[OhLaLa]

Is it the law that all ponies must be microchipped? Mine have passports and Smokey's freezebranded but neither have chips.

The website linked below lists the regulations and says:

"European Commission Decision 504/2008/EEC that applies throughout the European Union require all horses (which includes ponies, donkeys and other equidae) will be required to have a passport and from 1 July 2009 all new passport applications the animal must be microchipped".

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/IDtraceability/horses/regulations

So reading that, it looks like microchips are needed for all new passport applications.

There is a brief owners guide, which can be downloaded too:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/IDtraceability/horses/guidance/briefownerguide

Hope this helps.

 

[calamityjane]

a couple of years ago microchipping was needed as well as passports only foals born think it was 2009 older ponies don't need to be microchipped as i said my old ponies aren't passportecand as i plan not to sell them my vet knows they don't have passports and he wasn't bothered i have the sports horse phone number my gypsy is registered with them but a vet will come out and do the passport don't think you will need a microchip tho ask ur local vet for advice if u want the scottish sports horse 1st june 2009 all equines born/registered after this date need to be microchipped just looked maizies passport and it has a compliment slip with it in her passport

[egglady]

all horses and ponies must, by law, have a passprt and most certainly cant be moved without one.

however, things are not always what they seem...turns out this wee lass (a SHETLAND if you remember!!) is probably in foal to a 15hh coloured cob.........let's hope that the poor wee lass doesn't have too enormous a foal to push out in a few months

apparently said owner "didnt think a 2yo colt knew what to do yet"..........

erm, i dont think I'll be rushing to take that potential problem on........

[shetlandpaul]

its lucky the poor girl is still alive. not something to be eager to take on. thou it would be best to get her away from that owner. our little colt has been mounting the girls from a couple of weeks old. at two he would have been fully working. hopefully she should cope maybe worth speaking to an equine vet. just in case but don't give up you coould end up with a very sturdy chiildrens riding pony.

[sabrina]

I have a friend in Shetland who has a Highland cross Shetland. She put her mare somewhere and their Highland colt got to her first. The outcome was a lovely pony who is now in her teens and brought joy to lots of children who have had the pony on loan.

[shetlandpaul]

would this be her first foal i would be very bothered: if she has been foaling over the years it should be safer but its still a very big horse to be in foal to. just thinking you could end up with a full sized horse with a shetlands attitude to life. could be intresting. a bit of a fib saying that the was no health issues. what else has been missed.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Where we used to live the local travellers had horses and I saw them (deliberately) putting a heavy coloured cob of 15hh+ to a tiny Welsh sec A mare (we were trying to ride our young just broken in horses down the adjacent bridleway at the time :-OO).  So it's not always an accident!

In this case I would steer well clear, if it were me.  I wouldnt want to acquire a horse from someone who knows so little about them that this could arise, it would make me wonder what sort of care they had in other respects (eg worming, vet care). And the bills if this pregnancy went wrong could be huge, quite apart from the trauma for you.

[calamityjane]

before taking on this mare talk to your vet 15hh colt to a tiny mare doesn't sound good tho you can get a scan done to see if mare is in foal better to talk to a vet i would if it was me could cost you alot if its a difficult birth

[tazbabe]

back to the passport thing.....i have 2 ponies and a horse here which don't belong to me. the horse is a 2yr old just here for her winter of turning away, and the ponies belong to someone else, on permanent grazing here and i look after and ride one, though they are not on loan as such.

should i have all their passports here? or is it ok that their owners still have them?

[shetlandpaul]

the owner. i think theres a bit to do if they are on permenant loan.

[tazbabe]

thanks!

[lachlanandmarcus]

back to the passport thing.....i have 2 ponies and a horse here which don't belong to me. the horse is a 2yr old just here for her winter of turning away, and the ponies belong to someone else, on permanent grazing here and i look after and ride one, though they are not on loan as such.

should i have all their passports here? or is it ok that their owners still have them?

I would def say you should have them, the 'keeper' is meant to have them, rather than the owner (tho in some cases thats the same person)  and in the circums you describe I would say thats you for sure. Also they are needed for vaccination record updating and also you have to produce them within 4 hours if requested to do so, which wouldnt be possible if you cant get the owner over to yours within that period. I know owners like to hang onto them but if they are living with you for a period, the passports are meant to be there too. Our two horses were previously at livery and the passports had to be held by the YO.

[tazbabe]

that makes sense, i didn't realise about the four hours to produce part, it could take me a couple of days to contact the owner of the ponies with his work schedule etc! the horse's owner i can get easily.

i best contact the owners and sort this out then