My friend bought her daughter a lovely pony a few weeks back. her daughter is nervy and this pony is a real schoolmistress. They have been going to shows and jumping and winning etc etc. She paid £3K for this pony.

Anyway, I went to see her today and she was having her neds microchipped. She asks the vet to check this pony and beep - she's already chipped. We commented at the time that she might be stolen but we were only joking. She was from a reputable seller etc etc.

Friend rings me tonight - pony reported stolen in June :(

Friend is devastated - pony will have to be returned to previous owner (and rightly so), can't bear to break the news to her daughter, and she is 3K out of pocket.

I will never buy another horse without having it scanned - lesson learned there! I feel very sorry for my friend, but delighted for the poor owners who lost their pony - its not often there is a happy ending.

I am having all mine chipped ASAP. Apparently the slaughterhouses scan the horses before doing anything further - so its worth it for the peace of mind of that!

What a shame for your friend and her daughter, but, as you say, great news for the people she was stolen from, so many people never see their stolen horses again.

I got my Indy freezemarked a week after I got him, best £20 I ever spent on him but I never thought about having himchipped, I suppose its becoming more popular with horse now but you wouldn't think to have them scanned..just in case.

Suppose that is the only thing with a chip, its not a visible deterrant, which means theives won't be put off and potential owners wouldn't give it a second thought. Maybe vets, as part of the vetting procedure, should scan all horses/ponies.

Fingers crossed for your friend that they can find another pony that lives upto this one :)

Two ponies were stolen from a field near here a couple of weeks ago. The young owners are distraught. They picked the two youngest ponies apparently, left the others. Probably sold on by now to unsuspecting buyers. I hope they were chipped, there had been no news last I heard.

Morally the pony should be returned of course, but legally no he/she doesn't have to be as legally the chip does not prove ownership

If he/she had been freeze branded he might never have been stolen in the first place, just rung a contact who deals with rescuing horses from slaughter houses & it's the first they've heard of slaughterhouses scanning for chips(they freeze brand their horses)

They do not scan at any of the horse sales they go to(many of the horses are shipped to France as on the hoof meat for human consuption)

I was not aware of that regarding the ownership...

It was the vet who told me about the slaughterhouses. I will double check on the horse forum I go on for their experiences.

I have my coloured horses freezemarked - and I have my greys freezemarked but you can't see it - so it doesn't always act as the best deterrent. I am getting them microchipped just incase.

The only trouble with freeze marking is that it can become illegible and even grow out.

Don't all horses have to have passports ?

DNA of course is the other method of ID

Yes most horses have to have passports. I was just pointing out that freezemarkign is not infalable, infact many years ago we had a case where an expensive hunter was bought complete with freeze mark, when the new owner went to update the registration it was found that the freeze mark had been altered to try to hide the identity of a stolen animal :(

I wasn't saying freeze branding does fade etc But the DEFRA site & the law state all horses not some !

Technically it is possible to have a 'broken down old nag' living out its last days in a field without a passport. In practice this may well cause difficulties. Also I guess if you are being picky there is aperiod when a foal will not have a licence ;)

Presuably you wouldn't buy a horse without one, so this pony must have had false docs & the buyer has a claim against the seller no matter how rep they are ?

It is possible, although I wouldnt hold your breath. You would have to prove that the person who sold you the horse was negligent in the checks that they had run, bearing in mind that the horse had been missing for quite some time it could have changed hands half a dozen times and even been out of the country. Ive never had this problem with a horse but I know how difficult it is with other goods that in theory are traceable, such as cars and rolex watches! 

Its illegal to sell a horse without a passport - not to buy one. I would also say it is still common for horses not to have passports at this stage. Mine are all passported and personally I wouldn't buy a horse without one. My friend has passported this horse herself.

Update:

Original owner been in touch now. This pony DOES have a passport with the original owner. Original owner was paid out by the insurance company - so now, technically they own the pony. My friend is waiting to hear who will get first refusal to purchase the pony - I suspect it will be the original owners who want her back.

Also turns out pony has had 2 leg injuries in the past and shouldn't be jumped...

I would say there are a lot of horses with no passports - one of our vets horses for a start!! There are going to be lots of people who don't get passports for horses they won't be selling on or moving etc. And I haven't been asked for my passports once by our vets.

I remember one story from a pony mag years ago haunted me - a child's pony stolen:  for several months the mag. continued to run the advert asking for info, and the last one I remember was headed "now believed to have been sold for slaughter" :(

I was unaware that horses from the UK are still shipped abroad on the hoof, I thought it had been stopped, is this true or was i under a misapprehension and it was not ever stopped?

Glad the original owners will now not be uncertain as to the fate of their pony, but really sorry for the new family, how awful.

Lindsay
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