The National Equine Database (NED) is scheduled to go live on Monday, November 24, four years after work commenced on it.

NED is an internet-based system that holds the data, including basic identification details including passport, microchip and unique life number, and voluntary pedigree and competition data, of each horse in the United Kingdom.

Work began in 2004, but unfortunately the project – run jointly between Defra and the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) – suffered numerous setbacks. At the end of October, the BEF board gave the go-ahead for its launch later this month.

NED is designed not only to hold data for all British horses, but also to promote breeding, by allowing global access to their details.

More than 100 equine passport-issuing organisations have provided basic identification data, and others have provided breeding and competition information on a voluntary basis.

NED currently contains records of 1.2million horses, though chief executive Nick Wallbridge estimates a number of those may be dead or duplicates.

“We believe we have about 960,000 current records on the system,” said Mr Wallbridge. “We’re doing a soft launch because we don’t want to raise people’s expectations, there are issues and we need to address them, and for users to tell us when they arrive.”

From Monday, November 24, anyone can log on to www.nedonline.co.uk

To search for a horse for free, users will have to provide an email address, but to look up competition and progeny reports, or to add pictures or update information, there will be a charge.