HORSE Sport Ireland has announced a special initiative to encourage horse owners to register their unregistered adult horses with recorded pedigree.

Under the initiative which will run for a limited period up until August 31st owners who are paid up members of the IHB can register their older horse and have its pedigree verified by DNA for a total payment of €85.

If the breeding is subsequently verified the horse will receive a ‘green’ passport provided its pedigree meets the appropriate criteria. Prior to this initiative breeders/owners had to pay for the DNA testing themselves if they did not register their horse as a foal along with a higher fee for older animals. The cost of the DNA test was over €100 with the fee on top of this which meant that registration of adults with pedigree was costing over €200.

This pricing structure was in place to encourage breeders to register their animal as a foal and it will be put back in place when this initiative ends on August 31st .

Horse Sport Ireland Chairman Joe Walsh said that this was an important once off initiative to encourage owners to register their horses to comply with the law but also to register them with recorded pedigree which would increase their horse’s value.

“Research shows that horses with verified pedigree are more valuable than those who do not have pedigree recorded. This is a chance for owners to record the breeding of their animal while also complying with the law. All registered horses will also appear in the new Horse Sport Ireland CapallOir on-line register,” he said.

“It is crucial that all foals are registered within six months of birth and our pricing system was in place to encourage this. However, we have to recognise that currently there are horses that are not registered and this initiative will give the owners a chance to comply with the law while increasing the value of their animal” he said.

“I would encourage owners or breeders with unregistered animals to contact us and once we have a covering cert we can send them out a DNA kit. In cases where a covering cert has not yet been provided to HSI, I would encourage breeders/owners to make contact with the stallion owner” he said.

I understand that in some cases covering certs may not have been provided due to the non- payment of stallion fees. However, I would urge breeders or owners to engage with the stallion owner to resolve any outstanding matters as they can now register the horse at a much lower price during this window,” he said.

HSI Chairman Joe Walsh