NED Helps Return Missing Horse To Worried Owner
NED Helps Return Missing Horse To Worried Owner A horse that went missing whilst out on loan was returned to his owner thanks to a search on the National Equine Database (NED). Eighteen-year-old chestnut coloured Warmblood gelding Siena was put on loan by his owner Catherine Anderson through a classified advert on a website. | |
The horse was then subsequently sold on once more to an unsuspecting riding school that paid more than £2000 for him in good faith. But riding school purchased Siena without a passport, and so the proprietor applied through a passport issuing authority for a new passport for him.
But Catherine, who lives in Cheshire, was, by this time, following the trail of her missing horse and as part of her quest she placed his details on the UK Horsewatch Alliance website and made sure his details were correct on NED. The riding school proprietor had also checked on NED and realised the details they had been given for the horse were untrue.
When the passport issuing organisation checked on NED to see whether Siena already had a passport, they found that he did (his freezemark number having identified him) and declined to issue a new passport.
Catherine was then contacted, as the registered owner, by the riding school, from details she had posted on the Horsewatch Alliance website and two months after she last saw him, be was safely home again.
Catherine, who has owned Siena since he was a three-year-old, said: "It was an incredibly worrying time when I realised what had happened to Siena but it is such a relief that he is now safely back at home with me.
"I can't believe what has happened to me and I would advise all horse owners to be really careful and make sure their horse's identification information is on NED, because however careful you think you have been, it could happen to you".
The National Equine Database (NED) website is the only central place to find information on over a million horses, ponies and donkeys and it provides data from official UK sources.
NED contains an equine record for every passport issued by a UK Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO), which contains the name of the horse, its age, gender, height, colour, sire and dam (parents) - where provided.
Now horse owners are being urged to ensure they register and associate themselves with their equines on NED and also check and register stolen horses in a bid to prevent ruthless horse thieves from striking.
NED's Chief Executive, Nick Wallbridge said; "NED can help horse owners protect their own animals by making it easy to input microchip and freezemark details so that, if they are stolen or go missing, the chances of recovering and returning them to their owners are much higher.
"Owners can associate with their own horses, add security markings, upload a photo and add extra information about their horses and ponies all of which will make like so much harder for horse thieves."
More Information
The National Equine Database (NED) is a collaborative project between Defra and the horse industry. Defra needed a database (NED) to hold details of all equines with passports to fulfil the requirements of European Union legislation and the horse industry needed a public national database (NED Online) so that information on all UK equines could be held in a central location for everyone to view.
NED can be found at www.nedonline.co.uk
NED is the country's National Equine Database containing details of over a million horses with UK passports, and an increasing number of horses with European Union passports as well.
NED also contains information on horse pedigrees and competition lifetime ratings for an increasing number of horses.
Horses can be "checked out" on NED prior to purchase, increasing peace of mind for buyers.
UK Horsewatch Alliance: www.ukhorsewatch.co.uk
Photograph copyright NED Related Articles About the National Equine Database
Added on: 04/11/09.
Email this article to a friend or shareVoices for Horses offers news, articles and videos from third party providers unless otherwise stated. We do not endorse the views expressed or content and make it available to you only as a service. All news items, articles and videos are copyright of the authors, film makers and original publications.
