28/09/2025
𝚂𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙾𝙿𝙸𝙽𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙿𝙾𝚂𝚃: Why do so few people understand the rules around Horse Passports? 📕
Almost 7 years ago to the day, new rules for equine identification came into force. The Equine Identification (England) Regulations 2018 came into force October 1st 2018. The regulations followed the introduction of the Central Equine Database (CED) which became operational in March 2018.
Now, this brought in some significant changes for who is deemed the ‘keeper’ of a horse, and who should be responsible for holding the passport.
If your horse is on anything more than DIY livery - that is to say purely basic grazing only, or stable and grazing - then your yard is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day routine care of your horse, and in the eyes of the law will be considered the ‘responsible person’ or ‘keeper’of that horse, regardless of who is the owner. This even applies if you have regular, irregular services such as Assisted DIY or 5-day Part Livery. This does not mean that they need to be detailed in the passport as the keeper, but simply means that they are the person responsible for ensuring the equine identification laws are being complied with.
❓ What does that mean in real terms… It means that the yard should be holding your horses passport. As they are deemed the keeper, they would be the person responsible for providing documentation for your horse if their premises are inspected. This inspection could be by police, vets, welfare authorities, DEFRA or any other authorised person who has a right to verify the identification of animals on the premises, and this now needs to be provided “without delay”.
Within the animal identification laws is also a requirement that all yard owners should check that all horses are correctly passported when they accept them on the premises. This means that all owners should be checking the actual physical copy of a horse passport (even for DIY liveries) to make sure that they are one and the same and that they can be satisfied the horse shown on the passport is the same horse that they have on the yard.
Previously, in the event of an inspection, a Horse Passport was to be provided “within a reasonable time” which meant there was enough time to hope that you could contact the horse owner and get them to provide the passport within a couple of hours. That is now no longer the case and the horse passport should be accompanying the horse at all times, including where it is stables so it can be viewed immediately.
“But I don’t trust my yard owner to keep my passport safe” I hear you cry! The problem is, that it IS the law. If a keeper is unable to provide the passport there and then, both the yard and the horse owner could be liable of a fine of up to £5000 PER horse. And yes, although few and far between, fines have indeed been handed out. And more to the point, why would you trust your horse to a yard when you don’t even trust them with a simple basic task of responsibly looking after your horses passport? 🤨
This does not mean that a yard has to have a passport coveted under lock and key, it simply means that a passport must be securely stored and ideally mutually accessible. Because of course, the passport must still be accessible to the horse owner if they wish to travel the horse, compete the horse, attend veterinary appointments and such like. Yards have come up with many different ways over the years to have a mutually agreeable way to store passports.
“But can I just give them a photocopy of the passport?”… You can, but ultimately the law is for the actual, physical passport. Unless you have something in writing stating that you are exempt from leaving your horse passport with the keeper, then it is highly unlikely that just a preference to not leave it in the hands of the yard for whatever reason would wash in the event of an inspection. Some yard owners will have it as a contractual obligation, and will require a paper to be signed to confirm they have the passport kept with them, or on the other hand may have a disclaimer for a horse owner to declare that they refuse to do so to show they have done their best to comply on their part. On a regional level, it is the local authority (i.e. local council or county council) who will oversee these laws through the trading standards department. Ultimately though it is DEFRA who make and enforce this and the law is the law!
In fact, it actually states on the legislative document that it is an offence for somebody to withhold a passport from the responsible person, so horse owners knowingly and intentionally withholding their horses passport from the yard could be risking even more in terms of fines or legal action.
It is fairly shocking that even some of the largest equestrian organisations and associations do not make this clear. The changes on this overhaul of the legislation was significant and had impact on both horse owners and yard owners. Because at the time I could see this meant significant changes for yard owners, I confirmed in January 2019 with the Head of Animal Identification at DEFRA that the information I have written here is indeed correct when it comes to the standpoint of livery yards.
The legislation is readily available online to refer to, and it is very clear what the definitions of the responsible person/keeper are, and that it now states passports must be provided without a delay.
The equine ID laws are there to protect equines…to identify them, prevent fly grazing and theft, and assist with traceability. Ultimately, they are a tool for equine welfare. They are not just there to prove who owns a horse. The system is long overdue further changes, and will ultimately be moved online. Once the new identification laws have been passed, it is likely that licensing for every yards won’t be far behind. I was involved in meetings with DEFRA and the CED a couple of years ago consulting on their future plans. This has now been delayed due to the change of government but what they were proposing was a complete overhaul that would for certain simplify the equine identification process. But for now, this is where we are.
If you are a horse owner who has not been asked for your horse passport, or has refused to leave your horse passport with the yard, then perhaps you did not realise that this is a request request based up on the legal obligations of the yard owner.
And if you are a yard owner who does not request the passport of horses on your premises, or even check the passport status of horses on your premises, then this is something you are legally obliged to do and you should find out The best way that you can implement this going forward.
As ever, there is lots of free guidance and information on all aspects of practical and administrative yard management completely free to access on the Yard Owner Hub
www.yardownerhub.co.uk
