In or Out H & H article

[sywell]

Baroness Mallalieu Q.C. says the equine industry has never spoken with a single voice every sector wants its own way and this has been the responsibility of the senior administrators. There is no discussion how it will affect the majority of horse owners. The people who would be affected by leaving the E.U. are people with registered horses who compete or move breeding horses and semen within Europe. Lord De Mauley and George Eustace have made it clear in letters to me how DEFRA will operate if we leave. The horse passport will go as they tried to do in 2013 and will be replaced by a single document issued by a Vet when he chips the foal and will contain basic information only. As we will become a third country we will have to comply with E.U. regulation 262 and then we will have to apply for passports that meet those requirements showing pedigree details and in many cases DNA parentage information. Tim Morris is correct when he says the Tripartite agreement operated before the E.U. was created and the last revision was given a derogation by the commission as it was between three member states but I do not think the commission will accept the Tripartite agreement when it is between a third country and two member states. Mr Simmons rightly pointed out that the horse passport is a document of disease control and also to prevent unapproved drugs getting into the human food chain and the current horse passport regulation 262 which came into force on the 1/1/2016 is law in the E.U. but not currently enforceable law in the UK as the secondary legislation has not been presented to parliament and might not come into force until 2017. Lord De Mauley says he was frustrated when he could not get agreement in E.U. meetings this is hardly surprising, if you go into a meeting with 26 other people who all agree that the horse is livestock and comes under the CAP and you say it is a pet or leisure animal and does not come under the CAP you are hardly likely to get much support as I said to the head of the DEFRA zootechnics team you are wasting your time with your position and he said they would continue to press their case. The consensus in the E.U is that the person who has the horse in their possession (the keeper) is responsible for the passport being correct and up to date but DEFRA persists in saying the owner is responsible completely ignoring the fact that in the racing industry many owners do not live in the UK. If a horse is livestock the holding where it is kept is registered for keeping horses so when there is a disease outbreak you know where the horses are in that area and what resources are needed to prevent the outbreak spreading if you only know the owner you will know that many of the horses are kept within a 10 kilometre of the owners postcode. Louise Kemble pointed out that farmers where the horse is livestock benefited to loans and grants that we are not able to get in the UK one has only to look at France to see how that works if you want an outdoor arena.
The success of the breeding organisations in Germany,Denmark,France and Belgium which bring large incomes into the rural economy indicates who is right and who is wrong. The relative failure of our breeding industry despite the strong financial support of private owners and the success of the Futurity pales into insignificance when compared with the highly developed breeding programs in other EU countries with CAP support and now the use of DNA profiling being developed for competition traits will give them a further lead.
I think people must vote how it will affect them not on the dreams and aspirations of politicians

Regards. John Shenfield. Breeder and supporter of theWBFSH and WHIRDEC.