Buying and Owning a Pony

BUYING

If you are interested in buying an Exmoor pony then please read our Guide to Buying and Caring for an Exmoor pony. Ponies for sale are listed on this website.

Moor bred foals are available in the Autumn following the annual gatherings. You can find contact details for owners of moorland herds in this leaflet.

OWNING

Know your responsibilities:
Read our leaflet about your legal responsibilities.

Change of Registered Keeper (Loan)

If your pony is going out on loan then a ‘Loan Form’ must be completed and returned to the Society.

Change of Ownership (Transfer)

The passport should be returned to Susannah Muir (EPS, Holmwood Farmhouse, Tey Road, Earls Colne, Colchester, CO6 2LD) within 30 days of purchase of the pony so that the change of ownership can be recorded in the passport and on the database in accordance with current legislation.

Please send the passport together with the completed ‘Transfer of Ownership’ form and a cheque for £15 made payable to the Exmoor Pony Society to cover the transfer fee to Susannah Muir.

The Society endeavours to return passports within 5 working days.

Food chain status

If the food chain status of your pony changes then you must inform the Society within 14 days.

Addition of a microchip

If you have your pony microchipped you must advise the Society of the microchip number.

Lost Passports

If you lose your passport then please complete the ‘Lost Passport Declaration’ form and return it to Susannah Muir, who will provide you with the appropriate paperwork for a duplicate/replacement passport to be issued.

Death of a Pony

Upon the death of a pony the passport should be returned to Susannah Muir.  Once the passport has been cancelled they can return the passport to you – please provide a 2nd Class Large Letter stamp.

PASSPORTS

REMEMBER it is a illegal to sell a pony without a passport.
Passports were first issued in 1999 prior to that Exmoor ponies were issued with a registration certificate. Registration certificates are not a passport and all equines must have a passport which includes a silhouette and from 2009, the microchip number of the pony in question.

What will your EPS passport tell you?
SECTION 1 passports are for ponies whose sire and dam can be found in the EPS studbook and the passed the breed standard current at the time of their inspection.
Ponies registered in Section 1 before January 2016 have a beige passport.
Ponies registered in Section 1 after January 2016 have a white passport and the non-statutory pages at the back of the passport will be coloured cream and they include a five generation pedigree.

SECTION X passports are for ponies whose sire and dam can be found in the EPS studbook and did not meet the breed standard current at the time of their inspection.
Ponies registered in Section X before January 2016 have a blue passport.
Ponies registered in Section X after January 2016 have a white passport and the non-statutory pages at the back of the passport will be coloured blue and they include a five generation pedigree.
Note:  If you pony has a Section X passport it might well be eligible for re-inspection and possible upgrade to Section 1.

FIRST CROSS passports are for ponies who have a registered Exmoor sire or dam.  If it is the sire then it must be a registered, licensed stallion and the dam must be from A N Other breed.  If it is the dam then then the sire must be from A N Other breed and meet that Society’s stallion regulations.
Ponies registered in the First Cross register before January 2016 have a green passport.
Ponies registered in the First Cross register after January 2016 have a white passport and the non-statutory pages at the back of the passport will be coloured green.

EXMOOR TYPE/ID ONLY PASSPORTS are for ponies where:
1) the parentage of the pony is unknown
2) the pony has one registered parent but does not meet the criteria for a First Cross passport
3) the pony was inspected before the introduction of Section X in 2006 and the current owner has not contacted the Society to see if the passport can be upgraded to a Section X passport.  If a pony on an Exmoor Type or ID only passport is eligible to be upgraded to a Section X passport under Society rules then there might also be the possiblity that the pony is eligible to be inspected and upgraded to Section 1.

Note: some Exmoor ponies with ID only passports issued by other PIOs might be eligible for a registered Exmoor pony passport.

RE-INSPECTIONS

DO YOU HAVE A PONY THAT IS ELIGIBLE FOR RE-INSPECTION?

The Society has received a number of requests for clarification of current practices from members and owners, we hope the following information will be helpful and it will also appear on our website to assist owners.

The membership voted at the 2017 AGM that the new Breed Standard Rule 6 should apply to all inspections carried out after the 2017 AGM and the following notice was included in Summer Newsletter:

The new wording comes into immediate effect and will mean that the inspectors will only look to see that the hoof walls are uniformly dark and not look at the soles of the feet when undertaking inspections.  This new breed standard also applies to all ponies that are eligible for re-inspection i.e. did not meet the breed standard at their first inspection.  All owners who wish to have a pony re-inspected should contact the Secretary – current charges will apply – and can be linked in to the autumn inspections if required.
We hoped that it would serve as a reminder that ponies are eligible for re-inspection as outline in Rule 8 (h).
(h)  Any pony not registered in Section 1 of the main section of the Exmoor Pony Society Stud Book at first inspection because it did not meet the required standard will be eligible for re-inspection at a later date and after a period of not less than 6 months.

Every  year a number of ponies are put forward for re-inspection and this can be for any reason that they did not meet the breed standard – white hairs in tail, white hairs in mane, while soles etc and if the inspectors deem that they meet the breed standard in place at the time of the second inspection those ponies are upgraded into Section 1.

In 2017, such re-inspections did include ponies that had previously not met the breed standard on the grounds of white soles and provided that they met the current breed standard in all respects, they have been upgraded into Section 1.

As in the past, inspections and/or re-inspections taking place outside the Autumn inspection period will be charged at the discretion of the Secretary.

The Trustees voted that a fee of £20 for non-members and £10 for members should be charged to Upgrade a passport from either a Section X passport or an ID only passport (formerly known as Exmoor type) to reflect a change in registration status.  In accordance with DEFRA legislation the original passport must be returned to the Society.

Inspections and re-inspections are scheduled to take place before the autumn period and these include ponies that have a Section X passport or are of known parentage who currently have ID passports from other Passport Issuing Offices.  In the case of the latter, the Society contacts the issuing PIO and requests that they cancel their passport so that an EPS passport can be issued for either Section 1 or Section X of the Exmoor Pony Society studbook dependent on the result of the inspection.
Section X was established in 2006 as a result of EU/DEFRA legislation that stated that all ponies of known parentage should be entered into a Breed Society studbook.  The age range of ponies currently registered in Section X runs from 1995-2017 and in accordance with current Society rules all ponies who were placed in Section X at the time of registration are eligible for a re-inspection.  Remember some ponies received a Section X passport because their breeder did not put them forward for inspection at the time of registration and these ponies are eligible for both an inspection and a re-inspection. 

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