EQUINE PASSPORT RULES

Equine Passport Offers for Pony Club Members

PLEASE VISIT THE PONY CLUB WEBSITE FOR LATEST INFORMATION ON EQUINE PASSPORTS.

There is a great deal of confusion and uncertainty regarding equine passports, but the position as far as The Pony Club is concerned is as follows:

All equines are now required to have obtained a passport by 30 June 2004, a change from the original date of 31 December 2003
There are some 75 Passport Issuing Offices (PIO’s) authorised by DEFRA to issue passports and collect the data for a National Equine Database.
The Pony Club is not an Issuing Office, ie The Pony Club will not be issuing passports. However, we have been discussing with some of those who are Issuing Offices the best deals possible for Pony Club Members, as we are aware that this is an additional cost that many could do without.
Also, through our discussions, it has become very clear that sometimes the ‘add on’ costs are as great as the cost of the passport itself – for example, with certain Issuing Offices which require the diagram of the horse/pony’s silhouette filled in by a Vet.

In making your decision which PIO to go to, you should bear in mind that each time the owner changes address, or the pony is sold, or there is a major change in the ID of the pony, or when it dies, the passport will have to be sent back to the same Issuing Office for updating – and there may be a charge, which again will vary from PIO to PIO, and presumably from time to time.

It would be inappropriate for The Pony Club to ‘recommend’ particular Issuing Offices, and the decision regarding which PIO a Member chooses to go to is entirely individual choice – for example, many will wish to go to a breed society. Others, however, may wish to consider one of the options below.

For full comprehensive information on Horse Passports, please visit the DEFRA Website or Public Enquiries: 08459 335 577