The Vet Animal House Polo Team
Winners on the Midsummer Tournament at RLS 2009!
Equine Services
EQUINES AND MICROCHIPS
THESE ARE THE PERTINENT PARTS OF THE RECENT REGULATIONS LAID OUT BY DEFRA
All horses and ponies (and all other forms of equidae) need to have a passport identifying the animal. For any application for a passport after 1ST JULY 2009 the horse must be microchipped. Microchips must be implanted and certified by a veterinary surgeon.
Owners of foals need to obtain a passport for it on or before 31st December of the year of its birth or by 6 months after its birth, whichever is later. Owners of older horses who have yet to apply for a passport should do so immediately as it is an offence to keep a horse without a passport. Horses must be accompanied by their passport at all times.
Owners or keepers with primary responsibility to care for the horse must ensure that any horse they look after is correctly identified. The horse’s owner must be the person detailed on the microchip database. If the passport is not available to the veterinary surgeon certain veterinary medicines may not be administered or prescribed.
You should not purchase a horse that does not have a passport and after 1st July 2009, also a microchip. The microchip can be identified by the vet during a vetting. At the purchase the seller must hand over the passport to the new owner who then must send the passport to the issuing body to record change of ownership. The microchip company also needs to be informed to amend their contact details.
Please feel free to call the surgery if you have further questions regarding the new regulations.