WPBR Update

The WPCS is pleased to announce, after lengthy negotiation and discussions, that our application for official recognition of a Welsh Part Bred breeding program, under the regulations (EU) 2016/1012, has been officially recognised and accepted by the Welsh Government.

This will mean that the Society is now able to resume with WPBR registrations under the following format, as accepted and approved by the Welsh Government.

a) Main Studbook would be for equines with 75% or more verified Welsh blood.

These equines can be issued with zootechnical passports, providing that both parents are added into our Stud Book: those that are not Welsh will be added (over stamped) under a section of the Stud Book for breeds other than Welsh. To enter these other breeds, we would require section 5 of the passport to be provided by the breeder/owner and full pedigree details.

Alongside this we would also need verification of the covering from the stallion owner in the form of a service certificate, AI documentation etc. This will then allow the inclusion of the other breed(s) into our database and thus the resultant foal progeny will be eligible for the main section of our Stud Book and issued with a full Welsh Part-Bred passport with zootechnical papers.

b) Supplementary Section of the Studbook with less than 75% Welsh blood but no less than 25%.

The same process as above would be followed with regards to obtaining details of the parents and verifying parentage, but they would then be entered into a supplementary section of the Stud Book. A passport would also be issued including the known pedigree in the non-statutory pages and a passport (minus the zootechnical information). This equine would be considered a Welsh Part-Bred by the Society and as such would still be eligible for competitions. If this animal was then to go on and breed and the steps in the previous point (Main Section Studbook) could be met, the foal could then be eligible for registration/upgrade into the main Stud Book. If not, they would again be registered in the supplementary section until there was such progeny that would be eligible.

c) Ponies with 12.5% Welsh blood and no more than 25% would be eligible only for ‘overstamp’ by the Society for the purpose of competing in affiliated classes. They would not be issued a registered passport, nor would they be eligible for inclusion in the studbook, they would purely form a register of equines over stamped for the purposes of showing and competing. This register will enable us to verify a Welsh connection to award society rosettes and medals where applicable. These equines may go on to be a parent for a future Welsh Part Bred in the supplementary section providing the relevant criteria is met.

Those who have passported their WPBR equines on an EquiPassport as a temporary measure, with verified breeding on both sides, can now return their EquiPassport to the WPCS office (recorded delivery is recommended) and we will exchange this for a WPCS passport free of charge.

As you will appreciate, this is our busiest time of year and we will also now have a backlog of WPBR registrations to process. These will be completed as soon as possible, but we ask you to please bear with us while this task is being carried out. We would like to thank all our Welsh Part-Bred breeders for their patience whilst we have navigated this complicated application process, to be able offer a WPBR passport specific breeding program.

Over the coming days our website will be updated with the relevant rules of registration for part bred stock.