Horse Week: NI Horse Board urges owners to check their passports are correct

The team at the Northern Ireland Horse Board are urging all horse owners to check their horses’ passports to make sure they are all correct for the year ahead.

A NIHB Spokesperson said: “We are urging all owners to take a few minutes to check that their horses’ passports are correct, as it will make the year much easier to make these simple checks early in the season.”

Check 1: Ownership

It's important for all breeders and owners to have their horses and ponies in their ownership.

For breeders it’s an essential part of the registration of foals, and for competition purposes, it can be used when shows are sending out prizemoney…you wouldn’t want your prize money going to the old owner would you?

The Northern Ireland Horse Board offers a Transfer of Ownership service for all passports, with prices starting at £20 per passport this process can be done whilst you wait.

Check 2: Registered in UK

Do you own a passport issued by a passport authority in Southern Ireland, i.e, Horse Sport Ireland, Irish Horse Register, Leisure Horse Ireland or the Connemara Pony Breeders Society?

Many of these passports have not been added to the UK Central Equine Database (CED), as they have been issued outside of the UK.

“We cannot stress how important it is to have your passport registered in the UK” said the NIHB Spokesperson.

“Not only is it important for traceability, but it also helps with tracing stolen animals, insurance claims and travel.”

The Northern Ireland Horse Board can ‘Overstamp’ these passports and register them on the UK wide database.

The process is quick and can usually be done on the same day.

For those with European or ‘foreign’ passports, the NIHB can also ‘import’ these onto the UK database also.

“We are always here to help, whilst we cannot stress how important the above checks are for all horses, it may also save you money in the longer term, as fines can be imposed if your found to not have registered your details in your passport,” they added.

The Northern Ireland Horse Board is a registered Co-operative Society for people involved in the horse industry in Northern Ireland. It was formed to give breeders a voice in decisions relating to the Irish Horse Register and in the future direction of breeding in the Irish Sport Horse Industry.

The Northern Ireland Horse Board is open Monday to Friday, and is based at the Meadows Equestrian Centre, Lurgan.

Contact them on 028 383 43355, by email at [email protected] or now by WhatsApp to 028 38343355.