Tips to ID reg. purebred Arabian by markings

["Jeff Brickson" <brickson@delanet.com>]

I was asked by someone for tips to find the ID of a purebred that did not
come with papers, but using markings only.  Obviously if the horse was never
registered in the first place, it is impossible without the previous owner's
statement of who the parents were.  The method is not guaranteed to ID even
a registered purebred, but it DOES narrow the list down to a few possibles.
The most uncertainty is in assessment of age from teeth and the drawing
ability of the owner doing the registration.  If anyone knows of a quicker
method please tell me! bb
_____________________

How to ID a purebred, registered Arabian that has white markings (if no
markings at all, it's basically impossible):

If freeze marked, you have an already-ID'd horse!  Just shave the mark close
to the skin, photograph (better than drawing), and interpret it using the
KryoKinetics website's diagram.  Then call the Registry to find the last
owner on record.  Lip tattoos are not as reliable (see KryoKinetics website
for all the reasons).

If no freeze mark, then you must use the Arabian Registry's CD (around $95
now) and look at every diagram your search turns up.  Someday soon it will
be accessible on the Internet for daily usage fees in case you don't want to
buy a copy just to find your one or two horses.

Record everything you remember about where/who your horse came from.  IF
from dealer, where the dealer bought the horse or where the dealer bought
the horse from.  Get all location and name details.
Get a few good estimates of its age from its teeth, and take the average.
If grey horse, clean its face and lower legs very well, then shave these
areas closely to reveal any white skin.  Photograph or draw leg markings
from front & both sides.  If skin is mottled making delineation difficult,
it may help to darken the skin on the dark side to the midline of the
mottled 'line' before taking a picture, but this means that mark will be a
guess.

Note which of the white markings seem to be distinctive or unique.
Take note of and draw/photo any white markings on lower lip and belly, too.
Note which feet are all dark, all white, and which are parti-colored.  (I
wish the CD could text-search this field!)
These two latter descriptions will help you 'skim' the records more quickly
to eliminate wrong IDs.

Search the CD for horses by color, sex, and state by state, starting with
the most likely, and the most likely age RANGE.  Open each horse's record to
the diagram of markings.  If you come across a horse with 'no markings on
record', it is likely a horse without markings.  Print out the *very* close
matches.  If you find a really close match, that's probably your animal.  If
no close match, keep working.  Search all the states.  For CA, use narrow
age ranges because of the number of Arabians there.  Keep track of where you
left off (what states you searched already) alphabetically when you get up
for coffee/sleep, next month, etc.

If no horse matches even in the U.S. or Canadian databases, then your horse
was probably never registered, even if it may be purebred.

Contact the previous owner to get the horse's papers.  Send them a picture
for 'positive ID' with description of horse's attitude, temperament, scars
or outstanding conformational defects, and aptitudes, +/or buy a blood or
DNA test, whichever is appropriate for the situation (depends on many
factors).