Good farriery is essential for good welfare and a lack of regulation has the potential for negative impact on both short and long-term equine welfare. No foot no horse, as the old adage goes.

There is currently no legal requirement for farrier registration in Northern Ireland nor is farriery controlled under statute in Ireland.

The urgent need for legislation was one of the hot topics under scrutiny at the first-of-its-kind Equine Welfare Symposium at the Dunadry Hotel in Co Antrim last Thursday.

Equine welfare

Hosted by the North of Ireland Veterinary Association, this groundbreaking event with equine welfare firmly at its heart was attended by the great and the good of the equine stakeholder sector including; Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland, Riding for the Disabled, CAFRE, plus a good percentage of the equine vets in the country.

Negative implications

Transport and export were also flagged as urgent welfare matters. Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfare pointed out the challenges in compliance and enforcement of transport and export rules for horses.

According to Owers, Northern Ireland is being used to ‘confuse and obfuscate’ the rules of transport between the UK and Europe. Negative implications for horses include biosecurity, equine welfare, export to slaughter and integrity of vets could also be compromised. With equine welfare legislation regarding transport currently uncertain, the risk to horses’ mental and physical welfare is increased by repeated long journeys, lack of fitness for transport, mixing of unfamiliar horses and cramped conditions.

The recent UK ban on live export for slaughter and fattening from Britain via the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill 2023-24 which came into being on 4 December 2023, also indicates some problems around Northern Ireland.

Owers told the packed symposium room about the threat of Northern Ireland becoming a live export ‘bridge’ to Europe via the Republic.

From another perspective, that of the everyday horse owner or dealer, there’s currently a campaign by a horse owner called Felim Crane from Co Fermanagh which is being updated through his social media channels and is gripping to follow.

Transport of horses

Felim has a lot of support from the equine community and is on a mission to get a meeting with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, to address the lack of clarity on the transport of horses between Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Carla Lockhart of the DUP reached out to Felim after seeing his social media posts and recounted the problems he faces directly to Chris Heaton-Harris .

Felim listed a number of transport issues he and his partner face which they say they did not pre-Protocol.

He said, “80% of our business is done with the UK. You now need the same stuff to go to Italy and France as you do to come back from Scotland or England. There is a border in the Irish Sea. I do not have free trade with England, Scotland, and Wales.”

At time of writing this, Felim Crane is still awaiting a face-to-face meeting with Chris Heaton-Harris.