Horse vaccinations, microchips and the book; useless or useful?

In recent communications of the several boards and organisations, vaccinations and the passport are hot subjects. It is now law to have every horse, pony or donkey microchipped if transported over the road. I have been told about spot checks around Cavan already!
Horse owners are often left with a lot of questions and irritation. I hope to be able to explain and clear some of these questions.

Why is all of this necessary?
As with a lot of new rules and regulations these days, the basis of all this is European legislation. The background reasons for horse passports are as follows;
1. When animals travel in Europe there are some basic rules that in principle apply to all sort of animals. The rules for all animals are the same, but the time of implantation differs. An animal needs to be identified, the identification must be recorded and if applicable the animal needs to be vaccinated.
Identification of the horse is carried out by implanting the microchip and taking a marking chart. In principal it also could be the ear tag like cattle, but it needs probably no explanation why the microchip is preferred. The microchip number is printed in the passport and by doing so there is a direct link between the animal and its records.
2. In the matter of infectious diseases it is important that certain vaccinations, blood tests, etc. can be recorded and checked.
3. Horses are still consumption animals. This means that basically the same rules apply as for beef, chicken, etc. Main issue is the consumer safety. There must be a guarantee that the animals are not treated with medicine that could enter the food chain.  In the horse passport the owner can choose whether or not the horse is going to be slaughtered or not. All horses are checked on passport and microchip before entering the factory. The moment it is stated that the horse is no consumption animal anymore it gets the status of companion animal.
Especially the last point is of great importance in relation to veterinary care. The amount of medicine registered for use in horses in Ireland is extremely low. This is mainly due to the fact that there are a relatively low amount of horses in Ireland. Pharmaceutical companies have to pay a high sum of money to get a product registered in a certain country. It is more difficult to earn this money back if there are less horses.
 If horses are “registered” as not consumption animals it is easier to make use of medicine that are registered in other countries, or for other species of animals. In other words, there are more medicine available for your horse. I always find this a very good reason to consider the passport/microchip issue very important for the horse owner .

The microchip
As I mentioned before the microchip has been chosen as the best means of “labelling” the horse. Some people do not like the microchip and are afraid for side effects and risks. I would like to use this opportunity to explain some. The microchip is nothing more than a magnetic strip that contains a code. The whole thing is as big as an rice corn. By using a needle, the chip can be implanted 3 cm deep in the muscles of the neck. A special reader will pick up the code and identify the animal. Properly injected microchips will give no local reactions, inflammations, stiffness, etc. Some owners have successfully fought the implantation by carrying out DNA typing instead. It depends on the registering authority whether this is accepted. In my opinion the microchip is by far the easiest and safest means of labelling the horse. The amount of technical failure is very low and it is not easy to commit fraud with it.

What about pets?
The exact same microchip is used for dogs, cats, reptiles, snakes, ferrets, birds, etc. Implanting the microchip is as easy as the annual vaccination and costs less. Big benefits are the fact that the dog is always labelled. When animals gets lost, involved in accidents, stolen, etc., the microchip will make it possible to get the animal back home. The number of the microchip is registered with the database. Through this database animal and owner are linked.

I really could not think about one good reason not to implant a microchip. One injection and a lifetime safe and reliable identification!

Please do not hesitate to contact me on the clinic 064-42695 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Henk Offereins DVM, MVSc
Kenmare Veterinary Centre