Vets and welfare organisations have welcomed changes to the tripartite agreement that are to come into action next year.
The agreement allows horses to travel between the UK, France and Ireland without the need for a health certificate.Since the agreement — which originally applied only to sport horses — was extended to cover all horses in 2005, movements of lower value animals increased dramatically.
This has led to welfare issues, opening the door to disease and potential criminal activity.But from May 2014 the agreement will apply only to equines deemed to be of “high health” — including racehorses and FEI sport horses — going to and from France. Movements between the UK and Ireland remain the same due to the shared health status.
For all other movements, horses must travel with a health certificate issued by a vet.
“This change was badly needed and had been long called for,” said Roly Owers of World Horse Welfare.
This story was originally published in 19 December issue of Horse & Hound.
