[SamWerner]

So I finally have my GOV passport for my yearling...
Now what do I do with it?!

I see there are things in for veterinarians to record stuff, but I am not sure what is supposed to go in it.

He was just gelded the other day, does that go somewhere in his passport? What about vaccinations?

I have no idea so please help

And P.S.-now that he is gelded, do I have to let GOV know? Do they send a whole new passport saying he is a gelding?

[Equilibrium]

Well dont know how it works there but here once a horse is gelded I send the passport back to the registry and they mark it as such. All Vaccs get recorded by vet and if they get bute for whatever reason, think stone bruise, I get them to throw that in one time.

It's handy for the Vaccs. Really all meds are supposed to be recorded and I'm probably breaking some law by not recording every little detail, but I don't know anyone who does. May be a little different for high level competition horses but even then I think you get a separate paper for such.

Hope this helps,
Terri

[SamWerner]

Thank you!

So I will have my vet put it in the passport then, not write it in myself? He got bute for a few days after the gelding...should I put that in?

[alexandra]

O.K. Than I will explain:
The passport is something that is required by european law. Since GOV is german that have to give one for each of the registered horses. Than you have a certificate of ownership aswell.
In Europe the passport always has to be with the horse whereever you transport it. If you do not have it you get a fine and are held up - not allowed to travel forward unless you can produce it from somewhere (that is if the police is very tought on you).
Than there are vaccinations that are required for showing a horse. These are recorded in there and are checked at the riding shows if they want to. If you vaccinations are not accroding to the rules: bye bye show grounds for you !
Because the passport will always be with the horse it is in addition to being needed for shows in Germany also convinient to record all shots in there. We also put the little sticker that is on the vaccination in ther so that in case of problems the charge can be found out.
Than there are also laws regarding slaughtering horses as nourishment. Obviously they are not supposed to have gotten any unallowed medication for ending up as meat for people. hence each vet has to check that and in case the horse needs something that is on the forbidden liost he HAS to put that kind of medication into the passport.
I am not sure whether I can find any official european explanation on the internet but this is basically it.
As you are in the US you obviously are not obliged to do anything about that kind of recording Vaccinations or medication. But if you keep that (it is needed to identify a horse as there is the diagram of markings in it) and ive it to a potential new owner I guerss everyone will be pleased to find a full vaccination record in that passport ! Than there is no need to do a new full vaccination when you buy a horse, because it is on record in the passport.

[alexandra]

Sorry I did not realise when I wrote my statement, that Equilibrium is from Ireland - even though wwe "know" each other for ages now via the internet of COTH ;-)

[SamWerner]

Thank you so much Alexandra!

[alexandra]

You are welcome - Oh and even though this passport / Certificate of ownership is according to European law, there seem to be differences in the european countries. And what I wrote about showing is true for shows within Germany, no idea how other countries handel their shows...

[Equilibrium]

Alexandra, no bother! See it is slightly different with the TB's I register. You get a passport and then have to pay more money to be registred owner. Honestly, you are supposed to keep a detailed record of any medication the horse recieves but nobody does and that is for the slaughter thing and the reason why I get the bute written in by a vet. They can never be for human consumption ever. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying.

Only your vet can write in medications and he has to stamp it as well. I can't go writing things in my passport willy nilly or my horses won't be allowed anywhere. And as Alexander says, those passports do have to be up to date with the vaccs or no show grounds is indeed correct.

I actually have to take one of my passports back to the vet because he filled in Lila's Flu/Tet vacc in the wrong place. Not his fault really as every year the place to write that in seems to change. He just accidentally filled it in under the Vaccinations other than Flu/Tet section. Still, I could get called on it so it needs to be fixed. And they do have to be up to date. If your show horse gets a flu/tet after the yearly or 6 month date depending, you have to start all over again. And vets have lost their liscense over backdating so they won't help you out in a pinch.

For the gelding, just send back to the issuing authority and they will rectify the situation. You writing it in is not good enough and can make the passport useless. Though in America, you shouldn't have any issues. Still it costs nothing for them to do it and it all stays legal.

Terri

[alexandra]

Regarding gelding - I think they correct that status in the passport over here aswell.
I guess latest if you get them into the FN for showing. So I have no idea about that.
Ask the US representitives of GOV about it. I would not want to send it back and forth USA Germany as my friend had already quite a few passports, Certificates of ownerships lost on that way and it is a PIA if you want to get a new one.