State to State travel - 6 month health certificate

[Beth Worden]

I just received this from a riding club I belong to and thought it might be of interest to some of you folks in the participating states...

Equine “Passport” Instituted In Ten Southern States

We recently received word of the creation of a new
program to make it easier to move horses throughout
southern states. Currently most states, including New
York, require horses entering the state to have a current
health certificate (Certificate of Veterinary Inspection) and
a current Coggins test. These certificates are only valid for
30 days. If you and your horse travel a lot, that can get
expensive!
Under the new program, a horse owner may request an
interstate movement permit or “passport” that is valid for
six months and is recognized by all the participating states.
Current participating states are: Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia. Kentucky
and Virginia indicated they plan to join the program in the
future.
Applications must be submitted through a veterinarian,
along with a copy of an original health certificate, a current
Coggins test and a recognized form of animal identification
(lip tattoo, brand, microchip or digital photograph (front
and both sides). Horse owners must also maintain an
itinerary listing events in which the horse participates.
This is a voluntary program and the states do not charge
for the permit. If you plan to take your horse to one of the
participating states, it would cost you no more than the vet
fees you would pay to get the required (30-day) health
certificate, and could save you a lot of money, if you travel
for more than thirty days or go more than once.
One of the FAQs states, “This program recognizes the
higher health status provided by many horse owners that
participate in trail rides, fairs and exhibitions...In
recognition, relaxing the health certificate decreases the
economic impact to the horse owner. In turn, regulatory
authorities obtain more accurate identification for the
individual animal for which the passport is issued.”
For a complete description of the program, a downloadable
copy of the passport application and passport itinerary, as
well as FAQs and the list of additional requirements some
states impose, go to the State of Tennessee Dept. of
Agriculture website at
http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/regulate/animals/passport.html

[Terri]

Wait a minute. Are you saying that if I take my horse out of state, say to Barb's NY ride, or if I want to ride in RI parks, I need a coggins that is 30 days current???? or just the health cert that is 30days current (like I had that either). We've been know to run down to Rhode Island on a Saturday for a ride. Were we in violation of a law for crossing a state border without a health certificate or a coggins that was only current within 6 mos?

[Barbwire]

Holy smokes, I truck and ride to MA and VT all the time. Never thought I needed a health certificate, just a coggins.

[Fuego]

I like the sounds of that! Thanks for posting this info Beth. I think your post needs a sticky or what ever they do to keep specific threads easy to find. Could be updated as, hopefully, more states join.

As someone that has hauled interstate extensively, I very much welcome this. No objections to the annual Coggins. But when I have to pay $40.farm call ( $18 for office visit), plus the $21 for the health certificate everytime I want to haul across a state line.... especially when the health exam consists of little more then the vet using a stethescope to ensure the horse standing there has a functioning heart and set of lungs, looks for any discharge from the nose and eyes, and signs the certificate!

Chino hauled 5000 miles in the first two years I had him( I quit counting after that). It ticks me off everytime I have to pay for one of those health certificates. Maybe I wouldn't mind paying each time if I was paying for a legitemate service or some type of actual testing.

[SandyMM]

I have been using these 'passports' for the past couple of 'rounds' - saved us a lot of vet farm visits and health certificate charges! The vet sends in the original Coggins papers and the state sends back the Coggins and individual passports - for free - but allow 10 days minimum to get them back!

Florida checks for a health certificate and a current (12 month) Coggins entering and leaving the state at their Agriculture Stations which are located just inside the sate lines on the interstate and on virtually all other roads entering and leaving the state. Don't feel like stopping? The fine is $165 for blowing past the check station - and the people who work there are just delighted to have their boring job spiced up a little by writing out the occasional ticket! ;-)

GA, NC, SC, and TN have no actual ag stations set up along the interstates - that I know of - but I have been stopped by state ag agents who wanted to see the paperwork for the horses I had brought across statelines. My neighbors were stopped and had a horse they had just bought in an auction in Tennessee confiscated for quarantine when they brought her across the GA stateline because they had no current Coggins on her.

I always take current (12 month) Coggins and a health certificate with me any time I cross statelines.

[Serendipity]

when we bought Calco (our Colt) and were bringing him home had the coggins but not health paper because it was a impulse buy I got pulled over at the GA border to paper check just because he saw a horse in the trailer.He let us go because I had a coggins and was passing through but got a letter in the mail stating if caught again there would be a heavy fine.not what I wanted to see after just getting a horse for x-mas

I have freind in MS that we'd like to ride and we're only 30min apart but cant because its to hard to keep a current health cert.I only get them when going out of state shows to to take horse to our trainer in FL

[Terri]

:shock: Wow, now how is a backyard horseman such as myself supposed to know all about this 30 day health certificate of which you speak, just cause I get it into my head to ride in a Rhode Island Park? I've always assumed, because it is what some other backyard horsemen told me, if I have a current coggins (1 year) I was good to go.

[SandyMM]

Check with your vet...

[ErinC]

I travel to VT all the time, and I take my COggins, and last vet check that shows my shots.

I have to say I have NEVER gotten pulled over and I go up about every other month, for the last 5 years.
LOTS of times I forget to bring my stuff with me, last time I went up I did not even have my new sticker on my plate for my registration.
or the registration with me it was sitting on my kitchen table.

I will ad a disclaimer to this:
I take all back roads, not highway.
not sure why that would matter.

:-?

[Terri]

We make quite a pair don't we Erin. Can't you see US getting pulled over? You would be mumbling something about your registration and you kitchen table, wil I sat in the passanger seat thinking "health certificate???, what health certificate?"
So who wants to drive to New England and bail the two of us and our horses out of Jail. Bet our Husbands would pretend not to know us.
You don't even have your sticker on your plate????

[ErinC]

I put it on this A.M. before I came to your house.

:roll:

I will continue to do what I am doing and plead ingnornat,

[Abejita]

I was always told to have a current (year) Coggins to haul period and a 30 day health cert to haul across state lines..for years and years and years

[ErinC]

I thought that was for a NEW horse, not a horse you are hauling all the time.
I have NEVER gotten a health cert, I carry my last farm call bill that shows what they were here for, and the coggins.
Some states I did know and had a list printed , that require a coggins at 6 or 3 mths.
but that is all I ever heard??????

[ErinC]

http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/equine/eia/eia.htm

[ErinC]

http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/equine/eia/eia.htm

[SandyMM]

I started showing 35 years ago and we have always had health certs if crossing state lines... haven't always been checked, but I'd rather have a health certificate because I don't always know what the laws are in all the state lines I've crossed...

Definitely check with your vet....

[motorgypsy]

Coggins has always been yearly in the Southeast. Word of warning. Florida will chase you down if you don't stop. We were hauling an empty trailer to pick up a horse and got chased. We didn't know we had to stop. We also didn't have the tag on the trailer because the goats pull it off all the time. We keep it in the tack area but luckily we told him SC doesn't even require a tag on any trailer. But he did tell us to be sure to stop whether loaded or not. Many vets will charge just $10 or an update health certificate after they've seen the horse. I think they do it for about six months. We've always had to have the Coggins and health certificate to cross state lines in the southeast.

[Buffy111_99]

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/sregs/

[ErinC]

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/area_offices.htm

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/import_export.htm

[ErinC]

I just read the states ( USDA) I cross through and go to, Mass is fine with once a year.
VT wants 30 days to import, but I am going to e-mail and ask more deatils. on the health cert.

NH , Still trying to figure out the web page,
this puts a damper on my life if I need a health cert every month
UGH! :evil:

[Beth Worden]

Ladies, ladies, ladies - you have ALWAYS had to have a 30 days health certificate and a coggins within the past year (not 30 days) for going out of state with horses - at least for the past 30-40 years. In NY State our coggins can be for 2 years, BUT I always get coggins on my horses every year because I ride out of state a lot. And, yes, it gets expensive. Hate to say it girls, but if you come to NYS and ride the trail systems there WILL be a DEC person to check your coggins AND you had best have your 30 days health certificate or the fine can be $500! This 6 month health certificate would be wonderful for me because if I get it into my head to go to PA or Maine, or whatever I could just go spur of the moment thing whereas, now I need to plan in advance to have vet out (or trailer to my vets) and get the vet check for the health cert paper. That is why it was so nice to hear this bit of news.

[Terri]

But wait a minute Beth. This program only looks like it is available in the 10 southern states listed. What about the NE?

[SandyMM]

Other states have similar programs in the works... great for us in the south, though... ;-)

[Terri]

Erin and I have made an executive decision to figure a way out of this. Here it is: if any of you Non Mass riders want to ride with us, you are welcome to come here. I have never seen anyone at the state forest asking for health certificates for out of state horses. We have never been pulled over and asked for a health cert. So it is safe here. This has all been news to us. I will talk to the vet about it, but Erin looked it up and discovered you are all right. We have balantly violated interstate commerce laws and are now repenting.
So come to MA, it is a beautiful state, you wont regret it.

[SQUEAKS]

I really do not understand the shock from horse owners regarding this program. The state of Florida and Georgia as well as several other southernn states have had it on their websites for over a year. We published a dozen pages on it in our newspaper over the past year.

Florida does have a PIN identification number they issue. (Premises Identification Number) This tells the state how many and what kind of animals are on your farm.

The Florida program also issues identification cards for I believe $15 so all you have to do is hand any inspection station officer the card and they run it thru a computer and it not only identifies the animal you have on board but has a photo as well.

I do know that Texas had put the program on hold until they could discuss it more but it is coming all over the USA you might as well get ready for it

I can see both the benefits and the downside of the program but overall it seems to be a well thought out program to help find stolen animals and horses.

Sure I don't like the Big Brother Watching Approach but if it finds one of my horses that may have been taken then I am for it.

JMHO
Bob

[ErinC]

just that they do not do that stuff up in our neck of the woods
( I travel often and have NEVER been pulled over or had to stop at a check point ) so it is NEW to us!!!
and we DO NOT get notice of it like you said you do!
and we do not go out of state ( ya me to VT ) often, so it NEVER came up!

[SandyMM]

We're talking two different things here... 1) Coggins/health certificates for traveling out of state and the current 6 month travel certificate honored over a 10-11 state area of southern states and 2) the National ID thing.

[Barbwire]

Hate to say it girls, but if you come to NYS and ride the trail systems there WILL be a DEC person to check your coggins AND you had best have your 30 days health certificate or the fine can be $500!

I have never seen or heard of any DEC folks bothering people that ride the state park trails near me. NEVER.

[cowboy ed]

when it comes to those papers, it is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. i have hauled horses from nebraska and ohio back home to florida and never had to present the papers to anyone. i had them, though. they dont call me sneaky ed for nuthin'.

[SandyMM]

How did you get by the Florid Ag stations - without a lot of pre-planning? The fine for skipping those stations is now $165!

[DebJ]

OK Question?? For those, like myself, here in PA--yes we need the coggins and health certificate, but where do we get the micro chip? Last year, asked our vet and she said they don't carry them, but would gladly put one in our horses if I bought one. Now, where do I get some? I would love to do this, but don't know where or what "brand" to get. Any ideas?
Thanks!!

[SQUEAKS]

Contact your own state's Department of Agriculture or Division of Animal Services or Animal Industry. All states now have information on their websites. HJere is Florida's

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/ai/

Here is the Pa. link that lists all state's agriculture agencies

http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/about/contact_your_state.shtml#pennsylvania

Bob

[Beth Worden]

As for NY State. We (NY Horse Council and other concerned horse groups) are working on getting this 6-month thing going. RIght now it is only the states listed, but other states are seeing the merit of having this done.

Barbara: Have you been to Otter Creek or Brookfield? Not often, but on occassion the DEC WILL come by and check coggins and if you are out of state, health certificates. If you do not have current coggins or health certificate you WILL be asked to leave and you WILL more than likely be fined. Don't delude yourself. I have been in camp and seen it happen. And you know what...I am glad they check because I go thru all the expense and all the care to make sure my animals are current and I don't want to tie up next to some guy that figures he just dosen't have to do these things. And don't think you can use another horse's coggins on one you bring...they check markings, sex, etc. I know someone who was doing than and I flipped her in. Here is someone breeding 10K horses and too darn cheap to run a coggins on each horse. BS

You have been to Lake Lusurne, yes? Didn't you get stopped at the gate and have your coggins and rabies checked? Well, if you were from out of state you would also need your 30 health certificate or you don't get in - and a phone call is made and you sit and wait for the ag folks to come and isn't that a nice way to spend vacation with the wifew and kiddies.

I hope PA and NY get into this along with Ohio, Mass, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, etc. I go to these places each summer and I could save a bunch of time and money if we get legislation on this.

[Beth Worden]

Barbara - you went to Cobleskill College for horse husbandry and they didn't cover this stuff????...OR were you out partying the night before this class was held? LOLOL

[jodiTowne]

Erin and Terry...you guys crack me up!! Does this mean if we go to Pa. together I better bring bail $$$$$!!??

Somehow I knew about the law, but not sure where from. You're right...how to keep up with all the laws and regulations???? I guess when you get a ticket you learn......

You 2 are coming to Barb's June ride aren't ya????

[Terri]

We are working on it jodi. We are having a few challanges.
1) this health certificate thing. I talked with someone who trailers alot with her horses and she says if we are going to NY she should definitely have it because NY is KNOWN to go looking for it. So maybe if we have our spring shots done in late May we can do the cert at the same time. I don't want to pay for a 2nd vet call. I have already put 2 of his kids through college
2) My hubby is starting a new job in March that may require travel and the weekend rubber chicken circuit thing. He says I can go places like PN and NY as long as it doesn't cause a problem with is $ making schedule. Somebody has to buy feed for my nags! We'll have a better idea of his schedule in the next month or two. I know he is going to Colorado in May
3) I am having minor trailer issues. Only one of my horses doesn't have a problem getting on and off my new trailer. But he isn't the one I want to bring. So I need to work on trailer training, particularly for a long trip.
4) it is Father's day weekend - guilt! I am going to pay for this.
5) Erin HAS to come because I am too much of a chicken to bring me and my horses out there by myself. But if we both go, we will bring at least 3 horses (maybe 4). You wanted one to ride didn't you? Maybe Rio (aka chicken heart) will get on the trailer if Mico is already there. I'll work on trailer training this week.

Maybe later in the summer you guys could drive out here and ride with us. So hold on to that bail money, we may need it yet!

[Barbwire]

Hate to say it girls, but if you come to NYS and ride the trail systems there WILL be a DEC person to check your coggins AND you had best have your 30 days health certificate or the fine can be $500!

I have never seen or heard of any DEC folks bothering people that ride the state park trails near me. NEVER.

See Beth, I said "state park trails near me." I know they check the papers at other parks like Otter Creek and such, but not here in Grafton. Maybe because there are no stabling facilities, so you don't have to check in anywhere????

As for Cobleskill, that was many moons ago, the only thing I remember about those years is cow stomachs have 4 compartments. :lol:

[sherry k t]

Me and Mom have never been pulled over as of yet pulling the horses but expect one of these days grrrr. However, we have been asked numerous times for our papers before unloading our horses and some of them really check your horses to ensure they match coggins and health papers. we got in trouble in Montana as that state also requires a stock permit which we werent aware of either was our vet and the several rangers we had called making arrangements for the trip. we were gone for 6 weeks with the horses when we got home we had a letter from MT stating if it ever happened again they could restrict us from entering their state agian with our horses. Our vet got the same letter. We always double check and ensure we have our papers when hauling. like someone else said we are close to some nice horse campgrounds and trails in IL but wont go due to having to have heatlh certificate renewed every 30 days. $$$$$ we have also heard by word of mouth of horse trailers out of state being pulled over and fined big time for not having theri papers or even one rig for not having trailer chained to truck. made him wait while he had to pay someone to come out to wt station and install hooks to frame of truck to attach chains. High Dollar and lots of time and aggravation it cose the driver. It is definitely hard to keep up with all the rules everywhere. good luck! Sherry

[Dave]

Our dogs have this chip in them, also works with horses!

http://www.avidmicrochip.com/

[Abejita]

As far as PA getting on the band wagon..I highly doubt it with the herpes virus breakouts here and MD..I wouldnt be surprised if they start requiring TRIP health certs especially for track horses. but non track horses have had it too..

[Beth Worden]

I hear ya Abej. At Fairhill, MD where I am gong for the first week in May the track is off limits for riding because of this. I can't see NY getting on the bandwagon soon because of $$$$. More vets calls, more tax, bla, bla, bla. Next year a friend and I plan on going for 6 weeks riding in NY, PA, MD, TN, etc. We will plan it so we ride the "other" states for the first 4 weeks and then into NY for the last 2. It IS a pain getting the health certs, but I usually trailer over to the vets to get one and that saves me a farm call, at least. However with gas so high and my outfit getting 9 MPG I don't know what I'm saving! LOL