Public-road equid status marking

Every equid entering a public road shall wear approved public-road bitless headgear fitted with an approved Facial Marker displaying that equid’s current interchangeable retroreflective and switchably illuminated road-status insert. The marker is a road instruction to humans. It shall not be used as advertisement, as decoration alone, as medical disclosure beyond necessity, as shame marking, or as a replacement for the judgement of the rider or driver.

Definitions

Frentera and muserola

A frentera is a frontal component running vertically down the centre of the face from the upper bridle, headstall, browband or crown area toward the forehead or nasal bridge. It may be narrow, X-shaped, branched, broad or panel-like. A component confined to crossing or encircling the nose, with no upper vertical facial connection, is not a frentera.

A muserola is a noseband or nosepiece crossing and ordinarily encircling the nose. It may be broad, decorative, separately mounted, or integrated into a lawful control noseband, and need not attach to the browband or crownpiece.

Either 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 or badge that cannot carry the insert visibly does not qualify.

Placement

Front, side and rear

• Front: the interchangeable insert, displayed in a marker-bearing frentera or muserola.
• Side: a round or approved status plate on harness, breastcollar, breastplate, saddlecloth 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.

A nose-mounted marker shall sit over the stable nasal bone, clear of lower nasal cartilage and nostrils. Where integrated into a pressure-bearing noseband, nothing about the window, backing, edging or fasteners may stiffen the noseband, create hard edges or pressure points, concentrate force, impair fit or release, alter rein or line action, or restrict breathing.

Minimum dimensions

Clear visible field, shortest dimension

• 70 mm front insert for an equid above 300 kg
• 60 mm for an equid of 100–300 kg
• 50 mm for an equid below 100 kg
• 90 mm side status plate
• 120 mm rear carriage-board marker

Borders, symbols and divided fields must stay proportionate and may not reduce any required clear field below these minima.

Recognition test

Measured, not asserted

A front marker shall be correctly identified by a person with ordinary corrected vision at not less than 50 m in daylight and 30 m at night; side and rear markers at 60 m and 40 m. Night testing is passed both in powered illuminated mode and in unpowered retroreflective mode. Testing includes 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.

Illumination

Identification lighting, not emergency lighting

Every approved marker operates both in an unpowered road-grade retroreflective mode and in an independently switchable, steady self-illuminated mode reproducing its assigned field colour, border, shape and symbol. Illumination is required from sunset to sunrise, in tunnels, and whenever fog, rain, snow, smoke, dust or glare materially reduces recognition.

Illumination shall be steady. It shall not flash, strobe, pulse, rotate, sweep, alternate colours, imitate a turn, brake, hazard or emergency lamp, project a beam onto the road, or act as a ground-guidance lamp. Status-marker illumination is identification lighting and creates no emergency priority.

The emitter is diffused and shielded so that no direct light source is visible from either equid eye position. The complete electrical assembly is at least IP65 equivalent. A powered marker remains fully retroreflective when switched off or when power fails, and its battery reserve covers the planned journey plus not less than two hours.

Priority order

Where more than one status applies

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 appear on approved side or rear markers. A service status shall not erase or conceal pregnancy, green, caution, restricted, hazard or suspension status. Decorative combinations, blended colours, half-symbols and unofficial overlays are prohibited.

Offences

What is punished

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 a marker directly to the body; failing to activate required illumination; using flashing, pulsing, colour-changing, dazzling or service-imitating illumination; or continuing road use after marker or power failure, except direct lawful movement to safety.

Unauthorised manufacture, sale, lending, display, imitation, alteration, duplication, possession for deceptive use, or failure to surrender a revoked service marker is likewise an offence. Ordinary non-service markers, by contrast, may be freely manufactured, stocked, sold and possessed: possession alone is not an offence, and the offence is false display or misrepresentation.