Horse Passports
All owners must ensure that they obtain a passport for every horse they own, including ponies and donkeys. Owners will not be able to buy, sell, export, use for competition, or use for breeding without a valid passport.
The introduction of this legislation brings the UK in line with the whole of the European Union. The system ensures that equines treated with certain veterinary medicines cannot be slaughtered and enter the human food chain. This will contribute to allowing the UK horse industry to continue using veterinary medicines in horses not intended to enter the human food chain.
Passports application documents can be obtained from a variety of organisations such as breed societies and other equine organisations. Once you have obtained an application form you will often have to call your vet to complete the application. The completed application is then returned to the appropriate authority and a valid passport will be returned to you in the post. The cost of a passport varies between passport issuing authorities, and there is also a fee you must pay your veterinary surgeon for completing the application form.
A valid passport must include a silhouette and identification of the horse. It must also include a Section IX which is a signed declaration by the owner. Older passports that do not include a Section IX can often be updated without having to incur the expense of applying for a new passport. Vaccination certificates and Joint Measurement Board Certificates are not valid passports. For more information on passports please click on the link below -