Let’s be clear: The debate over whether we need or want the National Animal Identification System is a ship that’s sailed. The only thing left to debate is how it will arrive, and, so far, the equine world’s rank and file has been rather quiet, relying on a cadre of dedicated and far-thinking people to shape it. Well, now is our chance to comment, and the time is short.

OK, the NAIS seemed far off and not really relevant when first presented three years ago. It’s about livestock in the food chain, so that shouldn’t affect horses, right? And we don’t need it because aren’t most horses identified by discipline organizations, breed registries or both? Well, yes and no. We Americans like to believe horses aren’t in the human food chain, but 50,000 are slaughtered each year, many for the foreign food market. Plus, hundreds of thousands more live with or near cows, sheep and pigs. And, yes, lots of horses have lots of numbers, but hardly any are useful for this purpose.

OK, so some people fear that the NAIS will give the whole world access to information about the horses they own. Well, Amy Mann of the American Horse Council told me that confidentiality is a big issue for all the livestock groups. She said that the only information in the NAIS database will be the horse’s ID number, the number of the premises where he lives, and, probably, the date and location of his movements. She said the NAIS database would include nothing more about the horse or its owner. “There’s no need for that,” she said.

Probably the thorniest issues are how detailed and up to date will our horses “movement records” have to be and who’s paying for all this? Mann said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay for the infrastructure, the states will pay for some of the implementation costs, and we, the owners, will have to pay for the microchipping and, probably, for the capability to send e-mails to the USDA regarding our animals’ movements.

Movement is the biggest equine-specific problem, although cows, pigs, sheep and llamas do travel (77 million pigs are transported each year, not including the ones who show). Mann admitted, “We do struggle with exactly what does ‘reporting all movements’ mean? We don’t really know how it will work out.” She suspects we’ll report via e-mail. But will we have to report before we take our horses to a lesson or to a trail ride, or will there be a window of time? And will show managers have to report all the horses there? Who’s paying for the human and computer resources to do that? Probably us, the people doing the showing.

OK, so we might object to this governmental oversight or consider the NAIS a pain in the horse’s behind. But it doesn’t matter because our leaders have determined that protecting the nation’s food supply from disease or terrorist manipulation is a public priority. All we can do now is offer input into how it would work best for us, and Mann noted that government officials have been working hard to accommodate everyone.

Mann told me that she hopes the NAIS could allow standardization of all interstate horse transportation (meaning all states either would or wouldn’t require Coggins tests and health certificates to enter). She said it could also avoid quarantining an entire state in case of outbreaks of diseases like vesicular stomatitis because NAIS would allow you to prove your horse hadn’t been exposed. Maybe there’s an upside to this?