Cookies Policy

Effective Date: [EFFECTIVE DATE] Last Updated: [DATE]

This Cookies Policy explains how the National Foundation Quarter Horse Association (“NFQHA,” “we,” “us,” or “our“) uses cookies and similar technologies on https://nfqha.dev/ (the “Site“), what each type does, and how you can control them.

This Policy supplements our Privacy Policy, which describes more fully what personal information we collect and how we use it, and our Terms & Conditions.

Some cookies cannot be turned off. The Site is a membership and ordering platform. Cookies that keep you signed in, hold the contents of your cart, and carry you through checkout are required for those functions to work. Blocking them will prevent you from logging in or completing an order.

1. What Cookies Are

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. On your next visit, the browser sends the cookie back, which lets the site recognize your session, remember your preferences, and keep you signed in.

Cookies are described as:

  • First-party — set by nfqha.dev itself.
  • Third-party — set by another provider whose service runs on the Site, such as our payment processors, analytics provider, or video platform.
  • Session — deleted when you close your browser.
  • Persistent — kept for a set period, from minutes to years, until they expire or you delete them.

We also use closely related technologies, described in Section 5.

2. Why We Use Cookies

We use cookies to:

  • keep you signed in to your member account across pages;
  • remember the contents of your cart and carry your order through checkout;
  • process payments securely and detect fraudulent transactions;
  • protect the Site against bots, scraping of registry and pedigree data, and other abuse;
  • serve pages faster through caching and content delivery;
  • record and honor your cookie preferences;
  • play embedded videos in the galleries; and
  • understand, in aggregate, which pages and resources members find useful.

We do not use cookies for advertising. We do not run ad networks on the Site, we do not use cookies to build advertising profiles, and we do not sell or share cookie data for cross-context behavioral advertising. Certain third parties whose services we use, notably PayPal and Google, may process cookie data for their own purposes under their own policies, as described in Section 4.

3. Managing Your Preferences

We use CookieYes, a consent management platform, to give you control over non-essential cookies.

  • When you first visit the Site, a banner asks you to accept or reject cookie categories. Where required by law, analytics and embedded-video cookies are blocked until you consent.
  • You can change your choice at any time through the Cookie Settings link in the Site footer.
  • Your choice is recorded in the cookieyes-consent cookie so we do not ask again on every page.
  • CookieYes recognizes the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal where applicable law requires us to honor it.

Withdrawing consent stops further use of the relevant cookies but does not delete cookies already stored. Clear them through your browser settings, as described in Section 6.

4. Cookies We Use

Cookies attributed to WordPress and WooCommerce are first-party cookies placed by NFQHA through the software running the Site. The remainder are third-party cookies set by the providers named. Cookie names ending in a hash or ID vary by installation and by user, and providers change cookie names from time to time, so this list is representative rather than exhaustive.

4.1 Strictly Necessary

Required for the Site to function. These are set without consent on the basis of our legitimate interest in operating a secure, working website, and cannot be switched off through the banner. The Site will not work correctly without them.

Cookie Set by Purpose Typical duration
wordpress_test_cookie WordPress Confirms your browser accepts cookies before login is attempted Session
wordpress_logged_in_[hash] WordPress Identifies you as a signed-in member and maintains your session Session, or approximately 14 days with “Remember Me”
wordpress_sec_[hash] WordPress Secures authenticated requests in the account area Session
woocommerce_cart_hash WooCommerce Tracks when the contents of your cart change Session
woocommerce_items_in_cart WooCommerce Records that items are present in your cart Session
wp_woocommerce_session_[hash] WooCommerce Links your browser to your cart and order data on our server Approximately 2 days
cookieyes-consent CookieYes Stores your cookie preferences and the date they were given Approximately 1 year
__cf_bm Cloudflare Distinguishes human visitors from bots to protect the Site and registry data Approximately 30 minutes
cf_clearance Cloudflare Records that a security challenge was passed, so it is not repeated Up to 1 year
_cfuvid Cloudflare Supports rate limiting and abuse prevention Session
__stripe_mid Stripe Identifies the device for payment processing and fraud prevention Approximately 1 year
__stripe_sid Stripe Identifies the checkout session for payment processing and fraud prevention Approximately 30 minutes
PayPal checkout cookies, including ts, ts_c, tsrce, x-pp-s, LANG, enforce_policy, l7_az PayPal Enable PayPal checkout, maintain the payment session, apply security policy, and prevent fraud Session to approximately 3 years, depending on the cookie

Stripe and PayPal cookies are set when a payment page or PayPal button loads. Both providers act as independent controllers of the data they collect and may use it for their own fraud-prevention and, in PayPal’s case, marketing and analytics purposes. See the Stripe Privacy Policy and the PayPal Cookie Statement.

4.2 Functional

Remember choices you make and improve convenience. Blocking these will not prevent you from ordering, but some preferences will reset on each visit.

Cookie Set by Purpose Typical duration
wp-settings-[id], wp-settings-time-[id] WordPress Remembers display and interface preferences for signed-in users Approximately 1 year
woocommerce_recently_viewed WooCommerce Remembers services and products you recently viewed Session

4.3 Performance and Caching

Our caching and content-delivery layer speeds up page loading and reduces server load. It is cookie-aware — it recognizes when you are signed in or have items in your cart so that personalized pages are not served from cache to the wrong visitor. This layer does not track you across other websites and does not build a profile of you.

4.4 Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors reach and move through the Site — for example, which research, pedigree, and membership pages are most used — so we can improve content and navigation. Reporting is reviewed in aggregate; we do not use it to identify individual members.

Where required by law, these cookies are set only after you consent through the banner described in Section 3.

Cookie Set by Purpose Typical duration
_ga Google Analytics Distinguishes visitors for aggregate usage measurement Up to 2 years
_ga_[MEASUREMENT ID] Google Analytics Retains session state for the NFQHA property Up to 2 years
_gid Google Analytics Distinguishes visitors for short-term usage measurement, where set Approximately 24 hours

Google processes this data as described in its Privacy Policy and its Business Data page. Data may be processed on servers in the United States and elsewhere; see Section 7. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites using Google’s browser opt-out add-on, independently of your choices on this Site.

Advertising features are not enabled. We do not use Google Signals, remarketing audiences, or advertising reporting features.

4.5 Embedded YouTube Videos

Videos on the Site, including those in the Video Gallery, are embedded from YouTube. When a video loads, YouTube may set cookies on your device and receive your IP address and details of the page you are viewing, whether or not you play the video. If you are signed in to a Google account, YouTube may associate that activity with your account.

Where required by law, embedded videos are blocked until you consent; until then, a placeholder appears in place of the player.

Cookie Set by Purpose Typical duration
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE YouTube Estimates bandwidth and selects the player interface Approximately 6 months
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA YouTube Stores the visitor’s cookie consent state for the YouTube domain Approximately 6 months
YSC YouTube Records a unique ID for the viewing session to count video views Session
__Secure-YEC, PREF and related Google cookies YouTube / Google Store player preferences and support security and abuse prevention Session to approximately 2 years

YouTube’s use of cookies is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy. We embed videos in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode where available, which defers most cookie setting until playback begins.

5. Similar Technologies

  • Local and session storage — browser storage the Site may use to hold interface state, such as cart contents or a dismissed notice. It behaves like a cookie but is not transmitted with every request. Clearing site data in your browser removes it.
  • Pixels and web beacons — small transparent images that can record whether a message was opened or a page loaded. We may use these in newsletters we send to measure open rates. Disabling remote image loading in your email client will prevent this.
  • Server logs — our hosting and security providers record IP address, browser type, and requested pages for security and troubleshooting. Logs are not cookies and are not controlled by cookie settings. See our Privacy Policy.

6. Browser Controls

Every major browser lets you view, block, and delete cookies through its settings, usually under Privacy or Site Settings:

  • Google Chrome — Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies
  • Apple Safari — Settings → Privacy
  • Mozilla Firefox — Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
  • Microsoft Edge — Settings → Cookies and site permissions

You can also browse in a private or incognito window, which discards cookies when the window is closed.

What breaks if you block cookies. Blocking or deleting strictly necessary cookies will sign you out, empty your cart, and prevent checkout from completing. If you are having trouble ordering, an overly restrictive cookie setting or browser extension is a common cause.

Do Not Track. There is no consistent industry standard for responding to browser Do Not Track signals, and the Site does not currently respond to them. We do respond to Global Privacy Control signals as described in Section 3.

7. International Transfers

NFQHA is based in the United States, and our hosting, security, payment, analytics, and video providers process cookie data in the United States and other countries. If you access the Site from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or elsewhere outside the United States, information collected through cookies will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which may not provide the same level of data protection as your home country.

Where these transfers involve personal data protected by the GDPR or UK GDPR, they are made under appropriate safeguards, including the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or under an adequacy decision where one applies. Further detail, including how to exercise your rights, is in our Privacy Policy.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Cookies Policy when the technologies we use change or when the law requires. The “Last Updated” date above reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be announced on the Site. We re-scan the Site for new cookies periodically and update this Policy accordingly.

9. Contact Us

Questions about this Cookies Policy or how we use cookies:

National Foundation Quarter Horse Association Attn: Privacy PO Box 129, Levan, UT 84639 Phone: (541) 426-4403 Email: [email protected] Web: https://nfqha.dev/contact-us/