Today the horses got microchipped, part of our emergency preparedness plan. This is a good idea for all your companion animals and involves implanting a readable device under the skin which can be scanned for identification purposes in the event of separation during a disaster, or theft.

Once chipped, you will get a bar code label with the chip number on it–you will probably get several copies. One should go in the horse’s permanent file, one can be used to make a horse “passport” for the barn or to take traveling, and another can be put in your emergency evacuation kit.

There are various organizations which will register the chip number. Unfortunately, there is no “one” central database. Building a local database would be a good suggestion for your county’s emergency services unit!

The largest independent registration for equine microchips appears to be the Equine Protection Registry through Microchip ID Equine. You can register your horse’s microchip at this site for a fee of $19.50.  I can also register that microchip with the same registry that has my cat’s info, so if you already have a microchipped pet, check with that registry. It’s convenient to have all that info in the same place! The cat’s registry is Petlink. There is a fee of $19.99, which seems to be standard.

The microchips give us a bit more peace of mind about our horses’ safety. The only horse who did not get a chip is my Thoroughbred, Dublin, who has a legible lip tattoo through the Jockey Club. If your horse has a tattoo, you may not need a microchip–but be sure that the tattoo is legible and your horse will allow someone to look at it! And that you are the registered owner of the horse.