Beginner's Barn - Organizing Certificates and Records I
by Mary Vinyard

In the last installment we began requesting breedings. So what do you do with all those certificates you are receiving back? Organize them!

Organizing Certificates and Records
After requesting a few breedings, you'll start to acquire quite a stack of papers on your newly pedigreed stable members. Depending on who you breed with, you certificates may come back as a one page, 4-5 generation pedigree or may end up being 3 - 4 pages of pedigree, bloodlines, parent and bloodline show information, and photographs! So a method of organization is definitely in order. There are many different systems used by hobbyist. I will address several here but they are by far not the only ways for organization. You should choose the method that is easiest and most convenient for you.

A few things to consider before choosing your organizational method
When thinking of how to organize, you should look beyond the stack of papers on your desk and into the future of your stable. Will you be adding more stock in the future? Will you specialize in a certain breed or have a multi-breed barn? Are you going to be keeping show records, awards and/or breeding records with your pedigrees? What about historical information on each horse's bloodlines? All of these things and more should be considered so that your organizational method keeps the organization now, as well as into the future. It may sound like a simple task but it is very easy to get overloaded with pedigrees here and historical photos there and not be able to find a thing when you need to know!

(On the historical information/bloodline research - I suggest keeping this information in a separate binder since it many times relates to more than one horse in the stable.)

Methods to Control the Madness
I have been in the hobby of pedigree assignment for well over 10 years now and have tried several methods to organize my stock. Some have worked for me and some have not. So I'll start with what I like best…the 3-ring binder.

3-ring binders
The 3-ring binder is the easiest way, in my opinion, to keep records organized. They are easily found at your local department, drug, or office supply store and are relatively cheap. They come in numerous colors, sizes and styles and can even be customized with art, stickers, labels, etc. I suggest the D-ring style, as it allows your pages to stack flat against each other and are easiest to flip through without messing the pages up than the standard O-ring. You should assess how many pages you anticipate to add to the binder and then determine the size or sizes, depending on how many binders you need to use and how you plan to organize them. If you are going to keep show awards and other such records with your certificates, you'll need more space than if you are just keeping a 1 or 2 page pedigree on each horse.

Once you get your binder, there are many ways you can organize them. I simply use a three-hole punch and tabs. Each horse gets their own tab and their hole-punched pedigree goes behind it. I also keep a form for recording breedings, a form for show results and a slip-sheet (8 ½ x 11 plastic pouch) to put show ribbons/certificates and other stuff, such as manufacturer's hang tags and certificates, in. Many people prefer not to punch holes and will place all information in slip-sheets. This method will allow avoidance of torn page holes though cost slightly more. If you choose not to use tabs, I suggest a method of alphabetical order so that you can easily find each horses information when you need it.

How you want to organize your binders is up to you. You may separate records by sex or breed or keep show horses together and breeding stock in another. Or you may choose to keep show and breeding records completely separate from your pedigrees. This part of the process is totally up to you. And one of the liberties of the binders is that they can be easily changes by removing and switching out pages and tabs. For example, I currently have my binders separated by Stallions, Mares, non-breeding stock Geldings (some geldings have "open" years from before they were gelded and therefore are filed with the stallions), and non-aging Foals. I am considering, though, re-organizing to keep all my Quarter Horses together in one binder separate from their stable mates, as I have a large quantity of them and would like to not flip through 3 different binders to find the two QHs I need for one singular breeding.

However you choose to organize your binders, make sure it is easy for you to use and clearly labeled so you can keep track of what's where.

This article will continue in our next month's issue and will cover alternative methods of organizing materials.

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