sooooooo very very angry at my vet!!! Re: passport

[Queenbee]

Ok so i recently sold a lovely horse to my friend.
now for legitimate reasons which are too lengthy to go into we have waited till now to get her passport. one of the reasons is that she is microchipped and we needed copy documents before the passport was applied for.
anyway my friend knew and understood this and is alright about it.
i called her the other day to arrange going over to the yard to fill in the markings so that we could send the passport off.

she said that her vet had told her that only a vet could sign off the markings

the vet was in the background and i said that if the horse was microchipped (which she was) then its fine to fill them in yourself. The vet then contradicted this and said that there were no circumstances underwhich the owner could fill in the markings, not even with a microchip.

i thought i was going mad

in the end i said to just do it and bill me. i went home and got my defra stuff out and i was right!!!

i am now so angry at my vets

(They have already had £500 out of me in one month) i would have though that they would not try and willfully mislead a valued customer. worse still if this is a genuine mistake then it does not say much about our local 'equine vets' in whom i have previously put so much faith.

anyone elso had this problem?

 

[Wishful]

I'm fairly certain vets have to do it - why else would you end up with a trained vet cursing about drawing a coloured (and having to get the markings exactly right)! My OH hates drawing coloureds as they take forever!

 

[AmyMay]

Never heard of anyone other than a vet being allowed to complete and certify ID documents.

However, if DEFRA say different - fair enough.

Perhaps your vet thought he was correct and was not trying to mislead you?

Stranger things have happened..............

 

[Maesfen]

I think if you are a passport issuing officer then you are allowed to do the sketch, a vet one is not essential; at least that's what used to happen when the new passport rules came out. At one time, the Arab Horse Society allowed you to do your own sketches for part breds but believe they have stopped that now as it has to be a qualified person to do them. What type of passport is it? If it's Weatherbys I know a vet has to do them, no excuses, although then it would have been done just after birth not left until late.

 

[Queenbee]

if you look at the covering instructions on the passport it clearly states that it msut be done by either a vet or a someone trained to complete the forms unless:
1-the animal has recieved a vetting, in which case the owner can just copy the marking from the vet cirtificate and attach a copy with the passport application form.
2- if the horse has a microchip then they can do it themselves because the primary source of identification is the chip.

 

[Queenbee]

just a bog standard passport for a cob (see pic)

 

[Maesfen]

[ QUOTE ]
if you look at the covering instructions on the passport it clearly states that it msut be done by either a vet or a someone trained to complete the forms unless:
1-the animal has recieved a vetting, in which case the owner can just copy the marking from the vet cirtificate and attach a copy with the passport application form.
2- if the horse has a microchip then they can do it themselves because the primary source of identification is the chip.

[/ QUOTE ]

In which case, after checking with Defra again - because they are well known for giving out conflicting advice!

I would be for telling your vet that he instructed you wrongly and you are declining to pay that part of the bill as it was their error; it's not as if they issued drugs and would be out of pocket is it?.
I would also be checking first with the passport issuers that they have not updated any rules since the passport registration was first applied for simply to cover your back, so that you know full well you are right for definite!

 

[Queenbee]

that's what i'm thinking, have checked with defra (on phone) and have downloaded the latest passport application form.
they all confirm that i was right.
sad thing is was just looking at Tarquin's post (a few posts previous) and it seems to me to be a common occurence that vets are now not content to charge over the top prices for horses but that they are (in my case advising that they legally need to come out when they don't) or charging diagnosis fees on top of call outs when the owner already knows what the problem is.

i shall certainly be contacting them to seek redress.

 

[loopylucifer]

i know this was the case but have to say thought was old rule and had since been chnaged to vet or PIO only even if microchiped vet must be thinking same lines!! bloody passports waste of time as there are no ruleings as to how they should be done!!!!!

 

[Honeyb]

I was allowed to fill in markings for my horse as he was chipped.

 

[Queenbee]

How long ago was this?

 

[Honeyb]

I suppose it was some time ago, thinking about it. Just about a year ago.

 

[Queenbee]

have now spoken with my vets. they are going to look into this.

will keep you posted

 

[Laafet]

Passports and Defra make me angry anyway as they refused to accept my JMB life height cert as a form of ID even though he was ID'd by two seperate vets over two years to get the cert. So not only did I fork out about £90 I then had to register with the Sports Horse GB which was £30 just to get a legit passport and SH(GB) just took the JMB folder off the passport, laminated a bit and sent it back with a SH(GB) folder on. Now have just spent £172 on a FEI passport which involved another vet to look at him and he is microchipped I might add. Then I found out the other day that as he competed in the UK for his first international that he didn't need that passport as they are trying to promote FEI para's. ARGHHHHHHH Defra don't know on end of the horse from the other in my opinion and do not value to horsey public. And sadly I do believe that the vet practices do sometimes take liberties, I know people that never the pay the bill without questioning it and usually get a reduction when they do this.

 

[Chex]

I filled it in myself, I was under the impression it was fine as long as they're microshipped. I do remembering reading conflicting stuff about whether that was correct though

 

[skewbaldpony]

blimey, mine aren't chipped and I was told any qualified person (ie bhs whatever) could do it, of course i've had the papers for about a hundred years and still haven't done them, so i suppose now i've got to get the vet to do it. herumph.

 

[emmecam]

This is taken from the horse passport agency website:
If your horse is already “micro chipped” DEFRA have stated that you can take the markings of the horse yourself and won't have to pay for a vet or an recognised Horse Passport Agency Identifier to do this for you. Before you do this make sure you have read the “Requirements and Guidelines for Identifiers”, if you feel that you are unable to complete the form then please use either a Vet or a recognised Horse Passport Agency Identifier.

 

[Queenbee]

that's exactly what i read maria (makes you bloody sick doesn't it?!!!!)
infact to go one step further as i'm sure you saw you can also fill in the markings if you have a vetting certificate (you can just copy these)
we had her chipped because she is not just grey (as the photo suggests, she has blue and white markings all over her body. every year she changes.
of she wasn't chipped it would have been so much more difficult to identify her.
when the vet came out to do the vetting (the other equine specialist in the area) he told me what marks to put on the application, but cause she was microchipped he only took her chip number down and didn't bother to do the markings for the certificate.
He laughingly said that the only use for a passport that he had found was for copying the markings off when your doing a vetting.

 

[GatefieldHorses]

Its not just vets who can do it, i am pet id approved to fill in passport applications and sign them