Columbus, OH — On a conference call Friday (Aug. 27), the U.S. Trotting Association’s Board of Directors’ Executive Committee voted to maintain the deadline for all horses to be microchipped by Jan. 1, 2022.

“It is important for horsemen to know that all horses must be microchipped in order for them to be eligible to race in 2022,” emphasized USTA COO and Registrar TC Lane. “Our USTA I.D. technicians are continuing to observe stringent safety protocols and are available to assist any horseman who has horses that need to be microchipped.

“Horsemen should also be aware that some states such as California, Minnesota and New York have either existing or pending state laws that all horses must be microchipped to participate in racing or breeding in those states.”

The original deadline, which was a year earlier, was previously extended to 2022 by a unanimous vote of the USTA Board on March 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With the challenges facing everyone in the harness racing industry as we all endure the real-life difficulties and the economic hardships presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the USTA and the committee felt that it was far more important for our horsemen to utilize financial resources to care for themselves, their families, employees and horses.  We’re all in this together and the USTA will help in every way possible,” said USTA President Russell Williams at the time of the March 2020 announcement.

Following is a contact list for USTA I.D. technicians available to microchip horses:

States                                 Technician                                  Phone

Texas, Mississippi,               Bernard Demars                        903.268.8017
Alabama, Louisiana              green_meadows@rocketmail.com

California, Oregon,               Tom McCarthy                           916.257.9615
Washington                          tmccarthygsd@gmail.com

Florida                                 Jeff Schaefer                            954.650.5319
                                           shoerboy@hotmail.com

Illinois                                 Rick Schrock                            217.899.7570
                                           schrockstables@sbcglobal.net

Indiana                                Donna Williams                       765.444-8161 (home)
                                           C10hitch@aol.com                     765.208.0622

Iowa, Kansas,                       Garry Phillips                           641.652.7675 (home)
Minnesota, Wisconsin            grammyphillips2013@gmail.com  641.799.2358

Kentucky, Georgia,                Mike Moss                                270.556.1000
Tennessee                            mmoss25@hotmail.com

Michigan,                             Mitch Nault                               740.505.0182
Ohio (West of I-77)              mcnault@gmail.com

West Pennsylvania               Wayne A. Shaffer, III                724.880-6351 (home)
(West of I-81),                     shafferpeg@yahoo.com
East Ohio (North of I-70,
East of I-77)

Maryland, Delaware,             Pam Polk                                   410.641.0428 (home)
Virginia,                               wynnfieldfarm@hotmail.com         443.497.0267
Southern Pennsylvania
(East of I-81, South of I-78)

New Jersey, Lower NY           Jim Shupe                                 609.517.1170
East PA (East of I-81,           idjtshupe@frontier.com
North of I-78)

Upstate New York,                 Stephane Bouchard                  914.656.0869
New England States               bouchardyonkers@gmail.com

This list of I.D. Technicians is also available on the USTA website by clicking here.