These passports are totally compliant with EU law and therefore also with DEFRA law. All the pages are laminated and can not be tampered with. The outline diagram which the vet has to fill in on the template form, and sign and date, is scanned into the passport issuing software exactly as it is produced by the vet together with his written description of the horse. This makes the system very secure and the resulting passports good to look at, practical as they are wipe clean, and virtually impossible to alter.

When registering foals I’d like all breeders in the UK to be aware that their foals must have a passport by 6 months old. It takes a very long time to get registrations back from the APSL in Portugal, so if you don’t apply straight away you are likely to be in breach of the law!!!

If your foal has either of its parents born in Portugal then it is likely to be even more difficult and very slow to register them with the APSL in time to get a passport issued correctly. This is because the Stud Book Secretary must send proof of parentage with the application for registration to the APSL. If only one of the parents has a DNA profile in the UK I can’t send proof of parentage. The APSL will apply to ALTER laboratory in Portugal to do the proof of parentage if one parent has their DNA profile there. Very often this job is just not done by the ALTER lab who as a government institution has no money. Although they are paid by APSL to do the work, the money goes to other more important things, not horses.

So I urge all breeders in the UK to get their mares and stallions DNA profiled by our UK lab in Newmarket. It means a vet visit to take a hair sample and sign the DNA request documents, and it costs £55 per sample tested. I know its yet more money to be spent but it means that the registration applications are complete when sent to APSL. Registration is then done fairly quickly and easily. If you have to wait for ALTER lab results you may be waiting a very very long time.

Sample bags, DNA request paperwork and labels to seal the bags can be sent to you upon request.

The Studbook secretary can only answer straight forward questions by phone but anything else such as change of ownership or horse information must be done by email. I cannot respond by text message or messenger.