Equine passports & microchips

All horses, ponies and donkeys must have a passport. Since March 2021 it has also been a legal requirement that all horses are microchipped and registered with a passport issuing authority.

Microchipping older horses

If you are unsure whether your horse has been microchipped, any of our vets can scan for a microchip and insert one if none is found. The vet must check the passport and update it with the microchip details, and the owner must then report this to the passport issuing authority. If we are seeing your horse for another reason, just ask and we can check for a microchip at the same time.

The medical treatment section

A horse's passport records their identity, health checks and vaccinations, and should also contain a Medical Treatment Section. We recommend you sign this section declaring that the horse is not intended for human consumption. Once signed, there are no restrictions on the medicines that can be given beyond the normal prescribing cascade. We note on your horse's clinical record that the section has been signed, which simplifies things in an emergency if the passport isn't to hand.

If the section is not signed, the passport is not available, the horse's status is not noted on our records, or the passport identification doesn't match the horse's markings or microchip, there are severe restrictions on what medication can be given. In particular, bute or Danilon cannot be given unless the passport is signed "not intended for human consumption".

Keeping the passport with the horse

The passport should stay with the horse at all times: kept at the yard or facility where your horse lives, and travelling with them wherever they go. By law, vets may not treat a horse without first seeing its passport; in an emergency, if the passport is not available, we can issue a BEVA Emergency Treatment form.

Signing that a horse will NOT go for human consumption, in the passport or on the BEVA Emergency Treatment Form, is irreversible. Passports that predate the Medicine Section are deemed automatically signed "not intended for human consumption", as are passports issued to adult horses by the Passport Issuing Organisation.

Foals, sales and transfers

• All horses must be microchipped to obtain a passport, whether new or replacement.
• Foals must be microchipped by 31 December of their year of birth or within 6 months of birth, whichever is later.
• The passport belongs with the horse and must go with it when ownership changes. It is illegal to sell a horse without a valid passport.
• New owners should contact the Passport Issuing Organisation to transfer ownership within 30 days of acquiring the horse.
• The passport should be returned to the Passport Issuing Organisation within 30 days of the horse's death.