The Equine Industry and Identification

• Taxonomic classification of horses


  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Mammalia
  • Order: Perrisodactyla
  • Family: Equidae
  • Species: Equus caballus
• Equidae family

  • Long nose, teeth (molars at back, incisors at front), main and tail
  • Natural grazers; herbivores; forage eaters (grass, hay, haylage etc.); live in social groups; form close social bonds; hierarchies within herd (if in herd)
• Components of the British Equine Industry

  • Activities based on the use, possession, or ownership of a horse
  • Suppliers of horse-related goods and services for the above activities
• The British Equine Industry has two equal components
• There are 847,000 horses in GB (private and professional)
• 3 million people were reported to have ridden in the last 12 months
• The number of horse-owning households = 374,000
• The economic value of the equestrian section = £4.7 billion
• Parts of the equine industry

  • Livery yards
  • Breeding
  • Racing
  • Farrier
  • Transport
  • Vet's etc.
  • Stud yards
  • Saddlers
  • Competition
  • Gambling
  • Police/military
  • RDA, BHS, TBA, British Breeding (BB)
• Demands of horse activities


  • Primary: breeding, sport, work, riding schools or centres, privary
  • Secondary: Goods and services --> into trade associations
  • Tertiary: Raw materials --> business services
• Types of horse racing

  • Flat racing
  • Jump racing (hurdles, point-to-point, national hunt)
  • Breeding [thoroughbred breeding industry for the racing industry = large scale]
• Non-thoroughbred horse activities

  • Competition/sports horses: Showing, Show jumping, Eventing, Dressage, Polo, Endurance
  • Leisure: Non-competing, Hunting
  • Business: Livery yards, Riding schools, Competition yards
• Associations and Societies within the Equine Industry


  • Breed societies
  • Jockey Club
  • Wetherby's
  • Horserace Betting Levy Board
  • Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI)
  • British Horse Society (BHS)
  • British Show Jumping Association (BSJA)
  • British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA)
  • Charities
• Equine identification methods


  • Passport
  • Microchip
  • Freezemarking
  • Hot iron branding
  • Hoof branding
  • Lip tattooing
  • Photographs
• Foals must have a passport by 31st Dec of year of birth OR by 6 months after birth (whichever is later) + a microchip
• Some semi-feral horses are exempt from having a passport UNTIL they leave the area where they run e.g., Dartmoor's NFP
• Owners can be fined up to £5000 if they do not have a passport for their horse
• Information contained in equine passports

  • Appearance – descriptive and illustration
  • Age
  • Breed/type
  • Declaration of whether animal is intended for human consumption or not
• When equine passports need to accompany the horse

  • Breeding
  • Competing
  • Selling
  • Exporting/leaving UK
  • Going to slaughter
• Types of horses


  • Hot bloods: TB's, Arabs, Akhal Tekes
  • Cold bloods: Shires, Suffolk Punch, Percheron
  • Warm bloods: Dutch WB, Holsteiner, Cleveland Bay
  • Ponies: Exmoor, Tarpan, Konik
• Horse colours


  • Black
  • Bay
  • Grey
  • Skewbald
  • Piebald
  • Caramello
  • Palomino
  • Roans
  • Chestnut
  • Liver chestnut
• Visual identification of horses

  • Breed
  • Sex
  • Height (hh or cm)
  • Colour
  • White/black markings
  • Whorls [where the hair grows in another direction to the rest – in a circle shape; found usually on face, neck, chest and hips; marked with an X on passport]