Book III · Standard

Imperial Public-Road Equid Status Marking Standard

The universal marking rule for every equid on a public road: the Facial Marker, its interchangeable insert, the fields and symbols, their dimensions, illumination, priority and control.

Status

This is the final and binding universal standard for every public-road equid. The Carriage Code may impose additional carriage-specific or stricter requirements.

Purpose

This Standard shall regulate the public-road status markers used by ridden, driven, led, mounted-service, carriage, freight, taxi, ceremonial, emergency, veterinary, postal, military, sovereign, government, and private equids.

Definitions and core rule

Facial Marker means an approved, non-restraining, marker-bearing facial tack component used to display an interchangeable road-status insert clearly from the front. Facial Markers are either marker-bearing frenteras or marker-bearing muserolas. A Facial Marker may be integrated into headgear or fitted as a separate non-control component.

Frentera means, for the purposes of this Standard, a frontal tack component extending vertically along the centre of the equid’s face from the upper bridle, headstall, browband, crown area, or equivalent upper attachment toward the forehead or nasal bridge. It may be narrow, X-shaped, branched, broad, ornamental, or panel-like, and may terminate above, attach to, overlap, or continue onto a noseband. Its official insert may be carried upon the forehead or upon the stable upper nasal bridge. A component confined to crossing or encircling the nose, without an upper vertical facial connection, is not a frentera.

Muserola means, for the purposes of this Standard, a noseband or nosepiece crossing and ordinarily encircling the equid’s nose. A marker-bearing muserola may be broad, decorative, separately mounted, incorporated into lawful headgear, or integrated into a lawful control noseband. It need not attach to the browband, crownpiece, or any vertical frontal component. The term includes an approved broad marker-bearing noseband or nosepiece performing the same function, regardless of commercial or regional name.

A frentera or muserola qualifies as a Facial Marker only where it provides a dedicated, clearly visible insert field of sufficient size and contrast for road use. A small ornament, medallion, stud, badge, or decorative plate that cannot carry the required insert visibly does not qualify.

Every equid entering a public road shall wear approved public-road bitless headgear fitted with an approved Facial Marker displaying the equid’s current interchangeable retroreflective and switchably illuminated road-status insert.

A Facial Marker may be mounted upon the forehead, the stable nasal bridge, or both. A marker-bearing muserola, including a broad noseband or nosepiece performing that function, may qualify whether or not it attaches to the browband or crownpiece.

The insert shall occupy a dedicated, visually distinct field and may be a circle, square, diamond, rectangle, shield, emblem shape, or another approved simple visible shape. It shall remain recognisable from the front and shall not be hidden, divided, imitated, or visually overwhelmed by mane, forelock, straps, studs, medallions, filigree, tassels, or other decoration.

A nose-mounted Facial Marker shall remain over the stable nasal bone and clear of lower nasal cartilage and nostrils. Where integrated into a pressure-bearing noseband, its window, slot, pocket, insert, backing, edging, and fasteners shall not stiffen the noseband, create hard edges or pressure points, concentrate force, impair fit or release, alter rein or line action, or restrict breathing.

The marker shall be a road instruction to humans. It shall not be used as advertisement, decoration-only, medical disclosure beyond necessity, shame marking, or a replacement for driver/rider judgement.

Marker placement system

• Front: interchangeable retroreflective and switchably illuminated insert displayed in either a marker-bearing frentera or a marker-bearing muserola.

An extensive frentera shall not be approved solely because it can carry an insert. It shall provide a dedicated marker field and comply with all applicable vision, breathing, weight, flexibility, heat, stability, and welfare requirements.

• Side: round or approved side status plate on harness, breastcollar, breastplate, saddlecloth, service cloth, or other non-restraining equipment.
• Rear carriage board: markers arranged to match team formation so road users can identify the status of each equid in a hitch.
• No direct body application: no paint, dye, clipping, branding, glue, mane attachment, tail attachment, skin marking, or coat alteration.

Ordinary and restricted markers

• White reflective field: ordinary road-certified equid.
• Green reflective field: green equid, provisional road certificate, training status, or supervised road work.
• Yellow warning field: caution status, sensitivity, extra-space requirement, or heightened startle risk.
• White field with red border: restricted passing; pass only by driver, rider, or handler signal.
• Solid red field with a white X: do not pass; stop and wait because an active hazard, incident, or immediate control condition exists.

Public availability of ordinary markers

Ordinary, green-status, caution, restricted-passing, hazard, pregnancy-status, and other non-service protective markers may be manufactured, stocked, advertised, sold, purchased, possessed, and replaced through ordinary pet, tack, road-safety, veterinary, and general retail channels. Possession alone is not an offence. The offence is false display, concealment, misuse, alteration, or misrepresentation of the equid’s current status.

Service markers

• Blue with Road Guard emblem: Imperial Road Guard, traffic patrol, or DPS-equivalent road-control service.
• Blue with police shield or police star: police service where authorised.
• White with red cross: ambulance or authorised medical emergency service.
• Red with white flame: fire or rescue service.
• Green with white paw-and-hoof: veterinary emergency service.
• Blue with winged letter, Hermes-wing emblem, postal horn, or courier emblem: post, messenger, or courier service.
• Black: sovereign or Empress passage where legally authorised.
• Black with crown: authorised Imperial government official, deputy, ministerial, or state authority passage.
• Very dark green with military sigil: military service.

Writing rule

Ordinary horse-mounted markers shall not rely on writing. Writing may be used on authorised government or service carriage bodies, rider uniforms, driver uniforms, service cloths, carriage panels, or official livery where approved.

Binding technical and administrative rules

Marker dimensions

The clear visible field of a front insert shall measure not less than:

• 70 millimetres across its shortest dimension for an equid above 300 kilograms;
• 60 millimetres for an equid of 100–300 kilograms;
• 50 millimetres for an equid below 100 kilograms.

A side status plate shall measure not less than 90 millimetres across its shortest dimension. A rear carriage-board marker shall measure not less than 120 millimetres. Borders, symbols, and divided fields shall remain proportionate and shall not reduce any required clear field below these minima.

Viewing and recognition test

A front marker shall be correctly identified by a person with ordinary corrected vision at not less than 50 metres in daylight and 30 metres at night. Side and rear markers shall be identified at not less than 60 metres in daylight and 40 metres at night. Night testing shall be passed both in powered illuminated mode and in unpowered retroreflective mode under lawful road lighting. Testing shall include frontal and fifteen-degree offset views, walking and ordinary road movement, wet conditions, partial forelock movement, full and low battery states, and deliberate switching on and off.

Retroreflective material

Every operational field, border, and symbol shall use certified road-grade retroreflective material suitable for rain, mud, freezing, heat, repeated flexion, cleaning, and at least two years of ordinary service. A marker that cracks, delaminates, becomes permanently stained, curls, loses contrast, or fails the viewing test shall be replaced immediately.

Switchable marker illumination

Every approved operational front, side, and rear marker shall be capable of operating in both:

• an unpowered road-grade retroreflective mode; and
• an independently switchable, steady self-illuminated mode reproducing the marker’s assigned field colour, border, shape, and symbol.

The illumination control shall permit deliberate activation and deactivation without removing or reversing the marker. Automatic low-light activation or dimming may supplement, but shall not replace, a manual override available to the rider, driver, handler, or authorised operator.

Illumination shall be activated from sunset to sunrise, in tunnels, and whenever fog, rain, snow, smoke, dust, glare, or another condition materially reduces marker recognition. It may be switched off in adequate daylight or where ordered to prevent glare, provided the retroreflective marker remains fully visible and no night or reduced-visibility activation duty applies.

Illumination shall be steady. It shall not flash, strobe, pulse, rotate, sweep, alternate colours, imitate a turn, brake, hazard, police, Road Guard, medical, fire, rescue, or other emergency warning lamp, project a beam onto the road, or function as an equid ground-guidance lamp. Status-marker illumination is identification lighting and does not create emergency priority.

The powered marker shall preserve the same colour-blind-accessible shape, border, and symbol used in its unpowered state. A white field shall emit white; coloured fields shall emit their assigned approved colour; and white borders and symbols shall remain white. A black field shall remain visually black while its required white or silver border and emblem illuminate. A very dark field may use only the approved low-luminance hue while its border and emblem provide recognition.

Brightness shall be sufficient to pass the night recognition test without glare to the equid, rider, driver, passengers, pedestrians, or other road users. The emitter shall be diffused and physically shielded so that no direct light source is visible from either equid eye position and no light spills into the eyes or creates distracting reflections on the face, headgear, reins, lines, shafts, or vehicle. The light source, diffuser, battery, wiring, switch, and housing shall not create heat, pressure, sharp edges, weight concentration, vibration, rattling, entanglement, water ingress, delayed tack release, or interference with reins, lines, harness, breathing, vision, or movement.

The complete electrical assembly shall be at least IP65 equivalent. Batteries and electrical contacts shall be enclosed against rain, washing, sweat, mud, crushing, leakage, and access by the equid. A manual control shall be operable in gloves where relevant and guarded against accidental activation, deactivation, or mode change.

Where the rider, driver, or handler cannot directly see every required illuminated marker from the normal operating position, the system shall provide a non-distracting status indication confirming activation, power condition, and individual marker failure. A carriage or multi-equid team shall provide central control and individual failure identification for every required front, side, and rear marker.

A programmable or software-controlled light source shall be locked to the currently fitted certified insert. A lawful change between non-service statuses may occur only by fitting the corresponding approved physical insert, or by another equally secure approved method that changes the visible unpowered field and the illuminated identity together. An ordinary user shall not be able to select an independent light colour, border, symbol, emblem, service status, or legal instruction through a menu, application, remote control, or replacement light profile. Official-service identities remain subject to controlled issue and verification.

A powered marker shall remain fully retroreflective when switched off or when power fails. Its battery reserve shall cover the planned journey plus not less than two hours. Commercial, public, service, rental, tourist, freight, ceremonial, emergency, and government road use shall carry an approved replacement power source or backup illuminated marker.

A standard emergency temporary marker need not be self-illuminated only during direct movement to the nearest safe place, Rest Court, stable, veterinary facility, or repair point, provided all other required lighting and reflective visibility remain operational.

Colour and colour-blind accessibility

Colour shall never be the sole distinction between instructions. Every status shall also use a unique shape, border, or symbol. The approved colour values and tolerances shall be published by the competent road authority and verified with calibrated colour measurement.

The solid red hazard field with a white X is reserved for stop-and-wait conditions. The medical-service marker remains a white field with a red medical cross. These two markers shall not share the same dominant field colour, border, or outer shape.

Status hierarchy and combinations

Where more than one status applies, the highest-priority front instruction shall be displayed in this order:

1. active hazard or stop;
2. restricted passing;
3. authorised emergency service;
4. police or Road Guard traffic control;
5. pregnancy or medical vulnerability;
6. yellow caution;
7. green or provisional status;
8. ordinary road certification.

Secondary statuses shall appear on approved side or rear markers. An authorised emergency, police, Road Guard, government, or other service status shall not erase or conceal pregnancy, green, caution, restricted, hazard, or suspension status. Two front statuses may share a certified divided field only where each retains its minimum size, full symbol, full contrast, and immediate recognisability. Decorative combinations, blended colours, half-symbols, reversible ambiguity, and unofficial overlays are prohibited.

Dark service fields

Black, very dark green, and other dark service fields shall have a continuous white or silver retroreflective outer border not less than one-tenth of the marker’s shortest dimension and a high-contrast retroreflective emblem. In illuminated mode, a black field shall remain visually black while the border and emblem illuminate; a very dark coloured field may emit only its approved low-luminance hue while the border and emblem remain the principal night-recognition elements. A dark field without the required border, emblem, and lawful illumination capability is not road-valid at night.

Attachment and breakaway safety

A Facial Marker shall weigh no more than necessary and shall comply with the Imperial Tack Measurement Schedule. It shall not stiffen a control noseband, alter rein or line action, delay release, create heat, rattle, swing, obscure vision, or concentrate pressure.

A side or rear marker shall remain secure under ordinary movement, wind, rain, and vibration. Where detachment could entangle an equid, rein, line, harness, rider, wheel, or runner, the mounting shall incorporate an approved safe-release or guarded attachment system.

Damaged, lost, dirty, or concealed markers

Where a required marker becomes missing, muddy, snow-covered, hidden, detached, damaged, reversed, unreadable, unable to illuminate when illumination is required, stuck in an incorrect mode, or depleted of safe power, the rider, driver, or handler shall stop at the first safe place and clean, uncover, correct, recharge, repair, or replace it.

A standard temporary marker may be used only for direct movement to the nearest safe place, Rest Court, stable, veterinary facility, or repair point. A handwritten note, coloured ribbon, body paint, phone screen, ordinary light, or improvised decoration is not a substitute.

Authorisation and anti-counterfeit control

Police, Road Guard, medical, fire, rescue, veterinary, postal, military, sovereign, government, and other official-service markers shall carry a controlled issue number or secure digital verification linked to the authorised service, equid, vehicle where applicable, issue date, expiry, and revocation status. Official marker specifications, meanings, authorised emblems, and public-recognition guides shall be publicly accessible, but the physical official markers and credentials shall be manufactured, issued, supplied, and sold only through authorised channels to verified services or authorised persons.

Unauthorised manufacture, sale, lending, display, imitation, alteration, duplication, possession for deceptive use, or failure to surrender a revoked service marker is an offence.

Inspection and replacement

Commercial, public, service, rental, tourist, freight, ceremonial, emergency, and government markers shall receive a recorded condition check before each working day and a formal inspection at least every six months. The check shall include retroreflective condition, colour and symbol integrity, switch guarding and operation, brightness and dimming, battery reserve, backup, wiring, sealing, heat, glare, attachment, operator status indication, central control where fitted, individual failure identification, certified colour lock, and correct activation. Private road markers shall be checked before every road use and formally reviewed at road-certificate renewal.

Offences

Offences include displaying a false status, using an unreadable marker, concealing a required status, displaying a lower-priority status instead of a higher one, using an unauthorised service emblem, altering a marker to resemble another status, attaching the marker directly to the body, failing to activate required illumination, using flashing, pulsing, colour-changing, dazzling, misleading, or service-imitating marker illumination, or continuing road use after marker or marker-power failure except direct lawful movement to safety.

Finality

These technical and administrative rules are binding. Later diagrams and approved-product lists may illustrate or impose stricter requirements but shall not weaken them.