After more than a year of discussion, our first trial inspection was held in Oct. 2005 at the New Mexico ICHO Annual General Meeting, hosted by Bob and Donna Hedicke with Ann Marie Gregoire, a USEF ‘r’ dressage judge, officiating. It served to both inspect the first group of horses and to test the proposed North American approach for its suitability in the North American environment. The results led to the following inspection program.

The North American Curly Horse Inspection Program (NACHIP) is the North American portion of the International Curly Approved Mare and Studbook (ICAMS). It has been developed to meet the requirements of North American Curly horse owners and breeders. This program will provide one of the inspection processes for acceptance into ICAMS which is held to international standards. The success of the NACHIP will depend on those volunteering to host and participate in them. Everyone is encouraged to participate and learn from each other. Some of the ICHO goals are to “Encourage selective breeding to develop the highest quality Curly Horses” and “Provide continuing education to breeders and members for better scientific understanding of Curly Horse genetics and all that is involved in its breeding and management”. NACHIP and ICAMS fulfill these goals as well as others. Please learn and share about this great opportunity by reading all the NACHIP information on the Internet and simply download and print anything you need from our website.

Thank you for reading this NACHIP overview. The ICHO hopes that after reading, you will feel more secure and prepared to participate in, or organize, a successful NACHIP Inspection!

The book ‘The Horse Conformation Handbook’ by Heather Thomas Smith, Workman Pub. Co., 2005 is a recommended resource. There are many other excellent conformation books, videos and websites available which may also prove of value to the student of equine conformation.

Goals:

1. Provide consistent and high quality inspection results that would support the vision and goals of the ICHO, allowing North American Curly Horses to be entered into the ICAMS.
2. Provide an affordable program that will be attractive and useful to Curly Horse owners regardless of individual goals, type, or sex of horse.
3. Provide education to Curly Horse owners so they can better understand the importance of good conformation and how it impacts the usefulness and longevity of horses.
4. Help provide pedigrees with information that is useful in the development of specific purpose breeding programs.
5. Provide some comparable information on general body type, style and breeding recommendations for owners and breeders.
6. Provide a program that will help fill the needs of people buying long distance to get a reliable and comparable evaluation on the type and conformation of horses of interest.
7. Provide the base for progressive generations of approved curly horses, potentially leading to an evolved breed.