Horse buyers spend thousands on ‘worthless’ horses
Consumers are handing over thousands of pounds to dealers and private sellers for horses that have no passports and are therefore essentially ‘worthless’.
Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service is warning consumers that horses without passports cannot be legally sold on, transported to shows or compete, leaving them essentially worthless until the passport issue is resolved – and this can take years!
Trading Standards Animal Health Officers are urging horse buyers to ask for the horse’s passport before they buy, check the passport and never purchase a horse without one.
Officers have begun to receive increasing numbers of complaints from horse owners who have purchased horses without passports. In one case a buyer paid £20,000 for a top show jumper. However, the horse’s passport was not passed on by the seller, leaving the buyer with a horse he could not compete with.
Horse buyers have been faced with either purchasing a new passport for their horse (if it had never been issued with one previously), an expensive and time-consuming process, or chasing the previous owner if a passport had already been issued.
And, because since 2009 all horses issued with a passport have had to be micro-chipped, owners of horses without passports can no longer apply for a new passport if one had been previously issued.
Horse passports are important because they help to:
make sure horses that have been treated with certain medicines don’t make it into food intended for humans
stop the possible spread of diseases, like African Horse Sickness, by restricting horse movements
prevent the sale of stolen horses – when you buy a horse, its passport proves its identity
If you don’t have a valid horse passport, you can’t do things like:
use your horse in competitions, like a race or show
move your horse to a new premises
sell or export your horse
Horse buyers and sellers requiring further information can contact a Warwickshire Trading Standards Animal Health Officer on 01926 414040.
For more information, visit our website: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards.