HORSE Sport Ireland has officially launched 'Horse Source', a new online system for horse owners and breeders to register horses and obtain passports.

Horse Source will make the process easier and quicker, with less room for error. www.HorseSource.ie now offers a simpler, user-friendly website, designed to reduce paperwork and bring all of the information that owners and breeders of horses need into one easy online portal.

Horse Source is designed for breeders registering Irish Sport Horses, Irish Sport Ponies, Irish Draught Horses, and Irish Cobs the studbooks administer by Horse Sport Ireland. Kerry Bog Pony applications, which are administered by HSI for the Kerry Bog Pony Society, can also be processed using the HorseSource.ie website.

HorseSource.ie is provided by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), the governing body for equestrian sport in Ireland, and part-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The new Horse Source system is designed to be faster and more accurate than the paper registration process, improving the turnaround time for passports, change of ownership, endorsements etc. Horse Source helps reduce errors across the registration processes.

Postal applications can still be submitted (at an additional fee) but now that Horse Source has launched, registration can only take place once the foal has been born, and mare declarations are no longer required. If you submit your application online, payment will be processed securely online. Payments for postal applications can still be made by credit card or postal order/cheque. Once payment has been processed through Horse Source, a DNA kit will be issued to you.

Denis Duggan, CEO of Horse Sport Ireland said: "We've upgraded our system to a new, bespoke portal to allow online registrations and named it ‘Horse Source’. Our new registration system makes the process simpler and more effective for everyone. HorseSource.ie improves the speed of registrations by reducing errors. All applications can be tracked so you have all the information you need at your fingertips. We believe this will be a big improvement for everyone, leaving the long delays of paperwork in the past."

Accessing Horse Source is easy. Simply log on to www.horsesource.ie and access the new portal there. The new registration system, complete with a video guide in Horse Source's 'How to' section, will take you through each step of the process. Now live, you can register horses online on Horse Source. For Change of Ownership and Endorsements/Import Notifications, applications can be submitted online but physical passports will still need to be returned so they can be updated by Horse Sport Ireland.

MORE ON HORSE SOURCE PLUS AN INTERVIEW WITH DENIS DUGGAN IN SATURDAY'S THE IRISH FIELD.