"The exemption in The Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007 provides for hot branding to be allowed for the purposes of identification. In practice this means for semi-feral moorland ponies that are specifically exempt from the passport arrangements. However, once such ponies are moved off the moor, they must be subject to the passport arrangements.
I can confirm that domestic ponies should not be hot branded because they are subject to the passport arrangements and therefore do not need to be hot branded. The Exmoor Pony Society has indicated that they have ceased using multiple hot brands. The Society now uses a unique visual mark of a maximum of four characters, applied by a single brand, to identify the herd and individual ponies within a herd".
It’s great to have the clarification from Defra regarding the ponies coming off the moorland…it’s not the full ban we want but it will certainly make a big difference to a lot of domestic Exmoor ponies this year! This will also mean that warmblood breeds can no longer be hot branded in England.
For now, Scotland and Northern Ireland lead the way in having already establishing full bans on the practice of hot branding equines. England will eventually follow...
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