In France it has become a legal requirement for all competition horses to
be microchipped as of 1st of jan this year, and any horse taken to a slaughter
house also has to be chipped. This is the case in most European countries - and
I think this is a GREAT idea! For one, we finally have a central database which
means that if your horse escapes or gets stolen for ex you have a good chance of
getting it back. No more freeze marking, tatooing numbers on hoofs, etc..
It can also save your horse from being stolen and being sold for meat (
yes unfortunately the french still eat horses!!). It also greatly reduces
waiting lines for vetting in before a ride as scanning the horse is a hell of a
lot quicker than checking his papers and comparing marks, colour etc. to see if
it's the right horse.. Same for crossing borders and traveling to international
competitions. When buying a horse this also ensures that his pedigree and
paperwork corresponds to it etc. I've had all my horses chipped, 20€ per horse,
painless procedure takes minutes. Same for our dogs & cats.
From: Joe Long <jlong@xxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [RC]
National ID
"already a hassle and an expense to have to get health
certificates to go to rides. I'd hate to see being forced to have
microchips in our horses, and for every ride manager to have to have a
scanner and scan every horse that comes to the ride. I know that's not
been proposed ... yet ... but it could happen."