The U.S. Trotting Association announced Tuesday (March 19) the launch of the USTA Chip ID app to utilize with Universal Worldscan Reader Plus microchip readers from Merck/HomeAgain®.
The USTA Chip ID app can be downloaded from iTunes (Apple) and Google Play (Android) by searching “USTA Chip ID.”
Paired with a HomeAgain® Universal WorldScan Reader Plus microchip scanner, this App will rapidly identify horses that are registered with the USTA. Scanning the horse’s microchip with a paired scanner and the App open will return the horse’s name, year of foaling, color, sex, sire and dam.
Once the app is installed, the Bluetooth functionality of the Universal HomeAgain® WorldScan Reader Plus microchip scanner must be paired with the device. The app provides explicit directions on this procedure.
After logging in with Pathway/My Account credentials and connectivity is established, the chip can be scanned. For users without an account, the app allows for easy registration to obtain one.
Once a horse is identified, the app provides direct access to Pathway, the USTA’s statistical database, with its basic horse information as well as the menu of performance, pedigree and breeding reports for that horse.
Last April, the USTA announced an innovative collaboration with Merck Animal Health and HomeAgain® to be the organization’s sole microchip provider.
The technology allows for a quicker, safer and more accurate identification process versus freeze branding. Additionally, the scanning feature instantly measures equine body temperature.
The USTA is the first horse registry to formally incorporate temperature scanning into their microchip identification program.
This significant health-related information can be a sentinel for contagious and potentially fatal equine diseases such as Equine Herpes Virus 1 and Equine Herpes Virus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM).
The USTA will microchip around 9,000 foals annually, as well as another 25,000 older racehorses, stallions, and broodmares. Foals can be swiftly microchipped in the neck at an early age with minimal pain — microchipping appears to be less painful and more efficient than the current freeze branding method.
Beginning with the foal crop of 2019, the primary means of USTA horse identification will be the microchip and by 2021, all horses that race in the U.S. at all USTA member tracks (including county fairs) will be required to be identified with a microchip.
All USTA extended pari-mutuel racetracks will be equipped with readers to identify horses and county fair officials that will be responsible for identifying horses will be required to have them as well.
(USTA)