New Forest Livestock Society
New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association
New Forest Pony Breeding and Cattle Society

Equine Passports

1. General conditions of legislation

We are sure that everyone is now very well aware that there has been a considerable amount of discussion concerning equine passports between many Forest bodies, the national equine industry and, of course, DEFRA in the past 12 months. It seems, for the moment, all circumstances have been clarified with regard to systems that will be put in place concerning passports. We therefore felt it appropriate to write to you all on the subject to confirm the situation and ensure that all our members are as informed as possible, and to avoid any uncertainty as far as possible.

1. Identification Passports must be applied for all equines kept and used within England (Wales and Scotland are treated separately) by the 30 June 2004. These passports must conform to the new legislation and contain the relevant information applicable to the legislation which may mean that some older passports (issued since 1998) may require updating. Passports are required to be held by equine owners by 28 February 2005.

1 .2. All foals are required to be identified whilst still running with their Dam and should have a passport within 6 months of birth or 31 December of the year of birth which ever is the later, unless they are sold before the end of this period, which will also trigger the need to have a passport.

1.3. Ponies eligible for registration with the NFPB&CS must be registered within six months of birth or 31 December of year of birth and a passport will be issued when registration occurs. (This is of course in addition to the usual conditions of entry into the stud book or part bred register).


1.4. As the legislation is retrospective, animals already registered with the society but not holding passports will keep their registration status, but must have their registration certificate upgraded to a full passport on or before the 30 June 2004 unless they are held on the Verderers Identification List and hold a VIC (but see 2.5. below).

1.5. Ponies registered with the NFPB&CS will require their registration upgraded with a passport if their registered status with the society is to continue. This is because the legislation states that equines that are recognised by a particular stud book must have their breeding printed on their Legal Identification Document (i.e. Passport). Only the society running that particular stud book can verify the breeding of the equine and therefore print it in the passport. If they have not issued a passport for that equine (i.e. it has had one produced elsewhere) they will no longer be able to recognise it as a registered animal because its breeding will not have been confirmed. However if required, Breed Societies will verify other passports if all original application papers for that passport and the passport itself are sent to the society for checking and the passport over stamped, for which a charge will be made. This will need to be done before 30 June 2004. Every equine can only hold ONE passport.

1.6. Any animal that has previously been foal recorded will keep its eligibility for entry into the stud book, but must have a passport (and therefore full registration) by 30 June 2004, unless it is held on the Verderers list. Please also note that from 31 March 2004 foal recording for forest run stock will cease for reasons as stated below. The Society will need to be informed if foal recorded animals are held on the list (see 2.5. below).

2. Forest Run Stock

We have all worked closely with DEFRA to produce a derogation for ponies that run on the open forest with regard to their need for passports. The agreed circumstances under which this derogation will operate is as follows:

2.1. The ponies in question are those that run the Forest and have a marking fee paid on them, and run or are kept within the defined Heritage Area of the New Forest. This therefore means those ponies depastured on the Forest or (periodically) on commoners holdings within the Heritage Area. These ponies can be moved within this area, and sold to commoners within this area. As soon as they are moved out of the area or sold out of the commoning community (i.e. cease to have a marking fee paid on them) the derogation will cease.

2.2. In circumstances as defined in 2.1., ponies (whether registered or non eligible) will not be required to hold a passport after 30 June 2004, as long as they are recorded on the Verderers VIC listing. If their circumstances change at any point and the derogation is no longer applicable, the pony will require a passport. The


NFPB&CS has agreed that it will upgrade the Verderers VIC listing to a full passport using the information collected by the Verderers (i.e. there should not be need for a further passport application form to be completed).

2.3. Please note that for ponies eligible for entry into the stud book that have not been previously registered or foal recorded before 31 March 2004, eligibility will remain as stated in 1.3. above. This will mean that they will need to be registered with the Society before they are six months old or 31 December of the year of birth in order to be entered into the stud book. If this is not done, the pony (and any of its subsequent offspring) will lose eligibility for registration.

2.4. Mares which are only foal recorded, (including those held on the Verderers list) will require full registration (and thus a passport) before any of their eligible offspring can be registered with the Society.

2.5. The NFPB&CS specifically ask all commoners who are placing registered ponies, or those eligible for registration (foal recorded), on the Verderers VIC listing to inform the society of these animals so that it can note in its records that the pony is still to retain its registered breeding status. This is a very important point and the NFPB&CS would appeal for your co-operation on this to keep the registration system working smoothly because of the reasons outlined above with regard to future registration of their progeny.

3. Beaulieu Road

For ponies being sold through the Beaulieu Road Sales this new legislation will mean that all foals (whether eligible for registration or not) will require passports before they can be sold. We have however managed to negotiate a second derogation for Forest run foals in this respect which is outlined below:

3.1. The derogation applies to foals entered for sale within the year of their birth, owned by commoners and out of mares that are lawfully depastured on the New Forest, whether eligible for registration with the NFPB&CS or not.

3.2. These foals may to be presented at the sales with a fully completed, accurate application for registration and / or Passport along with the appropriate fee for registration / passport before they are ticketed.

3.3. This application form will have the lot number entered onto it and will be given to the NFPB&CS and copied, the copy going with the purchaser when the foal leaves the sale yard (as a temporary passport). The society will then issue the passport and this will be sent directly to the purchaser (who will not be able to move / sell the pony until they receive the full documentation).


3.4. Foals whose application forms are not correctly completed, or are not presented with the correct fee will not be allowed to enter the sale yard.

3.5. Although this derogation will help the logistical problem, we would urge all commoners to try and obtain full passports if at all possible before the sale as this will undoubtedly help with the smooth running of the sales and may also be more attractive to potential buyers.

3.6. All other ponies entered into the sale will require full passports before they enter the yard under all circumstances.

For further information, please see: Microchipping Regulations Relating To New Forest Ponies And Beaulieu Road Sales

Should anyone have any further queries with regard to the subject of passports, please do not hesitate to contact one of your committee members