Isabel Hurley
CRIPPLING new FEI charges of €900 for re-naming internationally registered horses have been labelled as both hugely unfair and highly damaging to both the Irish and the global sport horse industry.
The sport’s international governing body quietly introduced a charge of 1,035 Swiss Francs (approximately €850-€900) for registration and re-naming of horses with a prefix or a suffix to their name in late 2014.
Although discussions are now underway between Horse Sport Ireland and the FEI to resolve the issue, as it currently stands, some of the biggest sellers of Irish horses could be facing additional annual paperwork costs of over €40,000.
Top event horse producer, Carol Gee told The Irish Field: “It means for every new horse that I want to re-name with my Fernhill prefix, it will cost me an additional 1,100 Swiss Francs or €900. When it comes to dealing with Americans, that works out as an extra €1,500. It’s going to cost me a fortune.
“I have spent years and years trying to make and build up the Fernhill name. I’m proud of what we sell and produce and we follow every Fernhill horse in its career around the world. Our brand is Fernhill, it’s my name, it’s the prefix on the horses. I have not registered anything new so far this year with the FEI.
“However this new charge is crippling people like me who are trying to bring both credibility and traceability to the sport horse industry. It’s extraordinary from the FEI. It was introduced with no discussion at all, nothing.
“However this is already impacting on the upcoming spring tours as people are now realising the costs involved. People like me will have no choice but to pass on the costs to prospective new owners so a €10,000 horse becomes an €11,000 horse. If I was to apply these costs to every horse we handled last year, that’s an extra €42,000 on the paperwork alone. It’s absolutely crippling,’’ said the Kilkenny-based producer.
Wicklow’s Richard Sheane described the situation as “ridiculous” and called for a level playing field. “If the FEI charged people more for having a prefix – ours is Cooley Sport Horses – instead of a large fee per horse like this that would be fairer. This is a lot of money per horse to register and the paperwork is a killer.”
Georgina Sheane was first alerted to the new FEI costs via America’s United States Equestrian Federation.
“We don’t trade under Cooley. Cooley is our local area name. Even if we did trade under it, all the FEI is doing is penalising the very people who are putting money into the sport horse industry and this sport needs every support it can get.
“Surely we need to encourage as much traceability as possible.
“It’s a money racket and we have sought legal advice on it. I don’t believe these charges could be in line with the FEI’s charter. We have got great support from Horse Sport Ireland on this issue and their support is vital as this could put us out of business,’’ said Mrs Sheane.
Show jumper Joanne Sloan-Allen added: “We have horses jumping away under our registered prefix and people can readily follow them. I think this new charge is very unfair. We are already paying through the nose as it is between passport, licence and registration fees.
“Something needs to be tweaked here by the FEI. The sport horse industry is struggling, this is not an additional fight we need to have in our sport right now,” she added.
Naas solicitor Andrew Coonan told The Irish Field: “I have been in touch with Horse Sport Ireland on this issue. We’ve exchanged correspondence and discussions are taking place. I’m hopeful that this can be resolved.”
The FEI is expected to comment on the issue next week.
An HSI spokesperson confirmed they are in correspondence with the FEI over these new charges. “HSI has written to the FEI over this issue. We made the point that these prefix names were not considered commercial previously. Discussions are actively ongoing between us,’’ added the HSI spokesperson.