What are your Terms and Conditions of Galley Hill Equine Surgery?

All fees are due for payment at the end of consultation, the discharge of your horse or upon collection of medicines, supplements.

Account clients who receive an invoice must settle any outstanding within 14 days.

We accept payment by cash, cheque with valid banker’s card, Visa, Mastercard, Switch and Solo.

At your request we will provide a written estimate for the probable cost of treatment. Please bear in mind that any estimate can only be approximate as your horse\\'s illness may not follow a conventional course.

Professional fees, medicines, supplements and consumable items are subject to VAT at the current rate.

Any account not immediately settled will incur additional administrative and accounting fees and surcharges.

I want to take my horse aboard, what do I need to do?

All horses, ponies and donkeys need to have a horse passport for identification.

The laws on horse passports changed on 1 July 2009. From this time, if you own a horse or are its main keeper, you’ll be responsible for making sure it’s correctly identified by a passport (the old vaccination card is no longer suffient). However, only the owner of the horse can apply for a passport. The horse’s owner, or keeper, has to make sure the passport is available for inspection at all times. You don’t need to have the passport on hand when the horse is in its stable, grazing in a field or being moved by foot but if you are asked for the horse’s passport by an authority, you’ll need to show it to the inspector within three hours.

 

Horse passports are important because they help to:

  • make sure horses that have been treated with certain medicines don’t make it into food intended for humans
  • stop the possible spread of diseases, like African Horse Sickness, by restricting horse movements
  • prevent the sale of stolen horses – when you buy a horse, its passport proves its identity

 

If you don’t have a valid horse passport, you can’t:

  • use your horse in competitions, for showing or racing.
  • move your horse to a new premises.
  • buy, sell or export your horse. You must not buy or sell a horse without a horse passport. Contact your local Trading Standards office if you are sold a horse without a passport.
  • use your horse for breeding.

 

How to get a horse passport

Get a horse passport application form

You can get an application form for a horse passport from an authorised ‘Passport Issuing Organisation’ (PIO). The passport won’t be valid if it’s issued by an unauthorised organisation. You\'ll need to complete a passport application for each horse you own.

If you already have a valid horse passport, you won’t have to get your horse microchipped.

Contact the Galley Hill Equine Surgery

Arrange for a veterinary surgeon to visit your horse to microchip with a unique number and complete and sign the passport application form. There will be a fee for this.

In accordance with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the microchipping of all equids is an act of veterinary surgery. For more information on the microchipping of equids, please visit the RCVS website on www.rcvs.org.uk.

Complete the application form

From 1 July 2009, the diagram of the horse (silhouette) isn’t compulsory because the horse will be microchipped to confirm its identity instead. However, if your horse is registered with a breed society, their rules may state that you still need a silhouette as well.

You may already have some other documents about your horse that include a silhouette, like a vaccination certificate. These don’t count as passports, but the PIO may agree to transfer an existing silhouette to a new passport.

The PIO may also agree to include a silhouette from some documentation or a passport that was issued previously by an unauthorised organisation. Check these details with the PIO when you apply.

You should also check the PIO’s requirements for your breed of horse. For example, a breed society may require certain breeds to be microchipped before they can get a passport.

Completing ‘Section IX’ of the passport - ‘for human consumption’

Once you declare your horse is \'not intended for human consumption\', it can never be changed.

You need to state whether or not your horse is intended for human consumption in Section IX of the passport. Most horses in the UK are not intended for human consumption. This means their meat won’t make it into the food chain for humans. However, it’s important to complete the declaration to prevent horses treated with certain medicines entering the food chain.

Once the declaration has been signed ‘not intended for human consumption’, it can never be changed.

Exporting a horse

You’ll need a valid passport if you are moving your horse out of the UK. You must sign the declaration in Section IX of the passport and have it counter-signed by the PIO or a local veterinary inspector.

Transfer of Ownership

To transfer your ownership details you must complete a Transfer of Ownership Form which must be signed by both the Vendor and Purchaser.

This should be returned to the issuing authority together with the passport and payment.

The law states that you have 30 days in which to return the completed Transfer of Ownership Form and Passport to the issuing authority.

Change of Address

To change your address details you must complete a Change of Address Form.

This should be returned to the issuing authority together with the passport and payment.

The law states that you have 30 days in which to return the completed Change of Address Form and passport to the issuing authority.

Duplicate Passport

If your passport has been lost, stolen or damaged, you will need to apply for a duplicate passport. Any such passport will be stamped "DUPLICATE" and will state that the equine cannot be slaughtered for human consumption.