Branding on horses

Just wondering if anyone knows of a site where I can find out what the branding means on my horse's neck?

It's quite a large brand, has turned his hair white where it is (he's chestnut) and I'm interested to see if I can find out what it means. I met someone who explained them to me on her own horse, but she didn't say where I could find out the info. She said certain symbols meant different things, like whether he was the first foal, or what exact year it was, etc.

He's an old boy (late 20's), so would have been done in the late 80's.

Thanks :)

Hi, by the sounds of it, your boy is a standardbred (a trotter or pacer),the brand you describe is called a freeze brand and would be under his mane yes?. I will go google standardbred australia and see what happens , never looked up a trotters brand before, but done plenty of racehorses :)

Australian Harness Racing
Go to search, and select horse search (HRA online)
Select freezebrand and that will tell you how to read it.
Goodluck and let me know if you cant make sense of it.
:)

Great! Thank you!

He's a standardbred, ex trotter. The brand is under his mane. I worked out the chart and have figured out that he was registered in Victoria and that he was born in 1981, which would put him older than I thought!!!! Makes him 30! My goodness!

Now that I know what the brand says, can I find out any other info on him? Where would I start?

Now that you know how to read and convert the brand, can you not go to the search and just punch in all the numbers?
Ie, step 2, after the home page, the search page gives you the option of entering exact name, or general name search or freezebrand.
Just put in all the numbers that the freezebrand is and this should give you all his info.
HTH

My QH is branded but I have no idea what it means

Livinthedream - It came up with no listing, so either he's too old, or I'm getting the brand wrong.

NaeNae - I took a close up photo of the brand so I could work out what all the symbols meant and then put it into the site Livinthedream gave me. Is there a quarter horse branding listing, or something? Is it on the leg or neck? I think the two letter/number ones on the leg are a brand from the stable they came from, but I could be wrong.

I've found it really interesting. It's been something I've wondered since I got him. I'll have to find a pic of my TB and see if I can work out his brand too.

Given his age his records may not have been put onto computer. Might be worth phoning whatever the Victorian equivalent of the Racing and Pacing Association is. I found out heaps of details about a thoroughbred mare I had years ago - right back through her racing history, her parents' racing history etc.

My memory is very dodgy on these things, but I think the standard brand used for most breeds (not standardbreds) of numbers/letters over each other is the numbers showing the year of birth and whichever number foal your horse is of its dam. The letters are usually indicating the stud that bred the horse. I can't remember whether its year of birth over foal number, or vice versa though.

Thanks LuluHB. He's such an old boy now, I'm pleased I know this much but very curious to see if I can find out more.

I've heard that too, with most horses that it's something to do with the foal number.

On TB's, or most other breeds for that matter, the numbers indicate the foal and year.
The top number is the foal born to the stud and the bottom is the year.
So
3
7
Is the third foal from that stud born in 2007 OR 1997 or 1987. So if you dont have a history on the horse, then it can be hard to tell whether the horse is 5 or 15.
If you can read teeth, you can usually sort it out easy enough though.

The brand on the other side is unique to the breeder and is almost always registered to a a breed society , you generally need to have some idea of what breed of horse you have before you start looking. Part bred horses often have multiple registrations. These brands can be hard for the layman to search as unless you know the terminology, it is hard to type them into a computer. For eg 7! may read seven bar dot. KWIM?


The Australian Stud Book is the governing body of TB's and almost every TB bred to race (whether they actually do or not) will be rego here. It used to be a free service, and you could search any horse that had ever been rego in Aust and trace its breeding right back to one of the 3 original Arabians that founded the modern TB, all the way back in the late 1770's. Its facinating to see your horses entire pedigree for 250 odd years.
Unfortunatly, they stopped the free public search option (as far as I am aware, havent looked up a horse in years) and now you have to be a member (or know a member who can look for you).
Google Australian Stud Book for more info. *note, this is for TB's only*

Nae, the australian QH assoc, would almost certainly have a record of your horse (if its breeders rego it). Contact them with pics of the brand(s)

HTH Shell

Hi love-

DH's dad or one of my uncles (all harness racing owners/trainers) might be able to help you out.
Want to text me a photo?

Join VicHorse or Cyberhorse forums - lots of knowledgeable industry people there :) Members are always finding leads to brands. Good luck!

Livinthedream - Thanks for the info. I'll find the pic of my TB and see what I can find for him.

Emma - Sent you a text, thank you :)

Mayaness - I've got a friend on Vichorse, sent her a message to see if she can find out for me. Thanks.