Registration and Overstamp
The Welsh Pony and Cob Society is a UK Approved Passport Issuing Organisation, Number 826046.
The Society can register all Welsh Breeds equines including their Part-Breds that are born, or are permanent residents in the U.K., subject to their eligibility for registration with the Society.
The Society has a comprehensive document outlining all rules relating to passporting equines with us. All applicants should first familiarise themselves with these rules before submitting any application to the Society. The document is available under the Passport Services section of the 'Downloads' page on our website. By submitting a passport service application to the Society, you are agreeing to abide by these rules at all stages. Registration of equines is highly regulated in the U.K. and the Society must follow these strict guidelines imposed by the U.K. and Welsh Governments. It is a legal requirement for all equines in the U.K. to be microchipped and passported.
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Providing the application is received correctly completed (in line with the Society's rules of registration), then the turnaround time is 15 working days. If an application is returned due to errors, this 15 working days turnaround will start again from the point of correct re-submission to the Society Office.
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For a full list of prices, please visit the main Passport Services page and follow the link to the Price List.
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The Society strongly recommends that all applications/documents/passports are sent by Signed For, Tracked, or Special Delivery and that customers pay the Society the same for the return of the completed passport(s). Alternatively, customers may include a pre-paid, self-addressed envelope for the return of the completed passport(s).
By sending the application via recorded delivery, customers can track the package and ensure it has been delivered to the Society Office safely. Alternatively, customers can include a stamped addressed postcard which will be returned to confirm receipt of the package. The Society cannot answer calls asking whether a passport or application has been received; so please do not call. By sending the package via recorded delivery, receipt can be verified by inputting the tracking number to the Royal Mail Track & Trace website.
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Guidelines to Register with the Society
Guidance for registration services can be found below. Please also familiarise yourself with the Rules of Registration and Passporting before submitting an application.
To register a Pure or Part-Bred animal with the Society, a fully completed current Society registration application form should be completed by the breeder, with the animal being microchipped by a qualified veterinary surgeon and the silhouette and description as a whole confirmed and signed off by the veterinary surgeon.
A £10 administration fee will be applied to forms containing three or more errors, which much be paid upon the resubmission of the form to the Office. An administration fee will also be applied to any registration form received in the office where that animal has not been microchipped by a vet, or where the microchip number has not been recorded on the form, prior to submission of that form into the office. If an administration fee is required for incorrect or incomplete submission, then the registration will not be processed until the administration fee has been paid.
The details of the sire and the dam must be clearly supplied on the registration form. The Welsh Pony and Cob Society cannot register animals with no known breeding. In cases where there is an animal with no known breeding, the Society can offer an EquiPassports ID-only passport via EquiCymru.
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In order to record a person(s) as breeder of an animal, the Welsh Pony and Cob Society requires that person(s) to be recorded as the owner of the dam at the time of foaling or recorded as having the dam on lease/loan at the time of foaling. Ownership records must be kept up to date, otherwise the offspring cannot be registered.
If the covering stallion is owned by the breeder, then the ‘service certificate’ part of the registration application form must be signed by the breeder, or they must supply a separate covering certificate. If the breeder of the foal is different from the owner of the stallion at the time of covering, then a signed and dated service certificate is required to confirm the covering or the ‘service certificate’ part of the registration application form must be signed and dated by the owner of the covering stallion. In any case, the owner of the stallion at the time of covering must sign either the section on the form or a separate service certificate which must accompany the registration form.
All registration passports are issued to the breeder by default, as a foal should not leave the premises of the breeder unless accompanied by its passport.
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The Welsh Pony and Cob Society requires late applications for Pure Bred colts and fillies, and Part-Bred colts and fillies with more than 75% Welsh breeding received after 1st of January in their yearling year to have a full DNA parentage report, confirming that both the sire and dam are correct, before registering the animal. This will also incur a late entry fee. DNA testing kits can be obtained from the Welsh Pony and Cob Society office.
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If the foal is the first Pure Bred registered offspring from a mare, then the Welsh Pony and Cob Society requires a DNA profile for the dam to be held on file. Without this, the application for the foal will not be completed.
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All Welsh Breeds foals must be registered on or before the 30th of November of the year of foaling. Applications that have been received after this time will be classed as late and will incur additional costs. This is a Welsh Government set deadline.
Overstamp of a Breed Society Passport
If an animal eligible for registration with the Society already holds a passport from a different Passport Issuing Office (PIO) and is resident in the UK with the full breeding details printed inside, it is possible for the Welsh Pony and Cob Society to overstamp the passport with the WPCS registration number.
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Please note that an ‘application for overstamp form’ is required in order to overstamp passports. Incomplete or incorrect applications received will be rejected and returned to the sender to enable corrections to be made. The original passport must be sent to the Society along with the application for overstamp form, so the Society registration number can be recorded in the passport.
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The ownership records MUST be up to date with the Passport Issuing Office that produced the passport in the case of overstamping. The Society cannot overstamp the animal if the ownership is not up to date with the issuing PIO. When an animal that is overstamped with the Society is sold, a transfer of ownership must be made with the PIO that produced the passport in the first instance, but also must be made with the Welsh Pony and Cob Society, to enable the Society to update our records. The passport does not need to be sent to the Society in this case, but the fee is required and a copy of the transfer of ownership pages within the passport showing the new owners name, address, and the PIO’s Society Official Stamp. This can be supplied as a scan/photo and emailed to the Welsh Pony and Cob Society. In the case of an animal that is passported with another PIO, that has been submitted for overstamping with the Welsh Pony and Cob Society, where this animal has a parent(s) either registered, or overstamped with the Welsh Pony and Cob Society, we will require the ownership of that sire or dam to be up to date with the Society before processing the overstamp for the animal, as we would for a normal first-passport registration.
Welsh Part-Bred Studbook
The WPCS is pleased to announce, after lengthy negotiation and discussions, that our application for official recognition of a Welsh Part Bred breeding program (the Welsh Part-Bred Studbook), 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 Welsh Part-Bred registrations under the following format, as accepted and approved by the Welsh Government.
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Breed information
The Welsh Part-Bred is an equine that has evolved and developed over the years gathering huge popularity along the way, inheriting the characteristics of their Welsh ancestors, that includes a strong constitution, good bone, courage, free movement, activity and placid temperament. The Welsh Part-Bred has proved itself to be suitable for any discipline, given the wide and varied type across the breed that is introduced by crossing any four of the Welsh Sections with a myriad of other World Breeds. When breeding a Welsh Part-Bred, breeders should be mindful of its Welsh Pony and Cob ancestry and therefore it must retain the pony character contained in the other four Welsh pure breed sections, whilst also being able to fulfil a wide range of tasks. Conformation should remain an important focus as the animal will not be able to perform at its best with poor conformational features.
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History
1951 saw the first opening for Welsh Part-Bred animals to be recognised in the Welsh Stud Book. The Welsh Part-Bred section initially only accepted animals with 50% Welsh blood and up to a maximum height of 13.2hh. Following two crosses on the top line (P>P1>P2) the resultant foal, similar to the Foundation Stock register, allowed the offspring after this generation to be registered into the stud book with full registration. At the same time, a Welsh Riding Pony Stud Book was also established, although this closed shortly after due to insufficient uptake and few registrations. By 1960, the minimum Welsh percentage had been reduced to 25% and the upper height limit removed for the Welsh Part-Bred, and by 1997, eligible animals required a minimum of 12.5% Welsh blood.
Riding Ponies, Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Warmbloods, other Native U.K. breeds and many more have all been crossed with Welsh Ponies and Cobs to create suitable and diverse animals for activities such as harness driving, eventing, show jumping, cross country, hunting, showing, mounted games, all the way up to National and International Level and the small Part-Breds have shown their worth, time and time again as being dependable mounts for some of the smallest and youngest jockeys, starting out on the Lead Rein and progressing on to First Ridden.
The register has endured a long and developing history since its inception. It must be remembered that this breed has had a long and loyal following of breeders, exhibitors and enthusiasts as well as those who enjoy Welsh Part-Bred equines for equestrian leisure over the last 70+ years and therefore it is the aim of this new studbook to continue this existing success whilst further enhancing the breed of Welsh Part-Bred equines which have now firmly established themselves as a well-recognised choice of equine the world over.
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Objectives
(i) To encourage the breeding and improvement of horses and ponies more especially those of the Welsh Part-Bred breeding, maintaining the characteristics of the Welsh Breeds.
(ii) To advance public education in all districts and counties in the various arts and sciences connected with the use and management of horses and ponies in general and in particular Welsh Part-Breds.
(iii) To provide or assist in the provision for the public benefit, of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation, through the use of horses and ponies, but confined to facilities provided in the interests of social welfare within the meaning and so as to satisfy the requirements of the Recreational Charities Act 1958.
(iv) To prevent cruelty to and promote the welfare of horses and ponies.
The Welsh part bred has been an equine that has developed in popularity over the years. Inheriting the characteristics of their Welsh ancestors, with the best inheriting the strong constitution, good bone, courage, free movement, activity and placid temperament: the Welsh Part-Bred has proved itself to be suitable for any discipline. The Welsh Part Bred should still portray the characteristics of any four of the Welsh breed sections.
In order to create an identity/profile and achieve the aims above, the Main Studbook will require at least 75% Welsh blood to be eligible for entry, meaning that those Welsh characteristics and attributed are predominantly able to be present.
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The Studbook
a) Main Studbook for equines with 75% or more verified Welsh blood.
To be eligible for the main studbook, the sire and dam must both be registered in either
- The Welsh Pony and Cob Society Studbook (or the new Welsh Part-Bred Studbook)
- The British Riding Pony Studbook or Register
- The main section of one of the other U.K. Mountain and Moorland Studbooks
- The General Studbook
- The Arab or Anglo Arab Studbooks
- The Traditional Gypsy Cob Association Studbook
- The Coloured Horse and Pony Studbook
- Any other equine Studbook Society recognised in the UK
- Any comparable equine Studbook Society based overseas complying with Zootechnical regulations.
And the equine must contain the required minimum 75% Welsh Breeding.
These equines can be issued with Zootechnical passports, in line with regulations (EU) 2016/1012 providing that both parents are added into the Welsh Part-Bred Studbook: those that are not already passported with the Welsh Pony & Cob Society or Welsh Part-Bred Studbook will be added (over stamped) under a section of the Studbook for breeds other than Welsh. To enter these animals, a copy of their Zootechnical Certificate MUST be provided by the breeder/owner or primary registering studbook, along with full verified pedigree details.
Alongside this we would also need verification of the covering from the stallion owner in the form of a service certificate, A.I. documentation or similar acceptable document. Stallions used must be correctly licenced/approved for breeding either with the Welsh Pony & Cob Society or Welsh Part-Bred Studbook, or another recognised Studbook Society, and if not licenced with the WPCS or WPBS then this information must also be provided alongside the confirmation of covering and Zootechnical certificate.
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 information.
Any applications for animals for the Main Section of the Studbook received after the 1st of January of the yearling year for colts/fillies will require late entry parentage testing.
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b) Supplementary Section of the Studbook with less than 75% Welsh blood but no less than 25%.
Equines with less than 75% Welsh blood but 25% or more, will be eligible for the Supplementary Section of the studbook. This will allow for future progeny to be graded up into the main studbook once they meet the desired criteria for entry, through crossing with Welsh equines to reach the 75% or more Welsh blood entry requirements. This can be achieved in one or more generations via crossing.
The Supplementary Section of the studbook is maintained outside of Zootechnical regulations. The Welsh Part-Bred Studbook will require the sire and dam information to be provided for registration. Any sire/dam not already in the Welsh or Welsh Part-Bred Studbook will be overstamped into a register for breeds other than Welsh. Any equine with a sire or dam recorded as unknown is not eligible for entry. Both sire and dam must be known.
An equine entered into the Supplementary Section of the studbook be issued with a passport (minus the zootechnical information) but including the pedigree in the non-statutory pages of the passport. 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 resultant foal could be eligible for registration into the main Stud Book. If not, they would again be registered in the supplementary section until there was such progeny that is eligible.
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c) Ponies with 12.5% Welsh blood and no more than 25%.
Equines that carry less than 25% Welsh blood but no less than 12.5% will only be eligible to apply for overstamping; only for the purpose of competing. They will not be eligible for entry into the studbook.
They would not be issued a registered passport, but would purely form a register of equines overstamped for the purposes of showing and competing as Welsh Part-Bred equines. 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.
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Further Information
Those who have passported their WPBR equines on an EquiPassport ID-only passport as a temporary measure during the hiatus in the Society issuing passports for Welsh Part-Bred equines may be able to contact the office to request that this passport is cancelled and a Welsh Part-Bred Studbook registered passport issued for the equine instead. Breeders of Welsh Part-Bred equines with verified breeding on both sides may now be able to return their EquiPassport to the WPCS office (recorded delivery is recommended) and we will check eligibility for the Welsh Part-Bred Studbook, and if the equine is entitled to entry, exchange this for a WPCS passport free of charge. Exclusions apply and each application will be checked on a case-by-case basis.
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.
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Overseas Registration Documents
The Welsh Pony & Cob Society Overseas Registration Document. This is available to breeders of Welsh and Welsh Part-bred equines from within the EU. Please follow the link here to the International Page for more information.
Please go to the Passport Services Download page - option 15 to download the application form.
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Section 'X'
Section X was created for animals of known parentage, who fall outside of the standard rules of the Welsh Pony and Cob Society for registration in the Pure and Part-Bred register in that their sire was not a licenced stallion, or in the case of Pure Bred animals, if they exhibit too much white on the body.
Animals registered in Section X are not eligible for entry in official Society sales and are not eligible for participation in Mountain and Moorland showing classes or for the award of Welsh Pony and Cob Society medals.
Animals registered in Section X that are not of solid colour, from correctly registered and licenced parents, can be bred from and their offspring entered into the main Stud Book if they are of solid colour. The offspring must be DNA parentage verified. These applications will be discussed by Council and, if accepted, the offspring will be registered in the main Stud Book. In essence, the breeder, choosing to breed from a Section X animal, does so at their own risk.