Does anyone not have a horse passport?

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djlynwood

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Ive had my horse for just over a year, didnt get her vetted (bad, I know).

Just after I got her I later found out that my horse has a different microchip number to whats in the passport, I asked a vet to scan her just out of interest when they were there. Immediatley checked on NED database to see if she was registered stolen etc but seems ok. My horse is not named so I wanted to change her over to me and give her a name. The person I bought her off had not had the passport changed over to their details so horse was still registered in Ireland.

Sent wrong passport back to Northern Ireland Horseboard who got in touch with previous owners in Ireland and asked me to get a completed horse marking chart done by the vet and they will issue me with a new passport.

So this was a year ago and I still have not got round to doing it!!

How much of a risk am I taking by not having one? This has prompted me to get it sorted asap but struggling to think of a good show name for my horse (thats whats causing the delay!)
 
I have 4 without passports, and I have no intentions of getting them done any time soon. They don't go anywhere, won't be going into the food chain, and are not kept at livery.

I find it ridiculous that someone robbing an old lady in the street may get a few hours' community service or a paltry fine, yet failure to produce a horse passport carries a £5000 fine!!? I could understand it and would probably comply if the databases were reliably kept up to date, and if the disease control measures were credible, but...
 
Oh dear, is it really dreadfull not to have one? my horse has had vaccs and treatment by the vet and I have never been questioned by them!
 
Blimey. How have you managed to get vaccs without a passport? Was it just the once and they said they'd be ok to have it later on the QT or something?

That could be a really naive question in practice but I'd just be very surprised if a vet did that, at least more than once.
 
MissChaos said:
Blimey. How have you managed to get vaccs without a passport? Was it just the once and they said they'd be ok to have it later on the QT or something?

That could be a really naive question in practice but I'd just be very surprised if a vet did that, at least more than once.
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I've never been asked for a passport for vaccs, and I've used three different practices, one of them for more than two years.
 
It is against the law but unless you are traveling a lot or competing at venues likely to check I doubt there's much chance of getting caught. I can think of several occasions where I haven't had the passport for jabs & I have taken it to be stamped at a later date. And never yet have I produced one for a vet visit. If you plan on taking him out it would be better to choose a name & get one sorted, but its not the end of the world not to.
 
so you think breaking the law is acceptable...

What happens if your horses needs to go for emergency transport to vet hospital? No transporter will touch a horse with a barge pole if you dont have a passport to take with with them.
 
Hm, had got it into my head the passport had to be / should be stamped for vaccs (I don't take it along for other vet visits) but maybe I've confused that with competition requirements.
 
wench said:
so you think breaking the law is acceptable...

What happens if your horses needs to go for emergency transport to vet hospital? No transporter will touch a horse with a barge pole if you dont have a passport to take with with them.
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This did happen to us! She has had two big accidents in the field since I got her, one of which resulted in an emergancy visit to equine hospital and a week long stay at Leahurst. I dont have transport so had to ring a company who never once asked about passport! They were recommended by the vets. Also, the insurance paid for transport.

im not a law breaker (honestly) but do also wonder if all these travellers have a passport for all their horses???
 
I don't know the legalities of having a passport present for jabs. Just that in the past I have forgotten to have it with me & I have got it stamped by the vet a few days later. When I had the vet out for daughters pony when I first got her for lice treatment & a wormer safe enough for her tiny skinny body, & possible antibiotics for her oozing infected rainscald he knew the pony had never had a passport & wasn't fussed. Did get one for her after but he never asked for me to produce one after.
 
One of the big advantages of having a horse passport for a horse that is also microchipped and/or freezemarked is that if the horses microchip number(s) and freezemark are recorded on the www.nedonline.co.uk data base then if the horse is ever found then the owner can be quickly identified and contacted so this alone is a big advantage.
 
No excuse for not having one. The lack of a show name is ridiculous, thoroughbred are given theirs in the first week of life and usually referred to as 'Queen's Prize colt' or 'Green Formation filly'.
A name can be added or altered for a small fee so I suggest you get one sorted asap, obviously unless you are a *****, in which case the law doesn't apply to you............
 
Mine both do, but was SUCH a faf to get a replacement one for new horse (ended up just getting a complete new one as recommended by vet) and EVERY agency Defra, trading standards ned, horse passport agency just did not have a clue!!! It still makes me mad!!! I have never been asked for passport by transport company or vets. Had original horse passported when legislation came in, vets treated all the time with no mention of passport, couldn't find it when we moved so again, got a brand new one!

I think ned is a great concept, but the agencies don't help each other out! They're also important for breed societies etc but for a general riding horse I just cannot see the point!

Rant over.
 
I always have mine passported and if they don't have one its the first thing I do I would rather pay£70 then a chance of getting a fine but I can understand why people don't
 
Wether you agree with the law relating to Passports or not does not matter. Wether Travellers have their horses passported again does not matter. The law does state that horses should be passported & the passport should accompany the horse in the majority of circumstances...... so why not get a Passport?

Listening to all the excuses as to why you haven't got one.....my horse doesn't go anywhere......... I can't find it........ haven't got round to applying for a replacement etc etc..... these aren't proper reasons................ get a passport, they don't cost much & you'll be legal!
 
wench said:
so you think breaking the law is acceptable...

What happens if your horses needs to go for emergency transport to vet hospital? No transporter will touch a horse with a barge pole if you dont have a passport to take with with them.
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I've just closed down my previous livery business to open a new one and decided to use a transporter with a ten horse lorry to move all our lot to our new yard in one go, rather than doing several trips with my lorry.

I travelled nine horses, and the transporter didn't ask to see a single passport.

Mine all have passports as I compete, and I ask that all my liveries have passports so feel it's only fair that I do too, but I've never known a transport company or vet ask to see a passport.
 
all mine have passports but daughters old pony didn't until a month before i put him up for sale! we bought him before it became compulsory and i just never bothered, no excuses, just didn't do it. i was actually really surprised when i did apply for one that the vet never asked why he didn't have one when he did the microchipping and filled in the identity silhoette. Even more worrying is that the agency i applied to never queried why i was getting a new passport for a 16yr old pony! for me it did rather make a mockery of the whole system, i could have stolen that pony 2 days earlier and repassported him to sell without a single question being asked!

I always get the vet to put vaccs details in the passports , it helps me to know when they all need doing otherwise i'd be in a right pickle and they'd end up overdue all the time:o
 
I have a 23 year old pony on loan which I do not have a passport for - as far as I know her owners don't have one either.

My own are all passported.
 
AengusOg said:
I have 4 without passports, and I have no intentions of getting them done any time soon. They don't go anywhere, won't be going into the food chain, and are not kept at livery.
...
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You might think that they aren't going into the food chain but without that section signed in the passport you don't know. If you have them put down at home and bury them ( great problems with that now and might be against the law in certain places) may be you dont have a problem. But a vet giving certain drugs without passport is bad practise and could backfire on them. Likewise, if a registered transporter flouts the law and is pulled over for a minor offence like a light not working, the police could take action against lack of passports for horses on board etc. You might think it a bore to have to get one, but when your horse is stolen or goes missing dont expect sympathy when it gets picked up by someone else and they say its their horse. You have nothing to prove you own it which would, to my mind be catastrophic.
 
HappyHooves said:
You might think it a bore to have to get one, but when your horse is stolen or goes missing dont expect sympathy when it gets picked up by someone else and they say its their horse. You have nothing to prove you own it which would, to my mind be catastrophic.
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Yes, this is something I was thinking about. As my horse is microchipped, do I also need to inform the microchip company of my details? Only problem is, I have no idea who that would be.
 
I just have passports. Its the law and Id be the one that was made an example of if I didnt have one, my luck runs that way.
I have had to produce my passports for the vet for certain treatments/drugs, and sections have had to be signed in the passport. Obviously its there to be stamped for routine vaccinations.
Ive never ever used a transporter that didnt check the horse had a passport.
 
HappyHooves said:
You might think that they aren't going into the food chain but without that section signed in the passport you don't know. If you have them put down at home and bury them ( great problems with that now and might be against the law in certain places) may be you dont have a problem. But a vet giving certain drugs without passport is bad practise and could backfire on them. Likewise, if a registered transporter flouts the law and is pulled over for a minor offence like a light not working, the police could take action against lack of passports for horses on board etc. You might think it a bore to have to get one, but when your horse is stolen or goes missing dont expect sympathy when it gets picked up by someone else and they say its their horse. You have nothing to prove you own it which would, to my mind be catastrophic.
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I certainly know that mine are not going into the food chain. Ours are always pts at home and I certainly trust the knacker company to remove the body and cremate it as agreed,even though I don't want the ashes back. No-one who has pts a horse for me has ever asked to see the passport.

A passport is NOT proof of ownership, as others have found in the past. The police are not responsible for patrolling the use of passports - that responsibility lies with Trading Standards.
I know a professional who has brought multiple horses into the country multiple times and has had the lorry checked for illegal immigrants but has NEVER been asked for horse passports.
I also know someone who was asked to take her trailer onto a weighbridge twice in one day (same weighbridge, return journey) and also was not asked for the passport.
More than once I have told the vet that the passport is in the house when doing vaccs and they have just said 'oh bring it down later'. It isn't the vets' job to police the passport shambles either.
 
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