Questions we hear most often about the Ameritano, registration, and membership. If yours is not answered here, contact us — we would rather answer it directly than have you guess.
About the Breed
An Ameritano is the cross of a high-percentage NFQHA-certified Quarter Horse and a registered Portuguese Lusitano. It is a specific, documented cross rather than a general type, which is why it has its own registry and its own name.
An Azteca may be a Quarter Horse crossed with either a Lusitano or a Spanish Andalusian, and the Quarter Horse side need not be Foundation-bred. An Ameritano is narrower on both counts: the Iberian parent must be a Lusitano specifically, and the Quarter Horse parent must be NFQHA-certified. The result is a more predictable horse, which is the entire reason the designation exists.
From the beginning of American Quarter Horse and the end of Lusitano. Both parents appear in the word, in the order they contributed. As a bonus, the word MERIT sits inside it.
Owners consistently describe them as unusually people-oriented, quick to learn, and steady with unfamiliar things — heavy equipment, cattle, water, traffic. The breeding program has selected for temperament ahead of everything else for four decades. Read what owners and trainers say on the testimonials page.
They are bred to cross between Western work and classical dressage rather than to specialize. Owners compete in dressage, Working Equitation, and Western dressage, work cattle, ride long-distance trails, and use them for ranch work and family riding. Your Ameritano can also be registered with IALHA, which opens IALHA-recognized classes, and Ameritanos are eligible for open shows including NCHA, NRHA, NRCHA, 4-H, and stock horse competitions, as well as USDF and USEF classes that are not breed-specific.
No. Both directions are recognized: a Lusitano stallion on an NFQHA mare, or an NFQHA stallion on a Lusitano mare. Registered Ameritanos exist from both crosses.
Registering Your Horse
If one parent is registered with NFQHA and the other is registered as a Lusitano with IALHA or APSL, your horse is very likely eligible. If you are unsure — particularly about the Quarter Horse parent’s certification — send us the papers and we will tell you.
Copies of both parents’ registration papers, front side, and parentage verification from UC Davis. Papers must be legible digital copies in PDF, JPG, or PNG format, up to 10 MB each. The digital copies supplied by each association are ideal.
Not always. If your horse has already been parentage verified and registered with a qualifying registry such as IALHA or American Azteca, no additional verification is needed — send the IALHA papers and the NFQHA papers and that is sufficient. This is the question we are asked most often, and the answer saves many owners the cost of testing.
Yes, provided that parent is a minimum of 75% Lusitano. An S/P is a Lusitano and Andalusian cross, and below 75% Lusitano the resulting foal is not an Ameritano.
Registration is $50 per horse.
Yes. You can submit up to ten horses in a single application, with the total calculated per horse.
No. Eligibility is determined by documented parentage. A horse that meets the parentage requirements is an Ameritano.
Yes, and many are. Dual registration opens IALHA classes while your AHR papers document the specific cross.
Membership
Thirty dollars for one year, seventy-five for three years, or two hundred for a lifetime membership.
Log in to your account first, then select your membership term and choose Renewal at checkout. Logging in first keeps your records together. If you do not have your membership number to hand, enter Unknown and we will match it up.
Breeding and Buying
An NFQHA-certified Quarter Horse and a registered Lusitano, in either direction. The registry actively wants more breeders involved — a breed drawn from one program’s bloodlines has a ceiling, and wider participation means better genetic diversity. Contact us before you plan a breeding and we will confirm both parents qualify.
Still Have Questions? ***
Call (435) 660-6728, write to Ameritano Horse Registry, PO Box 129, Levan, Utah 84639, or use the contact form. Questions about whether a particular horse qualifies are welcome — send the papers and we will look.