NED Shutting Down

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Clippy

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National Equine Database is soon to be no more.

I thought this online resource was really useful, especially when horses are lost, stolen, bought or sold.

Shame :(
 
Oh no! How do you know this and are you sure?

It really will be a loss. I wonder what will happen to all the details they have already?
 
For real?

Surely such a database is a necessity, not a luxury. Other countries hold similar databases/registries, where ALL horses in the country, regardless of who they are and where they have come from can be listed ....
 
In that case, I think Defra needs to take over. It's ridiculous to not have a comprehensive service that e.g. France has had ONLINE since the 90s.
 
MissTyc said:
In that case, I think Defra needs to take over. It's ridiculous to not have a comprehensive service that e.g. France has had ONLINE since the 90s.
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If you read the NED website, you will see that it is actually Defra who are pulling the plug


NEDOnline to Cease at the end of September 2012

DEFRA have given notice that they are not awarding a new contract for a central equine database and that their contract with the National Equine Database Ltd (NED) will terminate at the end of September 2012. Therefore, this NED website cannot continue to operate beyond the end of September and all NED Services including horse search, lost and stolen register, horse associations, pedigree, progeny and performance reports, passport check, NEDLinks and equine reminders will no longer be available.

We are aiming to keep individual services available for as long as possible, click here for the current status of individual services.
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PeterNatt said:
Why has the funding been removed?
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Blame Defra for this one

We have approx 2 weeks to try and save it.

Email from National Equine Database ...
Thank you for your message of support.

In practical terms probably the best thing you can do right now is write to Defra expressing your view. The Ministers responsible are Jim Paice and Caroline Spelman. The Horse passport team is on horse.passports@DEFRA.GSI.GOV.UK.

In the meantime we and the British Equestrian Federation are trying to find ways of persuading Defra to change their mind or to find ways to fund NED from within the Industry. Unfortunately, because Defra delayed making their decision from May until the end of July (in the middle of the Olympics!), we have only a couple of weeks to find a solution.
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TBH it really really annoyed me that I had to pay to be associated with a horse I already owned, that a passport had already been paid for, that I'd bought a microchip for. They managed to make my horse exist twice in the database - god knows how because his registered name with BE/BD/BS was the same with each organisation!

I know they needed to raise money, but I disagree with having to pay twice (once to a passport authority, once to NED) to be associated with a horse I already own! I can already flag him as stolen/on loan with the passport company, and so I'm not sure what NED would give me that I didn't already have...
 
Here is the email I just sent in case anyone wants to use it as a time saving basis for their own:
QUOTE

I am writing to express my deep concern about the ceasing of funding for the NEDC database and its consequent demise.

There is absolutely no point in bringing in costs for horse owners in the shape of horse passports without backing it up with some kind of database against which stolen horses, found horses, dodgy passports etc can be checked.

Every dodgy dealer, thief and 'ringer' in the country will be rubbing their hands with glee.

I also have an objection on data protection grounds. I had no choice as to whether my horses details went onto nED and were searchable by other people. Now the database will close and I have no real way of knowing whether my data will continue to be protected, how it will be destroyed if not etc.

If you want to tackle the issues of overbreeding of horses, fly grazing and the huge costs to public bodies this cases, you need to have microchipping, passports (enforced on all types of owners not just the responsible ones as at present) and NED.

Please can you explain the logic behind this decision. I know money is short but honestly, if you abandon NED can you please abandon the farce of horse passports instead as without NED they are just a cost and the dodgy characters will just keep a stock in the drawer and tell you to pick one if you want one for a horse.

Kind regards
 
It's ridiculous and such a shame :( Agree that it's definitely a necessity, not a luxury.
On a more selfish note, completely annoying for me as I finally got around to registering all the horses on it and paying for it all and as soon as they're on there they tell me it's closing down! Grr!
Really hope something can be done to save it. :(
 
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