The Licensing of Horses in New Hampshire

[chestnutmare]

http://www.nhliberty.org/bills/view?bill=HB427&year=2009

If this passes we all will be required to license our horses?!? :(:mad:

Equine Licenses

435:42 Procuring License. Every owner or keeper of an equine as defined by RSA 436:93 4 months old or over shall annually, cause it to be registered, numbered, described, and licensed for one year in the office of the clerk of the city or town in which the equine is kept. The license shall be furnished by the clerk at the expense of the city or town. Regardless of when the license is obtained, the license shall be effective from May 1 of each year to April 30 of the subsequent year.

435:43 Vaccination Required. Before a license is issued under the provisions of this subdivision, the owner or keeper of an equine shall furnish to the clerk verification from a licensed veterinarian that the equine has been vaccinated against rabies

435:44 Part of Year. An owner of an equine may at any time have it licensed until the ensuing May 1 and a person becoming the owner or keeper of an equine not duly licensed after May 1 shall cause it to be registered, and licensed as provided in RSA 435:42.

435:45 Transfer. A license duly recorded shall be valid in any part of the state, and may be transferred with the equine licensed.

II. With the owner’s consent, a veterinarian may report the euthanizing or death during treatment of a licensed equine to the town or city clerk in order to have the record reflect that the equine was euthanized or died. A veterinarian providing such a report may also provide the town or city clerk with the mailing and street addresses of the owner of the equine. Written reports, if any, shall be destroyed after receipt by the town or city clerk, and any resulting record reflecting the equine’s death shall not specify the manner or cause of death.

[Ed Thayer]

I recieved the same e-mail this morning.

When will it stop? Next they will want to tax our scoots and equipment……:mad:

[dominiquer60]

Fight it tooth and nail, I won’t even license my dog, they don’t need to bother with our lives that much. If they want to deal with unwanted horses, they should do it without putting a burden on the wanted ones. Of course you could switch to working and riding cattle 🙂 Just thought I would bring a little humor to a subject that always makes me want to cry. In NY you have the option of getting a Photo ID card for a coggins test. It has a photo of your horse on it and can be used anywhere you would have to show your coggins. The only set back is that by choosing this option over the standard piece of paper, you automatically get registered with NYS as a livestock operation and get put into the NY Animal ID program and they may even “volunteer” your info to the USDA too. I can picture NY wanting a horse tax too especially once they make their fancy coggins ID card mandatory.

[chestnutmare]

There is a hearing on Tuesday, 01/27 at 01:45 PM in the LOB (legislative office building behind the state house) in room 303. There is a contingency of horse people who plan to attend this hearing with some hoping for opportunity to testify against the bill.

It would be wise to contact your representatives regarding this issue and urge them to vote in opposition to the bill.

There is another site where horse people are actively making plans to fight this bill. You can find more information here:

http://discus.equinesite.net/discus/messages/5/17167.html?1232852200

Thank you for any efforts you make to secure and preserve whatever freedoms we have left.

The Chestnut Mare

[gunslinger598]

The government is coming at us from every conceivable angle to regulate us to death.

Fight it, refuse it stand your ground.

[manesntails]

So then are you supposed to attach a tag to your horse’s “collar” too?

Is this not just a way to try to increase State revenues? Sounds foolish to me.
I’ve never licensed a dog or anything else that eats in my life nor will I ever and have never gotten fined or even had it mentioned to me so, if it passes just don’t comply.
What will they do? Confiscate your horses?:D

[dominiquer60]

I would not put it past them to have a hidden agenda like animal Id and a little extra for the general fund. An excuse like “dealing with unwanted horses” is just candy coating it for the majority of the population that has their eyes closed to agriculture and need a “feel good” reason to support it, or at least to not rally against it. I see no use for this legislation, the money taken in will barely be enough to enforce it let alone help unwanted horses. They should bring back Horse Slaughter and make it and transportation more humane, I am sure that Temple Gradin would be up to the task.

Erika

[chestnutmare]

I do not have enough information at this time to know why or how this bill came about. Rep. Skinder, (curiously also a horse owner) was the prime sponsor for the bill with Rep. Spaulding, Hills 18 Rep. Parkhurst, Ches 4, Sen. Roberge, Dist 9, and Sen. Cilley, Dist 6, cosponsoring the bill. The Dept. of Agriculture claims they were not notified of the proposed bill until Friday afternoon. Same with the NH Horse Council. It appears to have taken many by surprise. That is how lots of legislation gets passed. Often it is put through as a piggyback with some other legislation and then surprise, surprise, we are faced with another law. We should not be surprised that some bad legislation is passed surreptitiously with the net consequences being an additional cost, and loss of freedom.

I do not know but have a sneaking suspicion that this proposed bill has NAIS in the wings.

So with less money in our pockets, license plates on our horse’s tails and microchips in their ears, Uncle Sam will have on record all sorts of information about you and your horse and then have the gall to require a death certificate for your horse signed by a state licensed veterinarian.

[becorson]

i say “fight it” too. it sounds like creeping NAIS to me, as well.
as a veterinarian, it is my professional opinion that we already have the knowledge of how to manage livestock and we already have adequate laws and regulations in place to keep limit/ prevent disease. we don’t need another layer of regulation, especially since the new layer of laws will require a new layer of government employees to record and manage all the (useless) data.
government and regulations are supposed to exist for the benefit of society but it sure seems like tail’s wagging the dog.

[jen judkins]

Chestnut mare, I posted a rebttal that I sent to several state reps and senators last week. You are welcome to share it. It is in the ‘off topic’ section under NH House bill 427. Are you going to attend the hearing?

[LStone]

I did my fair share of emailing members of the house re. this bill this weekend. I am interested in fighting this bill hard. In my opinion there is no reason for this degree of difficulty in animal ownership; and to involve state regulation is just insane. do they not have anything important to tend to? If they get away with this one, next will probably be cattle if they determine the vaccine to be safe for meat and milk. Of course knowing nothin about raising cattle you may already be vaccinnating them. Can anyone tell me how many cases of equine rabies there has been in NH? I asked each sponsor of the bill that specific question and nobody has answered my question. Money grab? Yes.

BTW I have tomorrow off and will be attending the hearing. If for nothing but to observe “stupid” in its natural environment.

[LStone]

I did my fair share of emailing members of the house re. this bill this weekend. I am interested in fighting this bill hard. In my opinion there is no reason for this degree of difficulty in animal ownership; and to involve state regulation is just insane. do they not have anything important to tend to? If they get away with this one, next will probably be cattle if they determine the vaccine to be safe for meat and milk. Of course knowing nothin about raising cattle you may already be vaccinnating them. Can anyone tell me how many cases of equine rabies there has been in NH? I asked each sponsor of the bill that specific question and nobody has answered my question. Money grab? Yes.

BTW I have tomorrow off and will be attending the hearing. If for nothing but to observe “stupid” in its natural environment.

[dominiquer60]

NY requires that horses (and all other livestock) traveling to shows and fairs have proof of rabies vaccination. In the past during the great rabies epidemics there have been cases of horses with rabies, however it is rare today given the effectiveness of our anti rabies efforts. I can see wanting proof of vaccination to show, though it is less important than in the 1980s and 1990s, however this license thing has got to be stopped. Lumping these things all together makes too many layers to deal with. If you had to comprimise, I would say let them require proof of rabies vac to show, and that is it, the precedent has already been set in other states and it seems the least harmful to people making a living with horses. I was looking at the NH Dept of Agriculture animal division and all it was was a list of licenses, not much else, sad really, I know NH prides its self on no income taxes, but you need a license to do anything and that comes at a price I assume. This really makes me think that the motto should be “Live income tax free (tax everything else that moves) or die”.
Erika

[chestnutmare]

Thank you Jenjudkins, I don’t think I can get to the hearing because of work. Some people at another horse site estimate a turnout of about 250. I would like to see at least that in order to effectively fight it. Are you going?

[Ed Thayer]

My wife and I attended the NH Draft and Pony association get together yesterday in Barnstead and most said that we have a pretty good chance of stomping this Bill in Committee before it gets to a house vote. I have written my reps and voiced my opposition to this. Lets hope it is defeated.

Ed

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