After defining the National Foundation Quarter Horse, (Foundation Quarter Horse Breed Standard) the next problem was how to qualify horses for the new Association based on these definitions. Since physical inspection was not practical nor feasible, it was decided the certification criteria had to be based on Quarter Horse Blood. Since the only outside blood continued to be added since the inception of AQHA was Thoroughbred, the percentage left after subtracting the TB blood would be the original Quarter Horse blood. Therefore, it would be necessary to research back to the parents of the first registered Quarter Horse, or the first TB encountered on each line; or eleven generations; whichever came first. Therefore, the research covered more than 2,000 horses in a pedigree.
This huge undertaking was considered necessary because from the beginning of AQHA horses were accepted into the registry that were not considered to be the Steel Dust or Bulldog type that Robert Denhardt wanted. The race type were originally accepted as class “C” with “A” being the Steel Dust/Bulldog type. Over the years this changed many times, but the race type or Thoroughbred cross continued to be accepted. Some of the race type were probably also registered as “A” horses as many of the AQHA Inspectors were renown Race type men. Later the class system was abolished and all horses received a registration number.
NFQHA looks at the TB in every horse regardless of how low its AQHA registration number, or what year it was registered or born. It is the NFQHA belief that the more TB blood a horse carries, the more TB traits it will exhibit and the more Quarter Horse attributes will be lost. In 1995 it was thought that a horse carrying 75% Quarter Horse blood (researching back to the parents of the first registered horse, or 11 generations), would meet the above criteria.
However, after the first National Show in 1996, and after reviewing pedigrees for over a year the qualifying criteria was raised to 80%. In 2018 the percentage requirement was raised again to 85% in response to the amount of TB dropping off in the 12th generation. (NFQHA Registration Requirements)