Each region also has a two-digit number (hand-written onto each region on this particular map) placed at the beginning of each horse’s registration number, revealing where
that horse was bred. Hanoverians born in Germany sport a “31” as the second and third numbers of their registration number, Zweibrückers (the breed associated
with the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar registry) born in Germany or abroad, a “51”, whereas German-bred Holsteiners, for example, use the numbers “21.” Most registries also add the last two digits of the year of birth to the end of a
each year, so this was the 107th foal registered that year; and finally, the last two digits 10 = born in 2010.
Global ID The registration number printed on your Warmblood’s papers is specific to his or her registry, but it is also part of a longer number called the UELN (Universal Equine Life Number), which is a 15-digit number that is becoming the standard worldwide numbering system to identify a horse throughout his or her lifetime. The UELN uses standard numeric codes to identify a horse’s country of birth and registry, all the while including the horse’s original registration number given by his registry inside the 15-digit number. A UELN won’t contain any initial letters—instead, each country is given a numerical code, so a German horse’s UELN will begin with 276, a Dutch horse with 528, and a Belgian Warmblood horse with 056. This number is a permanent part of your horse’s identity, to be tied to his performance, ownership and breeding records. While not every American organization uses the UELN, it is becoming the standard worldwide. Hugh Bellis-Jones, Executive Director of the
American Hanoverian Society, says his registry was the first North American registry to adopt the UELN back in 2001, and also one of the first member studbooks of the WBFSH (World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses) to do so. Hugh is an adamant supporter of the UELN system and believes it will benefit American breeders, riders and owners to know that their horses’ performance and breeding records will always correspond to one permanent lifelong number. He also hopes that the USEF and USDF, which so far have assigned their own numbers to horses allowing for the possibility of horses having multiple identification numbers, will jump on board and start making a commitment to tie performance to pedigree using the UELN. “Of course it’s one thing to devise a worldwide
universal numbering system, and quite another to get it adopted worldwide,” Hugh remarks. “The
horse’s life registration number. So that a horse with the number DE 4515160007104 is known to be a Zweibrücker born in 2004. If your horse is a Holsteiner, his or her sex, color and stamm (or dam-line) is right there in black and white, as a permanent part of the registration number. So for example a Holsteiner with the number 840003 214 1107 10 can be read as: 840003 = Holsteiner born in the US; 214 breaks down to 2 = colt, 1 = bay, 4 = German stamm; 1107 is a unique machine-generated number starting at 1000
30 September/October 2011
UELN basically creates a common language between organizations, and the use of a UELN, I believe, will become European Union law.” Patricia Donohue of the American Holsteiner Horse
Association says the UELN is a hassle but a necessary evil to get everybody on the same page. Patricia notes, “We don’t do a passport, and I hope we never do—but we do use the UELN, as does any registry that is a member of the WBFSH. There’s a lot of information in these numbers.” “Prior to 1993 all Holsteiners imported to the U.S.
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