Register a foal

Before registering a foal in the Irish Sport Horse or Irish Draught Horse Studbook, both the sire and the dam of the foal must be registered in the Irish Horse Register and the foal must be eligible to be included in the Studbook. On receipt of a correctly complete covering certificate, Horse Sport Ireland will automatically issue a foal kit to the registered owner of the dam.

With effect from 1st January 2016, equines will be required to be identified with an identification document that is issued in accordance with Article 9 of the Commission Regulation 262/2015. A person, when making an application for an identification document from an issuing body approved by the Minister, shall submit fully completed application documents to the appropriate issuing body within 6 months of the date of birth of the equine (SI 62 of 2016). Equines are excluded from the food chain where the identification document is not issued within 12 months of the date of birth (or in instances where applications are not made within  six months (Regulation 16(7) of SI 62 of 2016) resulting in where issues of concern to the PIO cannot be addressed in time for the identification document to be issued.

STEP 1. ORDER YOUR KIT

To order your foal kit you must either have a covering certificate complete with the Sires and Dams details sent in or complete a mare declaration online. On receipt of a correctly complete covering certificate or mare declaration, Horse Sport Ireland will automatically issue a foal kit. You can complete a mare declaration here.

Please note a mare declaration does not count as a covering certificate, a covering cert will still need to be received.

STEP 2. CALL YOUR VET

Upon receipt of your foal kit you will need to call out your vet. Contained within the foal kit will be:

1. 1. Marking chart for the foal – this must be completed by the vet, who will also microchip your foal and attach the microchip bar code to the marking chart. Please ensure that only a HSI Microchip is inserted into your foal. Horse Sport Ireland issues microchips to vets for animals that will be registered in the IHR. Marking charts must be received within 6 months of markings being taken.
   2. DNA hair sample bag – to DNA type your foal, the vet will remove a hair sample from the foal and place it in the sample bag. The sample bag must then be sent to Weatherby’s Ireland for DNA testing. Where the dam of the foal has not been previously DNA typed, the foal kit will also contain a hair sample bag for the dam, which again must be returned to Weatherby’s.
   3. Return envelopes – you will receive a return envelope for your foal’s marking chart (return to HSI) and the DNA hair sample bag (return to Weatherby’s).
   4. Information leaflet – detailing the steps as outlined above.

STEP 3. SEND YOUR FOAL MARKING CHART TO HSI WITH FEE

Once your vet has completed the marking chart for your foal and attached the microchip barcode, you will need to return the marking chart to Horse Sport Ireland with the appropriate fee (shown on the form) in the return envelope provided. You can also find the fees here: Fees

STEP 4. YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR IRISH SPORT HORSE STUDBOOK PASSPORT

Once HSI has received your foal’s marking chart, correct passport fee plus the DNA result from Weatherby’s, the foal’s passport will be posted to the registered owner of the dam.

Mare Declaration Tutorial:

Please view below video on how to complete a mare declaration for your mare on IHR Online