Registrations prices for 2023

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) is today announcing changes to its pricing structure for its Studbook and Registration services that will come into effect from January 1, 2023.

The discounts that had previously been in place for members of the Irish Horse Board (IHB) are being discontinued within the new pricing structure. Similar discounts for all other membership structures are also being discontinued. The new pricing structure reflects the impact of increased operating costs and a move to a more sustainable operating model for Studbook and Registration services.

This will be the first change in Studbook and Registration pricing in 17 years, as HSI has not increased the price of these services for sport horses since the organisation came into being in 2006. The change in pricing is required to enable HSI to operate the service sustainably and more efficiently into the future.

The IHB discounts had meant that the Studbook and Registration services of HSI had been operating on reduced income that has impacted upon service levels and investment programmes.

The cost of providing Studbook and Registration services has been increasing and until now, these additional costs had been absorbed and had not been reflected in HSI’s prices.

The new pricing structure also moves HSI’s fees in line with other providers in the market, while putting the service on a more sustainable footing and allowing further improvements to be made. The changes will also enable the organisation to deliver future improvements, especially in areas of digital services, and prepare services to meet industry-wide advances such as E-passporting, which is currently under consideration by Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine.

HSI recognises that the removal of the IHB membership discounts will represent a significant price increase for those who previously availed of them, however bringing pricing structures onto a more sustainable footing is unavoidable. We have worked to moderate these increases where possible and to offset some of these costs. For those registering five or more foals across a calendar year, HSI are offering a reduction in price of 50 per cent for every fifth foal (foal number 5, 10, 15 etc).

The fee for registering a foal without a name up to October 31 in the year of birth – typically one of the most frequently used services available – remains the same at the original non-discounted rate of €98.

The previous non-members rate to name the animal was €62, is now reduced to €31 when naming a foal on initial registration. The full price to register and name a foal up to October 31 in the year of birth will move to €129.

Those who wait to register and name a horse until it is a yearling or over, will face higher fees under the new system. HSI will operate a lead-in period for yearling and older horses whereby the existing non-discounted rates will be available for applications received and paid by February 14, 2023. HSI encourages all horse owners to register their horses within legislative timelines (within a year of birth) and ensure that records are kept up to date thereafter.

The new price structure will see considerable investment and focus on the following areas:

• The rollout of a new online customer portal to apply, track and review passport and other service transactions.
• The development of a customer interface and digitisation of processes in order for HSI to deliver the Department of Food, Agriculture and the Marine’s roll-out of its proposed new E-passport system.
• Less wait times for our contact centre. This year we received up to 30,000 calls to the Registrations call centre. In the last two months we went from servicing just 68% of calls to 95% of calls in the final quarter of the year. Increasing and maintaining these levels is of critical importance to us.
• Passport turnaround times have also significantly improved this year, with 60% faster processing of passports in the second half of this year. This is a significant improvement for customers, particularly given that we have just exceeded 8,000 foal passports being issued this year, which is the highest ever. This represents a 62% rise on last year and a 57% rise on pre-Covid years on average. We are investing in new technologies and supports to offer a better customer service, with a focus on simplifying processes and delivering reliable processing times.
• 2023 will also see the next frontier in equine pedigree verification as we transition to SNP DNA profiling. We’ve been working hard with our partner Weatherbys over the past few months to work out the best ways to introduce this service to the equine industry and we will be updating customers in the New Year on these plans.

Each of these service improvements will see improved turnaround times of passports and other services, increased customer satisfaction and more efficiency across the service.

Horse Sport Ireland remains committed to the development and improvement of our service to all who use it and the new pricing structure enables us to do this.

We thank you for your understanding and support.

Full details of the new prices can be found HERE.

If you have any questions in relation to registrations for 2023 please contact [email protected]