Registration and lineage: the record this breed is known for
A registered Canadian Horse should arrive with his registration certificate, showing his registered name and number, date of birth, colour and markings, breeder, and sire and dam, backed by a lineage you can read several generations deep. Few breeds reward that reading more: the Canadian developed in relative isolation from a small foundation population, so family records are unusually complete and closely interwoven, and a buyer can genuinely trace what family a horse comes from rather than taking a colour and a story on trust.
Ask the seller to walk you through the lineage if any names or numbers are unfamiliar, and check the certificate details against the horse himself. If he is sold as breeding stock, the lineage is not decoration — it is how you judge relatedness to horses you may breed him to, in a breed where managing a small gene pool is a real responsibility shared by every owner.
Transfer and identification you verify in person
The seller should sign the transfer so the registration can be recorded in your name, and you should agree at the point of sale who submits it. Alongside the breed papers, expect the horse's identification document or passport where one is issued, and verify his identity physically: Canadian Horses are microchipped for registration purposes, so have the chip scanned and matched to the number on the paperwork, and compare recorded markings — stars, socks, and other white markings — against the horse in front of you.
Do this before he is loaded, not after. A black or dark bay Canadian with modest markings can look very like his stablemate, and the chip is the one check that removes all doubt about which registered animal actually travelled home with you.
Bill of sale, breeding, and work history
Your bill of sale should identify the horse by registered name and number, name both parties, state the price and terms, and record what he is sold as — breeding animal, riding or driving horse, or an all-round family horse, all roles this versatile breed is genuinely sold for. Note any seller disclosures about health, soundness, behaviour under saddle or in harness, and previous injuries, in the document itself.
Ask for the records that support the description: for a mare, her breeding and foaling history and current status; for a stallion, coverings and registered offspring; for a working horse, a training and use history — what he has actually done, from trail riding to driving to farm work — plus any show or evaluation records. If a pre-purchase veterinary examination is part of the deal, its written report belongs in this same packet, chip number included.
The health file and movement papers
Request his health history as a dated, continuous record: veterinary visits and findings, routine preventive and dental care, farrier history if the seller keeps it, and any test results or health certificates prepared for shows, breeding, or travel. Because this breed's population is concentrated and horses move between a relatively small community of breeders for breeding and sales, prior movement and breeding-farm paperwork often tells a fuller story than it would for a more numerous breed — keep it all.
Also confirm which identification and health documents your own region requires for transporting and keeping him, so nothing essential is missing on arrival day.
Keeping a heritage breed's file worthy of the breed
At home, store originals safely, add dated entries for every vet visit, breeding, show, and change in his work, and keep copies where a vet or transporter can see them. A Canadian's papers are a piece of breed history as well as a private record, and maintaining his file in KinsLe's Pet Passport keeps that registration, lineage, and health history together in one portable packet for the horse's whole life.