Animal Health Act 1981

Export of horses defined as ponies E+W+S

41 Restriction on export of ponies. E+W+S

(1) It is an offence against this Act to ship or attempt to ship any pony in any vessel or aircraft from any port or aerodrome in Great Britain to any port or aerodrome outside the British Islands unless—

(a) the appropriate Minister is satisfied that the pony is intended for breeding, riding or exhibition and—

(i) it is not of less value than £300, or

(ii) in the case of a pony not exceeding 122 centimetres in height other than a pony of the Shetland breed not exceeding 107 centimetres in height, it is not of less value than £220, or

(iii) in the case of such a pony of the Shetland breed, it is not of less value than £145, or

(iv) such other value in any of those cases as may be prescribed by order of the Ministers; and

(b) Immediately before shipment the pony has been individually inspected by a veterinary inspector and has been certified in writing by the inspector to be capable of being conveyed to the port or aerodrome to which it is to be shipped, and disembarked, without unnecessary suffering.

(2) Without prejudice to paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above, a veterinary inspector shall not certify a pony to be capable of being conveyed and disembarked as described in that subsection if—

(a) being a mare, it is in his opinion heavy in foal, showing fullness of udder or too old to travel; or

(b) being a foal, it is in his opinion too young to travel.

42 Restriction on export of registered ponies. E+W+S

It is an offence against this Act to ship or attempt to ship a registered pony in any vessel or aircraft from any port or aerodrome in Great Britain to any port or aerodrome outside the British Islands unless there has first been obtained from the secretary of a society in whose stud book the pony is registered a certificate (“the export certificate”) that the pony is registered with that society.

For the purposes of this section the expression “registered pony” means a pony registered in—

(a) the Arab Horse Society Stud Book,

(b) the National Pony Society Stud Book,

(c) the British Palomino Society Stud Book, or

(d) the British Spotted Horse and Pony Society Stud Book, or in the stud book of any of the following native breed societies, namely, English Connemara, Dales, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Fell, Highland, New Forest, Shetland and Welsh.

43 Regulation of export of ponies. E+W+S

The Ministers shall by order make such provision as they think necessary or expedient for the following purposes—

(a) for prohibiting the export of ponies by sea or air from any place in Great Britain to any place outside the British Islands unless such ponies are rested immediately before being loaded in the vessel or aircraft in which they are to be carried;

(b) for regulating and prescribing the premises at which and the periods during which ponies are to be so rested;

(c) for prescribing and regulating the cleansing and supervision of such premises and the provision at them of clean and sufficient bedding and adequate supplies of fodder and water.