British Show Jumping Costs......... are they having a laugh?

[Toby_Zaphod]

We have a horse that we needed to register with BS. Additionally we wanted to change his name as his passport name was awful. The rider is already a member so I took all the paperwork into the BS Office for this to be carried out.I handed over the paperwork & the matter was dealt with by the receptionist. She did some typing on the computer, which took about 7 minutes & then asked ‘do you want the passport stamped?” I decided yes so the passport had a clear sticker which had his BS Registration number on it & also a sticker saying British Show Jumping stuck on the passport. A couple of pages of the passport were then stamped with an embossing stamp & that was that.

Was the passport issuing authority notified of the change....No.

Was his new name stamped anywhere on the passport......No.

I then handed over my debit card & the bill for the 7 minutes of typing, no change to the passport or notification to the passport issuing authority & a couple of stickers on the passport, which I had to ask for......£289!!!! ( That’s £41.00 per minute!)

How BS can justify that amount of money for the little they did I have no idea. I seriously wonder who this organisation is actually run for & where all the money goes to. As you can tell I am disappointed with them & extremely angry!

 

[Batgirl]

the fees are clearly listed on the website - the registration fee plus the change of name are listed. They are a lot of money but you aren't just paying for admin. You are paying for all the things that go with a horse registration. I would query why a name change would cost £209 but I imagine the figure comes from somewhere.

 

[ihatework]

Honestly - I’m just bemused how it can be so easy and cheap to change the name of a horse someone else has gone to the trouble of naming (however badly!)

 

[sychnant]

Might have been cheaper to change his name on his passport? I did this when we joined BD - There are a LOT of horses with his name registered, and I didn't want a number after it, so I sent it back to the passport agency to change. It cost about £15 I think - then BD registered him with that name as it was already on his passport.

Disclaimer - don't know if it would be the same as we don't jump, so have never looked into BS - but worth thinking about for anyone else in the same position?

 

[EventingMum]

I find it strange that BS allow a horse to compete in a name not on the passport, BE it has to be the passport name I'm sure. I once knew the ridiculous situation of a horse who competed under one name for BE and another for BS. We changed the name of a horse who had the most ridiculous name which had no reference to his breeder (his breeding was unrecorded) and we changed name with the PIO before registering him BE so everything was in the same name.

 

[ihatework]

I find it strange that BS allow a horse to compete in a name not on the passport, BE it has to be the passport name I'm sure. I once knew the ridiculous situation of a horse who competed under one name for BE and another for BS. We changed the name of a horse who had the most ridiculous name which had no reference to his breeder (his breeding was unrecorded) and we changed name with the PIO before registering him BE so everything was in the same name.

Yes I had a horse that was registered under different names.
Basically he was registered first BSJA under the breeders name, but that was rejected by BE because the name was a commercial brand. Do the passport had to be updated hence 2 different names.

BSJA is very easy going with regards changing names, even on already competing horses. I’m not sure I support it.

 

[SmallSteps]

Just echoing what others have said really - there's no admin charge for registering the horse, they did that for free and promptly by the sounds of it. There's a fee for membership (which is steep but includes insurance etc. so it works out) and effectively a fine for not using the passport name. If you must change the horse's name then ideally speak to the passport issuer so that the breeders etc can still trace the horse, the days of coming up with a new name with each new owner are gone (thank goodness). There is no charge for registering a horse with its passport name, other than the annual membership fee.

 

[MagicMelon]

Honestly - I’m just bemused how it can be so easy and cheap to change the name of a horse someone else has gone to the trouble of naming (however badly!)

Why shouldn't it be easy? Some people change their pets name so I dont see why horses should be immune to that. Some names are truly awful.

This cost sounds crazy, I would personally email BS about it and ask them for a breakdown of the invoice to see exactly what they are charging you for. They would only need to change it on their system...

 

[ihatework]

Why shouldn't it be easy? Some people change their pets name so I dont see why horses should be immune to that. Some names are truly awful.

This cost sounds crazy, I would personally email BS about it and ask them for a breakdown of the invoice to see exactly what they are charging you for. They would only need to change it on their system...

A registered, competing, competition horse is slightly different to fluffy the cat!
My personal opinion is that all horses should compete under their passport name, with a fee paid for adding sponsorship/branding if sold. Any update to the passport name should be with the approval of the original breeder/namer.

I’m sure plenty don’t agree with me, and that’s fine, but I also think that if you are changing names you should expect to pay through the nose for it

 

[SmallSteps]

Why shouldn't it be easy? Some people change their pets name so I dont see why horses should be immune to that. Some names are truly awful.

This cost sounds crazy, I would personally email BS about it and ask them for a breakdown of the invoice to see exactly what they are charging you for. They would only need to change it on their system...

She's not asking to change the name though, you do that with the passport issuer. She's asking to compete it under a separate identity.

 

[MagicMelon]

A registered, competing, competition horse is slightly different to fluffy the cat!
My personal opinion is that all horses should compete under their passport name, with a fee paid for adding sponsorship/branding if sold. Any update to the passport name should be with the approval of the original breeder/namer.

I’m sure plenty don’t agree with me, and that’s fine, but I also think that if you are changing names you should expect to pay through the nose for it

But often horses cant always compete under their exact passport name if there are several horses with the same name for example?

 

[ester]

which is why roman numerals are used?

I'm with IHW I don't think it should be easy to compete a horse under a different name to the one it is 'registered' with, and I think all name changes should go through the PIO not the different organising bodies. Otherwise you can have a horse competing under different names when actually the results matter for some eligibility purposes under both.

 

[crabbymare]

Away from the costs issue, since the disciplines have a database, why can they not hve one extra searchable record that would also be shown when the competing name was searched, so that the original passported name can be recorded as well as the one that the horse is currently competing under? It would mean that breeders could keep a watch on their offspring, and would let anyone else know the original name of the horse. It does not cost a lot to add a record, and even if it were only used going forwards it would help. It would also be good to make the Life ID number searchable, and the breeding, but I think it is all wishful thinking