MAKE sure you leave plenty of time to get your new foal registered which must be done within six months of birth or before December 31st in the year of his/her birth.

If you have a foal with recorded pedigree, there is a little more to do to complete the registration process in comparison to a foal without fully recorded pedigree.

For your foal to be eligible for either the Irish Sport Horse or the Irish Draught Horse studbooks, the sire and dam of the foal must be registered in the Irish Horse Register (IHR).

If your foal is not eligible for either studbook, you can obtain a non-pedigree passport.

Breeders must send their correctly completed covering certificate to Horse Sport Ireland who will automatically issue the registered owner of the dam with a foal kit. There is a three-step process to be completed in order to register your foal.

Step 1. Call your vet

When you receive your foaling kit, you will need to call your veterinary surgeon out. The foal kit contains a marking chart; DNA hair sample bag; return envelopes and an information leaflet.

Your veterinary surgeon will fill out the marking chart for your foal. They will also microchip your foal and attach the microchip barcode to the marking chart. Your foal should only be microchipped using a Horse Sport Ireland microchip which are issued to veterinary practitioners for animals who will be registered in the Irish Horse Register.

Step 2: Send the marking sheet to HSI.

When your veterinary surgeon has completed your foal’s marking chart, you must return this to H.S.I. along with the correct fee. The initial fee for registering a foal is €80 for IHR members or €117 for non-members.

Step 3: Receive your passport

The final step of registering your foal is to receive your Irish Sport Horse Studbook passport. This will be sent to you once Horse Sport Ireland receive the correctly filled out marking chart, correct fee and the DNA result from Weatherbys. The passport will be sent to the registered owner of the dam.

Non-pedigree registration

If you want to register a foal who has a non-registered sire or dam and is therefore not eligible to be registered with the Irish Sport Horse or the Irish Draught Horse studbooks, you can obtain a non-pedigree passport for them.

The steps are very similar to those outlined already. Your veterinary surgeon should complete the foal’s marking chart and microchip the foal.

The marking chart, microchip barcode and correct fee should be sent to Horse Sport Ireland. There is no DNA-testing requirements for the non-pedigree foals so once you return the marking chart and fee, Horse Sport Ireland will then issue the owner of the mare with the passport.