Page 28 - Summer 2020

Digital technology has changed almost every aspect of our society: the way we shop, communicate, travel, and do business. That same trend to the digital has come to the horse industry with the practice of microchips replac- ing tattoos and branding as other means of identification.
In early 2019, the American Quarter Horse Association initiated a pilot project to educate members on the value and importance of microchipping—also known as digital tattoos. Some sanctioning bodies are now requiring microchipping, and Dr. Tom Lenz thinks that trend will continue.
“I would expect in time it’ll spread across the country and across the horse association— all breeds,” said Lenz, who chairs the AQHA’s 11-member microchip task force.
WHAT IS MICROCHIPPING?
The process entails surgically implanting
a microchip into the neck of a horse using a syringe. These microchips are small—about the size of a grain of rice—and each has a unique 15-digit numerical code assigned to that horse. Once placed, that microchip can be scanned and will provide automatic access to electronic registration information on that horse.
Lenz elaborated on microchipping, its benefits, and other aspects of the trend to digital tattoos.
“I think a lot of people already have been microchipping their horses,” he said, noting there had been resistance from some in the ranching industry. “Some of them raise a lot of horses and
they were concerned about cost. I think we’ve negotiated a pretty good price for the microchip. Slowly, but surely, I think we’re getting a buy-in from all segments of the horse industry.”
THE ADVANTAGES OF MICROCHIPPING
For Lenz, instilling consumer confidence is the biggest benefit of using a digital tattoo to identify a horse.
“You know that horse is that horse,” he said. “There’s no way to falsify records or use another horse’s health certificate papers or another horse that looks like it. It can’t be changed. It can’t be altered. It’s there.”
Specifically, microchipping a horse prevents one horse from being mistaken—or, in a worst- case scenario, passed off by a disingenuous individual—for another horse of similar size, color or markings.
Convenience is another significant advan- tage of microchipping a horse.
“You can tie your computer system and your horse’s records to that microchip,” Lenz noted. “The horse enters the show grounds or the track or the training facility, you scan that horse, you can Bluetooth that information to your computer. Now when you check a horse in, especially at a horse show, they have to look at the horse’s papers, they have to look at the horse, tell them what stall to put it in and all that. With a microchip, you can just scan its neck and that information comes up automatically based on its chip number. You eliminate a lot of paperwork and time.”
There are also health and welfare benefits to using a digital tattoo. Those are two issues that
are near and dear to the heart of Lenz, who recently retired after more than three decades as an equine veterinarian. A former presi-
dent of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), he also is a former chair- man of the AAEP Welfare Committee and still serves on the AQHA Welfare Committee.
“If there’s a disease outbreak and you’re scanning the horses when they come in or off the track or in and out of the training facility, then you’ll know exactly which horses are on the grounds and exactly which horses were there,” he said.
Lenz also noted the potential risk of infection or transmission of disease with lip tattoos—in addition to them often being painful for the horse. He observed that lip tattoos also often fade with time and become more difficult to read.
MICROCHIPPING IS HERE TO STAY
The use of digital tattoos isn’t some new or a sudden trend. Louisiana has required microchips for the past quarter-century, which proved very helpful following the hurricanes in 2005 that displaced hundreds of horses. The California Horse Racing Board also requires mandatory microchips for any racehorse, regardless of breed. As of January 1, 2020, the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau now mandates digital tattoos, citing a standing measure from the Jockey Club mandating horses to be micro- chipped as part of that registration process.
As Lenz noted, one would expect that microchipping soon will be required across the Quarter Horse world as well.
EQUINE
MICROCHIPPING
aka Digital Tattoos by John Moorehouse
26 New Mexico Horse Breeder