General

Breeding

Performance

Passports

Q. Will my personal data be available for people to see in NED?

No personal identifiers will be available for the public to see. The information contained on NED will be equine information derived from the passport for that equine such as equine name, age, height, colour and studbook. In many cases pedigree will also be available, but no information about the owner will be visible. There is a facility for the owner's email to be made visible but this is only if the owner requests it. NED takes its compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 very seriously and personal data remains confidential to Government). Defra may only release this information to investigative authorities such a Trading Standards or the Police on a case by case basis.

Q. I can’t find my horse in NED.

NED displays information submitted to us by Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs). This information is updated regularly. If you have recently applied for a passport, it may take up to a month for it to appear on NED. If it has been some time since the passport was issued and you cannot find it in NED, please click here to inform NED.

Q. How is data collected and collated by NED?

Data is provided to NED by nearly 100 organisations, including Passport Issuing Organisations, Breed Societies and Competition Disciplines. We then process that data and attempt to combine the records from the various organisations to create a comprehensive record for a particular equine. Where we have a Passport Numbers from all the data sources, we can create this automatically. However, sometimes we only have the name of the equine and in which case reliable matching is not always possible. We attempt to match using a "fuzzy" logic process, but sometimes this still cannot create a reliable match. There are also instances where we get the same horse details from more than one organisation. In these cases we attempt to flag that there are duplicate records in NED. If you have found a duplicate click here to inform to NED.

Q. What does "verified data" mean?

All data visible on NED Online is verified unless marked otherwise. In the case of identification and pedigree data, verified means that it has been supplied to NED by a Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO) recognised by Defra or a Devolved Administration (SEERAD, NAWDEPC and DARDNI) and this PIO has checked this data under the Requirements of Commission Decision 92/353/EEC and is satisfied that it is accurate to the standards it had in force at the time that data was entered on to its database. In the case of performance data, it has been supplied by a recognised competition discipline which has checked this data and is satisfied that it is accurate to the standards it had in force at the time that data was entered on to its database.

Where data has been entered by the owners or agents of horses (user-entered data) this data is clearly marked as such using the statement "This information has been supplied by the owner of this equine and has not been verified by NED or the passport issuer".

Q. My horse’s details are wrong.

NED displays information submitted to us by Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs). If you believe that the information about your horse on NED is incorrect, the information on your horse’s passport will need to be checked. Please click here to inform NED.

Q. My horse is on NED but I am not down as the owner.

Please contact the organisation which issues your horse’s passport and, provided the horse is actually yours, you can follow that organisation’s process to have the horse transferred into your own name.

Q. What does the Duplicate icon mean?

When passport records are received by NED they are processed to ensure that they are not duplicates of existing records

Duplicates exist for a number of reasons – it may be that two passports were erroneously issued for the same horse, or the owner may have lost the original passport and registered the same horse with another organisation.

When a possible duplicate is found it is flagged by the system and the PIOs concerned are notified. It is then up the organisations involved to establish between them which passport is the ‘master’ record. Any records that are flagged as possible duplicates will be marked with a "!" icon in a yellow triangle.

As the data improves there will be fewer and fewer duplicate icons. If you can help us to link duplicates click here to inform NED.

Q. Can I add any extra information to my horse's record in NED?

Yes. Before adding such information, you must be a ‘member’ of NED so that we will be able to trace any instances of the uploading of potentially fraudulent or otherwise inappropriate information. After becoming a member you must prove that you are the owner of that particular horse by answering some questions relating to the information held on your horse passport. You will be asked to provide details that are held on NED but not displayed to the public. If the details you enter match the details held by us, you can associate yourself with that passport record. This enables you to add information such a photograph, up-to-date height information, other pieces of non-verified information and your own contact email address. If you compete a horse in affiliated disciplines, you can also add any competition reference numbers which will help us to match the performance data to your horse’s record if this has not happened automatically.

Q. Can I mark on NED that my horse is for sale?

No but you can buy a NEDLink and when you advertise a horse for sale, use the NEDLink in the advertisement and the potential purchaser will be taken directly to you horse’s record in NED. The potential buyer will be able to see verified data on your horse with a link to your horses verified performance record, progeny and pedigree if available. Unverified pictures and any additional information can also be added by the seller which you may not have had space for in an advert.

Q. Can I mark on NED that my horse has been lost or stolen?

Yes. Please follow the guidelines in "Can I add extra information to my horse's record in NED?"

Q. Can I upload my horses' freezemark and microchip numbers to NED?

Yes. In some cases, we have received freezemark and microchip information direct from the Passport Issuing Organisations, but in many cases, we have not. Adding this information yourself will enable NED to help you to trace stolen horses or horses missing on loan. To add your horse's freezemark and microchip numbers please follow the guidelines in "Can I add extra information to my horse's record in NED?"

Q. Will the horse owners' data held on NED mean that horse locations can be pinpointed and horses will be culled in the event of a disease outbreak?

NED was set up in response to European Union Regulation which required that all horses have passports, NED is the system where this passport information is centrally recorded. In the event of a disease outbreak, accurate identification of the location of horses is paramount in order that risks of disease transfer can be minimised. Being able to contact owners means that they can be alerted as to what actions to take in the event of a disease outbreak and minimise the impact on the equestrian industry and to help protect horses from disease.

Q. What do I do if my horse has died?

In the sad event that a horse in your ownership dies or needs to be humanely destroyed, the PIO which issued that horse's passport must be notified. This means that you must return the deceased horse's passport to that PIO, but if you wish the passport to be returned to you following cancellation, you can enclose an accompanying letter to ask that the cancelled passport be returned to you.

Q. My horses' record is missing its breeding details. How can I update it?

NED only displays verified breeding data that has been received from organisations that are on the Defra list of organisations having adequate processes in place for checking that the pedigree details and breed provided by the owner are correct. If your horse’s record is not showing pedigree details and you think it should be, please click here to inform NED.

Q. I am registered with a breed society but I can't see my horses' pedigree details on NED.

NED can only display the information that has been supplied. If you cannot see your horses' breeding details, it is possible that they have not been passed to us by the organisation that issued your passport. If you have registered your horse with a breed society and you would like your breeding details displayed on NED please click here to inform NED.

Q. I compete regularly in affiliated competition, but cannot find any performance details for my horse.

Performance records are passed to us by various competition disciplines across the British Isles (e.g. British Show Jumping Association, British Eventing). The information passed to us is based upon the details submitted to the disciplines when you register to compete. In order to match this information to the correct passport record, we need enough information to perform a match. This information is usually in the form of a passport number or unique competition reference and you can help by making sure that when you register with a competitive discipline, you provide them with the horse’s passport name and its 15 character Unique Equine Life Number (UELN). You can help NED by matching any missing competition records to your own horses by finding the relevant horse’s Performance Record (signified with a symbol of three rosettes) and scrolling down the page and selecting the menu item ‘match this to up to a passport’.

Q. My horse has an excellent showing, arab racing, reining or endurance record, why are its results not featured on NED?

NED is working with the Showing Council and the appropriate competition bodies to develop a way of collect showing results and publishing them on NED and we hope to be able to display these soon.

Q. Will NED be able to track and trace horses whose names have changed from the names they were originally registered with?

In theory, yes. NED, holds details of every horse issued with a UK passport. Horses are identified on NED by name as well as by 15 character UELN (Unique Equine Life Number) and by breed society name and passport number. This means that NED can match horses with their pedigree and performance information by using a variety of criteria other than simply name and can also store, search and display multiple names for any horse. For example, a horse called ‘Dylan’ on its passport, might compete as ‘Dylan the Bard’ in Eventing and ‘Frederick the Great’ in Show Jumping and can be found by any of these names. However, to ensure accurate matching, it is important that the UELN or passport number is associated with a horse’s competition registration and therefore you will find that the horse’s UELN and/or passport number will become an increasingly important part of registration and competition entry in the future. Help NED by always using your horse’s UELN as well as its name.

Q. What are the "NPI" values displayed next to my horses' performance details?

NED Performance Indices (NPIs) are the mechanism used by NED to enable comparisons of competition success in the various equine disciplines all of which use different in-house scales.

The challenge is that different competition disciplines have different ways of scoring e.g. a show jumper’s performance is recorded in £ whereas dressage and event horses are recorded in points, though the scale of points used by British Dressage is different from that used by British Eventing.

The range of NPIs is as follows:

Thus an NPI of 2 in eventing and 4 in show jumping indicates that the horse has achieved a higher level as an event horse than as a show jumper.

NPIs are based on the best lifetime achievements of a horse/pony in each discipline where it has competed.

The following tables show how NED calculates NPIs.

The majority of passport related queries are answered here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/movements/horses/horses_qa.htm

If you have a passport question that is not covered by the information at this link, please ring the Defra Helpline on 08459 33 55 77 Mon-Fri: 8am to 6pm.