What Is ASHA of Canada and How Do You Join or Register a Saddlebred?

The American Saddlebred Horse Association of Canada (ASHA of Canada) is the national organization that encourages, develops, promotes, and regulates the breeding of purebred American Saddlebred Horses in Canada. It sets breeding standards, keeps records, and carries out a system of registration under the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC). If you own, breed, or plan to register an American Saddlebred in Canada, membership and registration both run through ASHA of Canada and the CLRC.

What ASHA of Canada Does

ASHA of Canada describes its object as the encouragement, development, promotion, and regulation of purebred American Saddlebred breeding in Canada. In practice that means:

• Setting breeding standards for the breed in Canada
• Keeping records and collecting, preserving, and publishing documents relating to those breedings
• Operating a registration system under the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC)
• Supporting Canadian breeders, who the association notes have been producing top-quality American Saddlebreds in Canada for over 60 years

The association also runs a Versatility Program to encourage members to use and display the breed across a wide variety of activities and disciplines.

Membership: What It Gets You and How to Join

Membership exists to safeguard the integrity of the American Saddlebred in Canada and to support the association's ongoing operations. According to ASHA of Canada:

• All members are subject to the rules and regulations set out in the association's constitution.
• Members are eligible to hold office and vote at the annual meeting.
• Memberships are renewed and sold through the Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC), not directly through a separate checkout on the association site.

If you want a voice in how the breed is governed in Canada — or you simply want to support the registry — membership is the route. Because sales and renewals are handled by the CLRC, expect to complete the transaction through that organization rather than through ASHA of Canada itself.

Breeding and Registering a Saddlebred in Canada

Registration is the core administrative function. ASHA of Canada carries out its system of registration under the CLRC, which means the CLRC is the records body you deal with for the paperwork side of breeding and registering.

The practical sequence for a Canadian breeder or owner is:

1. Confirm the horse is a purebred American Saddlebred — the association's mandate covers purebred breeding specifically.
2. Handle membership and registration through the CLRC, since that is where ASHA of Canada memberships are sold and renewed and where the registration system operates.
3. Follow ASHA of Canada's breeding standards and constitution, which apply to all members.

The association's stated purpose is regulation as well as promotion, so breeding outside those standards is not what the registry is set up to record.

The Versatility Program

ASHA of Canada developed the Versatility Program to encourage members to continue to use and display the versatile American Saddlebred. The association offers incentives to exhibitors of Saddlebreds in Canada for participation in a wide variety of activities and disciplines — not just traditional show-ring classes.

If you ride, drive, or show your Saddlebred in multiple disciplines, this is the program to look at. It is aimed at members, so joining comes first.

Where to Find News and Get in Touch

The ASHA of Canada site organizes its content around a few main areas: Membership, Breeding & Registering, News, and the Versatility Program. News is where association updates are posted, and the membership and breeding sections are where the administrative detail lives.

Quick Reference

The short version: ASHA of Canada is the breed association, the CLRC is where you transact membership and registration, and the Versatility Program is the member benefit for owners who use their Saddlebreds across many disciplines.