Many pet owners understand the importance of microchipping a cat or dog, but did you know that you can microchip your horse? Increasingly, these tiny devices are becoming a standard part of responsible horse ownership. Microchipping horses offers a permanent, tamper-proof method of identification, helping establish ownership, improve traceability, and support biosecurity measures. In fact, in some disciplines and jurisdictions, it’s now required for competition or registration.
The Benefits of Microchipping Your Horse
- It’s permanent: Microchips don’t fade or distort like tattoos and brands.
- Microchips help positively ID your horse during natural disasters, disease outbreaks, theft, Houdini paddock escapades, and more!
- Some brands link directly to your horse’s medical history, allowing veterinarians to provide critical care when you’re unable to be contacted.
- Accurately ID your horse at competitions and ensure your competition record is linked to your horse.
- Microchips count as equine legal identification for sales documentation and transfers.
- Enroll your horse in Full Circle programs that list previous owners, rescues, or individuals interested in providing a home or safe landing should the horse become at risk.
- Low-cost, low-pain, low-maintenance: Chips are implanted by a veterinarian via syringe during routine visits for $35-60 and require no upkeep. Because microchips last at least 25 years, this one-time fee should be valid for the life of the horse.
Additional Facts About Microchipping Horses
- Microchips are challenging to remove. This makes it difficult for criminals to remove a microchip and provides for simpler identification of a missing or stolen horse.
- Magnets will not deactivate the chip. Microchips are read-only and provide only the animal’s identification number. No additional information about the horse is stored on the microchip, and they do not have a power supply.
- According to a study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, microchips implanted in the nuchal ligament of the neck do not migrate.
- Extensive studies in both the United States and England over the past 20 years have demonstrated that microchips do not cause cancer.
- Microchips are read-only and do not contain a GPS.
- Starting in January 2017, the Jockey Club requires all Thoroughbred foals to be microchipped. Beginning Dec. 1, 2017, all horses competing in U.S. Equestrian Federation-licensed and/or U.S. Hunter Jumper Association-sanctioned competitions with hunter-jumper seat equitation classes must be microchipped.
Need to look up a microchip number? Check out the American Horse Council’s Equine Microchip Look-Up.
Article courtesy of the United Horse Coalition.
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