Have YOU bought a horse without a passport???

I bought a un-passported tri-coloured cob who'd been with the gypsies and then had the vet out to do the passport at the same time as chipping and vaccinating. Vet asked if I wanted the identifying marks filled in, caught me on the hop by saying they weren't really necessary "because the microchip will be fine anyway". Doing the markings would have been quite time-consuming because of the colouring so to save time I said no, without really giving it a lot of thought. I mean, no one wants to take up loads of their vet's valuable time, do they?. However, on reflection, passport now just says "14hh skewbald cob" which is very generic and so that passport could be open to deceit, if someone were that way inclined ... unless the new buyer happens to have a chip reader, of course! I think if I ever need to get another one passported, I'll say "hang the expense" and have the distinguishing marks put in it. I wonder if vets are now reconsidering filling out markings in light of recent events.....
 
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Yes- not purchased it was offered free via a forum. When I turned up to look the poor thing was in a minging dark stable stood in the back corner. Apparently a 15 yr old Shetland gelding. The owner was rude and a bit scary so I didn't question too much more. Put the poor thing on the trailer and took my trouble making 5yr old stallion home! So wish he'd had a pp to check ;)
 
Yes one, about 8 years ago? It was a private sale ie from a private home and as they had the pony from an early age they just never got a passport for him, so I got him passported/chipped by vet.We were reluctant buyers but knew where they lived!

The whole horse fraternity knew Passports were purely to stop drugged meat entering the food chain etc and not for any welfare, traceability etc. And as we all know no one listened to any of us lot!

As with most institutions in the UK layers and layers of bureaucracy paid for telling us what we already know.
 
Have pm'd you. I bought one 4 years ago. I got his passport sorted easy enough with no questions asked about why he didn't already have one.
 
Yes...from afellow livery....no paperwork at all but supposedly she did have a passport "somewhere" ....it never materialised so I got another....issued by the cleveland bay society....pony was a skewbald shettie.
Another horse...his passport was a total work of fiction.....only thing correct was colour and gender. He came from a succession of low end dealers bless his socks...he was a star.
 
I've done a bit of digging and it looks like the only purpose of passports was to allow the UK to continue to use drugs that have not been tested for how long they stay in meat and therefore don't have a formal 'withdrawal period'.
It was easier to get horse owners to pay for a passport than it was to get the drug companies to pay for the testing necessary to formalise a withdrawal period.
Bute is one but apparently c.70% of drugs we commonly uses would have had to have been discontinued if we hadn't agreed to passport.

Given that the current mess has proved that bute (at the very least) can still get into the food chain with passports presumably the rules will be tighterned/ changed at more expense/ inconvenience to the horse owner.

It's a shame nobody really explained it at the time, I'd have rather paid £20 per horse into a pool to fund the testing and never have heard of a horse passport. Given all the PIO's and admin etc. plus new costs now I can't imagine overall it would have been more expensive.
 
Obviously yes before the passports were introduced but did buy a miniature foal last year and had her before the passport had been returned to breeder. I still don't have it but only because I will see the breeder in a few weeks so no point in her posting it now. I wouldn't buy a horse without one from someone I didn't know.
 
Yes, I did.

It was over 6 years ago now, and I bought my current horse from a local dealer. We knew he'd bought the horse at a sale, and that before that the horse had been transported from Ireland complete with passport. He'd had the horse for 6 months. We had the horse vetted, and it was only when we went ahead with the sale that the dealer said he couldn't find the passport. He was pretty disorganised (and we think has since developed Alzheimers). We spoke to the vet who explained that we could passport the horse ourselves using the details from the vetting. That's what we did.

I do now regret that we haven't been able to find out anything about the background and breeding of the horse (clearly lovely early handling and nice breeding), but it doesn't detract from the horse in any way - we know what year he was born, and we can see he's most likely a TBx of some sort, that's all we really need to know (although we might have been tipped off how tall he'd get if we'd known parentage!).

ETA - the vet detected a chip at the vetting. It was not registered anywhere (and wasn't even a proper horse chip ;-). We included the number on the passport.

His passport is with the Horse Passport Agency Ltd. And for the record,Part II is signed by me ;)
 
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I bought one last year without passport cost me more than the horse was worth to get a new one! It was a horse I had known for over 7yrs and was in a riding school I worked at before being sold to a so called friend with passport, she badly neglected him and then sold him to me knowing im a soft touch because she wanted new hair extentions! She claimed to have lost the passport which im not supprised by and since I knew it wasnt dodgy and he certainly wasnt stolen etc I didnt see a problem in buying him without passport.
Recent horse meat scandles prove they arnt worth the paper they are printed on and non of my horses seem to have vaccinations etc recorded in theirs anyway!?!
 
Yeah, we did 8 years ago. We bought my first pony from a riding school where I rode her for a couple of years and knew her history, but her previous owners couldn't find her passport. We waited for a couple of months to see if it turned up, but it never did so we just ended up getting a new one.
 
Sorry OP a little off topic, but in response to some posters who stated they thought it was illegal to buy or sell horses without a passport.

I have never seen any evidence of anyone being prosecuted for owning/having a horse without a passport. Interestingly it is also never mentioned in welfare cases and I do not believe that someone who starves their horses and breeds indiscriminately would be bothering to register their horses.

The passport system is a complete joke imo and the only interest I have seen in it is when i get innoculations done to record them and when I had my horse pts - the insurers wanted a copy of the passport, but as i had not changed it over to my details as owner they were happy with a statement from the vet to say I owned the horse to their knowledge. Passports do not prove ownership and even theinsurance companies do not seem to understand that.
 
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i bought my kids first pony from a riding school without a passport, he never had one until i sold him 2 years ago! i just got he vet out and no questions asked he just microchipped and filled in the description, PIO (can't remember which one) never queried why a 16 yr old pony needed a new passport which just confirmed to me that the whole system is pointless!
 
Yea I bought an 18 month old filly without a passport, girl had purchased as a 6 month old foal not passported her, then got in arrears with livery debt so I bought her for peanuts.

I freind bought piebald mare from dealer when we got the passport its markings did not match and instead of 9 turned out to be in early 20s but was emaciated and in a right state so we had to take her. Joke was she had been through York horse sales week before with same passport!

Other friend bought a haffy gelding been owned by same owner for 5 years. (old owner had bought him off a dealer) when she studdied passport it said he had a few white hairs on his face but did not mention the 10" WHITE star on the middle of his face!:rolleyes: so guess its not his passport.

Have I bothered to have the filly passported, NO and I am not bothered about wasting my hard earned money on something that is a total joke!
 
Good luck Janet......Just wish there was someway of making sure every equine had passport, just like taxing car,,,,same thing though, just because you have tax book and your name is on as registered keeper, does not mean you own the car!!! Perhaps if we started by checking all passports at all shows, it would help...
 
Please tell DEFRA we need one horse register and that if it will hold owners details and highlight stolen animals there will be benefits for the whole horse community.
Have sent you a PM.
Good Luck
 
I haven't, no.

But someone I know bought from a dealer (her neighbour at the time) an Irish import. Every time she asked about the passport she was told it was 'in the post' or something like that. Eventually the vet told her that he shouldn't really be treating the horse without a passport and when she mentioned this to the dealer she got her head bitten off! A passport turned up eventually, I haven't seen it but apparently it was issued by the Miniture Horse Society! *sniggers* The horse also turned out to be in foal.

I'll PM you the dealer's website, JG.
 
Not bought a horse without a passport but have bought a horse with an incorrect passport. Came with a Wetherbys TB passport but a chip scan identified him as a very well bred KWPN. The incorrect passport clearly showed the chip number and that it was a Dutch chip. Why didn't the PIO pick this up when the 2nd passport was issued? Does make a mockery of the system.
 
My local RDA group was given two horses, the product of a divorce. We knew that they had passports somewhere but no one knew where. We got them both microchipped and new passports issued.

I bought a mule that had a gypsy cob society passport that the vet would not use to fill in the vaccinations as it was of such a poor quality. As they were no longer a PIO I got her repassported with a Weatherbys id passport.
 
I brought one from a dealer,i was shown a passport when I went to collect him I was given a passport but was for the wrong horse (same breed and colour but different height and markings) was then told the passport had been lost! The horse was apparently imported from Ireland so should have had one originally!
I made the dealer write a clause on my reciept to say if he was found to have a microchip and reg as stolen he would have to give me a full refund!
Got the horse home, 3 days later the vet come out...no microchip found so vet chipped and did up a new markings sheet which i sent to the Horse Passport Agency...about 3 weeks later new passport arrived in the post...job done! No questions were asked as to why a 7 year old horse was being issued with a new passport!
 
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Slightly different, but my 21 year old horse is currently back and forth to the vets, and they requested his passport last week to sign him out of the meat chain before they would give him drugs.

Turns out the passport he's had since a 2 y/o is illegal because it doesn't have a ULEN and only a British Horse database number, plus no section 9.

So now, I have to have my 21 year old retired horse microchipped and a new passport for him to stand in the field for the rest of his days. Vets want:

£40 microchip
£50 ID page

Plus the fee for a new passport (£35+ VAT), the fuel to get him to and from the vets and I have to send the old passport (even though it's 'illegal') back to Wetherbys since BHD have gone bust.
 
I have bought three in the last year, a 4 year old, 5 year old and a foal. No questions were asked when I got any of them micro chipped etc !
 
8 years ago now, but we bought a youngster out of a field with no passport. Filled in the markings ourselves, vet signed it and we got passport practically by return of post! Far too easy really.

ETA we did know the owner so knew horse wasn't stolen!
 
3 weeks ago, a 3yr old coloured cob. From a private home, no passport, no chip.

6 months ago, a yearling cob. From a private home, chipped, no passport.

A year ago, 9 month old foal. From a private home, no passport, no chip.

2 years ago a 9 month old foal. From a breeder, chipped no passport.

2 years ago a 6 month old foal. From a breeder, no passport, no chip.

My sisters mini shetland was stolen when he was on loan. He went through York sales with a passport for a 14hand grey gelding. He was a 32" black shetland.
 
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