAA F3 it would still be counted as “F3” not “F1” or F2”.  This is because you count generations from oldest to youngest.  The resulting foal would be an IPAA F4.

Q.  Isn’t counting the horse itself as a generation like cheating, so a lot of IPAA horses can be bred to reach the purebred generation
requirement sooner?

A.  The IPAA generation requirement is not based on personal preference, belief or rule of thumb.  Instead all IPAA requirements are based on advice from
leading experts, review of research on basic genetics, and requirements from numerous associations and agencies.  In fact, because of the IPAA Designated
Foundation blood requirement, a requirement for a specific number of generations is not needed to meet accepted standards for purebred.  IPAA instituted
the generation requirement mainly for consistency with existing programs within the Appaloosa world and to help insure a minimum of consistency within the breed.  With that in mind, IPAA determined that five full generations including the applicant horse itself is the optimum requirement for its purebred
Appaloosas.  If IPAA were to exclude the applicant horse from its generation count, the actual requirement would be the same; just its description would be changed (to F4).

Foundation blood and Foundation blood requirements

Q. What makes IPAA’s definition of Foundation blood the best method to use?

A.  IPAA supports the fact that other associations are free to define requirements as they choose.  As the only purebred Appaloosa association based exclusively on ApHC and ApHCC Foundation stock requirements, IPAA does not consider itself in competition with other associations.  IPAA based its definitions and requirements on science; linking our Foundation blood definition to rule changes within the base of the Appaloosa Horse Club Foundation stock that would typically coincide with what is called a “founder” event in the creation of a breed (the closing of the ApHC books to horses of
unknown / unregistered parentage).
   * IPAA Foundation blood Appaloosas are considered those Appaloosas registered prior to the 1971 ApHC rule change with ApHC regular registration numbers of 139,999 or less, or ApHCC regular registration numbers of 5,141 or less.
   * Other pre-1971 ApHC registered Appaloosas and pre-1971 ApHCC prefix registered Appaloosas may qualify for partial foundation-blood credit
based on their documented ancestry, and are considered on an individual basis.

Q.  Doesn’t the “F” in the ApHC “F” numbered horses stand for “Foundation” and aren’t they the only real ApHC Foundation Appaloosas?

A.  The ApHC “F” numbered horses were never designated as the only Foundation horses, and in fact the “F” prefix was added later only to fix the
registration numbering system.  Once upon a time, ApHC Appaloosas that did not have both parents in the Foundation registry were registered as
Tentative (“T” prefix).  These “T” numbered horses could advance to Foundation (actually a “#” prefix, not “F”) once they meet production requirements
and passed inspection.  All ApHC “F” horses were originally registered with a “#” prefix and / or a “T” prefix.  The “T” prefix registrations were not
numbered consecutively with the “#” registrations.  So, a Tentative horse that advanced to Foundation was given an entirely new number with a “#” prefix. 
In order to compete in sanctioned racing events, the ApHC needed to change its numbering system so both designations were numbered consecutively and a horse would keep the same number throughout its life.  To do this, the horses with a “#” prefix at the time were given an “F” prefix, and the ApHC “#” and
“T” numbering systems we re-started using consecutive numbers.  This is why the ApHC has “F” numbered horses and why both “F” and the “#” designation (prior to ApHC rule changes) are Foundation.  It is also why IPAA gives some Foundation consideration to “T” registered horses – ApHC originally
accepted them for possible advancement to Foundation.

Below are various examples of horses registered “T” moving to # and / or “F” registration as explained above:

Examples of horses that were registered in the Foundation registry before the F prefix was added in 1962.  These horses later had the F prefix added to
their registration number:
    * Pajaro, originally registered with the # prefix as #313 and later changed to F313
    * Indian Paintbrush, originally registered with the # prefix as #1353 and later changed to F1353

Examples of horses that were registered Tentative with a T prefix and later advanced to Foundation (#) before the time the numbering change took effect. 
These examples show how the old numbering system worked- when the horse was upgraded to Foundation it didn’t keep its original number but got the
next available Foundation number.  Please note these Tentative horses all later received the F prefix once the numbering change was made in 1962- just
like the group above:
    * Bambi E, advanced from T540 to #2497 and changed to F2497 in 1962
    * PVF’s Butterfly, advanced from T4805 to #3486 and changed to F3486 in 1962

Examples of horses that were registered Tentative with a T prefix and later upgraded to Foundation (#) after the numbering change took effect.  Note these
horses have the same registration status as the other two groups above.  These examples show how the numbering system was changed so when a horse
was advanced to Foundation it was able to keep its number- the T prefix was dropped when the horse was advanced to Foundation:
    * Sage Acres Turkson, advanced from Tentative T28004 to Foundation #28004
    * West Winds Taffy, advanced from Tentative T10613 to Foundation #10613

Q. Aren’t more restrictive requirements  using only “F” horses or some number less than 139,999 better simply because they are more restrictive?

A.  A requirement for using only “F” numbered horses would certainly be more restrictive but it wouldn’t necessarily be better.  This is because as of today
there are very few Appaloosas left that with a great majority of their ancestry tracing to those early “F” numbered horses.  This creates two problems:
First, it would limit the genetic pool to only those few horses meeting the criteria for F numbered ancestors – this could have potentially severe health and
genetic consequences for the IPAA Appaloosa down the road (as the owners of other purebred breeds in similar circumstances have found out). 
Second, it also limits those eligible to participate and grow IPAA.  Such severe Foundation blood limits may be good for those few selling breeding stock that meetsthe criteria, but it would not be in the best interest of the IPAA Appaloosa or IPAA itself.  And as IPAA research determined, it would in no way make
the resulting generations of horses more justifiably purebred.
Using a maximum number between 139,999 and just F numbered horses is possible.  However, one thing to remember is that in effect, IPAA is already
doing this because ApHC “T” and ApHCC prefix registered horses are not given full Foundation status when calculating the IPAA Designated Foundation
blood percentage.  Also, since IPAA rules are grounded in science and accepted animal husbandry practices, any determination for such a cutback should be based on a registration rule change or similar event relating to breed development.  IPAA has not found such an event prior to 1971; so using a lower number would then be based purely on arbitrary criteria.

Q. I’m convinced IPAA is for me.  How do I join?

A.  Please visit our web site at http://www.purebredappaloosa.com/fee_schedule.html
We look forward to hearing from you!