Passport advise please

[Milly101]

Hi all I'm pretty new here... I have recently bought a horse off a dealer. Her passport doesn't have much info - last owners apparently 7 years ago and no vet records even tho I can see scars of previous injuries and even had to pull out old stitches that must of been in for a long time, no vaccination records n nearly everything unknown.

I would love to find out more info on her as she doesn't look like she's had an easy life so I was wondering if you guys could help.

I have a stud book number - but not really sure what this is and how useful it could be?
ULN - is there anyway of finding info off this?
She is registered with the spotted horse + pony society but I hear this no longer exists and I will have to register with pet ID as she has no spots.
She is a 16hh thoroughbred and I was told that she has never raced - just been used as a riding horse, which is what her passport says but I'm unsure as too whether this is true from the way she hacks out. Very powerful walk/ trot on hills and seems to speed up when reins are shortened. Her passport was registered in 2007 so she was already 5 then - is this a normal age to register? Could she of been previously registered elsewhere? Sorry I'm pretty clueless with all this so any info to point me in the right direction of getting some history would be great. Thank you.

 

[Shay]

Passports became mandatory in 2005 - but many people didn't register until they wanted to sell. I know my older lad wasn't passported until then simply because there was no requirement then. But equally yours could have had a passport in another ID. Does she have a micro chip? She might not have been 5 when the 2007 passport was issued - horse ages are not an exact science and rather a lot "lost" a few years when they were registered - if nothing else to keep insurance costs down. We had a welsh sec A who the vet thinks lost about 10 years! 5 just means full adult dentition.

The other concern is that The Spotted Horse and Pony Society had their right to issue passports removed in 2008 following irregularities. (Which might explain how a presumably solid colour Thoroughbred came to be registered with them?) However that too might explain why no new owners have been registered in the last 7 years because there was no way to change the ownership on the passport?

Perhaps the best way to start is the last registered owner and work your way through. You could google her passport name if it is unusual and see if you can trace anything that way. It might also be worth looking at lost / stolen horse registers. There is a "Tracing" thread on this forum you could try.

 

[be positive]

The ULN is her unique lifetime number and will have been issued at the time of her getting the passport so will lead you nowhere.

There is no reason any veterinary records should be in her passport, other than routine vaccinations there is nothing else that requires recording, she may be signed out of the food chain by a vet but that is about all you will find in any passport.

If she is tb and gives you a feel that she may have been trained or raced there is every chance she has and that when her racing days were over someone dumped her original passport and invented a new identity, a generic passport such as the one you have is only an identity document not a registration one as there are no breeding details and in 2007 microchips were not required so it was easy back then to simply get a new one issued if you said the horse had come without one, it is getting tighter as you now need a microchip to get a passport.

Next time your vet is in the yard ask him to scan her, arrange it before he comes as they don't always have it with them, if she is a tb then you can easily trace her by contacting Weatherbys as all tbs have been chipped at birth for some time, you may find she had a busy life prior to 2007. Otherwise there will be little you can do other than to put photos on various sites to see if any old owners come forward.

 

[Milly101]

Thank you both so much for replying. I have the vet coming out this week so I will definitely get him to check for a microchip. Also Shay I will contact the one registered owner via her home address in hope that she replies - can't find a contact number on the net for her. I really hope I can get to find a little bit of Minnie's past out. She has such sad eyes - If only horses could talk
If no luck I will pop some pics on forums.
I really appreciate both your replies - Thank you.