(23)Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 provides that equidae are not to be kept unless they are identified in accordance with that Regulation. The Commission has had to respond to several complaints concerning domestic horse populations living outside holdings in conditions that were not compatible with those described as semi-wild in that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to clarify, that equidae living in the Union are to be identified and as a second step to provide for a derogation where that condition cannot be met.