Does anyone understand what all this means??

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Does anyone understand what all this means??

Jackie Cochran · Advanced

That is the impression I got too. From my point of view it is just one more thing to discourage me from ever owning a horse again. And what are breeders to do, microchip each foal at birth? Just one more expense for a very, very, very expensive venture. I remember when the Arab stud book started jacking up the registration fee for the DNA testing, and one breeder told me that she would not register most of her colts unless they were good enough for showing, it just was not financially worth it.

Queenrider · Advanced

One of Canada's leading agricultural exports is horse meat. In order to be accepted by the EU the meat must be trackable so there is a "need" for individual ID for each horse to keep track of what drugs it has been given especially prior to being turned into meat. There has been a lot of push back by horse owners against it and the Government keeps on pushing this need for ID.
My horse is a Canadian and he has a microchip and this is the breed standard.
Microchips can also be used as an alternative to branding as branding is currently considered to be cruel in Europe.TB and STB have their upper lips tattoed. These current forms of ID have their own good and bad parts to them and there is no consensus. DNA typing is the gold standard but it is expensive and time consuming for ID for horses.

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Thanks "Q".

I mean, I guess that would be interesting in terms of purchasing a horse. You could find out what types of medications it may have been given. Although I would assume the vet records would have all the info. anyway.

So, it's back to the horse meat issue.