The American Quarter Horse Association has eliminated all restrictions regarding the registration of foals produced through embryo transfer as part of an out-of-court settlement with a coalition of breeders.

For a couple of years, the AQHA has been fighting a lawsuit that claimed a rule limiting the registration of embryo transfer foals to one per mare per year violated Texas free trade laws. The case went to trial June 3 in Amarillo before District Court Judge Pat Pirtle, who had already ruled twice that the rule violated state antitrust law. A trial was still required to determine what damages the breeders incurred.

Robert Garner, an attorney representing cutting horse breeder Kay Floyd and a half dozen other breeders, introduced evidence that his clients’ lost between $9.5 million and $10 million in the value of their horses and another $3 million in profits because of the embryo transfer rule.

“If the court determined the rule was wrong and done intentionally, that amount would have been trebled,” Garner said. “Bill Brewer (AQHA executive vice president) said on the stand they had acted knowingly and intentionally. Their intention was to enforce the rule