ever see a horse branded in his saddle area?

Have a prospect in our barn that has a white (freezebrand??) brand on his back. It looks like an inverted “Omega” (or a horseshoe?) with a circle L underneath it. does this sound familiar to anyone? I’d post a photo, but I don’t know how.
tx

A friend’s Hungarian Warmblood is branded on her back, but I think it’s a number, not what you’re describing.

Yes. Near the withers. Polish warmblood. It was numbers.

My former gelding was branded on the poll. I think he was a stallion prior to coming to the US.

Isn’t this also seen in NZ horses?

I am unaware of this being the case in NZ. In the UK horses are branded under the saddle for insurence/theft but I think these are numbers not a cipher.

Lippizans are branded under the saddle area with a brand that denotes the sire and dam lines on the left side via a symbol and a letter and I believe with a registration number on the right. There are other brands as well that make the horse distinctively Lippizan (e.g. L on the left cheek) so I assume that’s not what you have.

Czech horses are branded in the saddle area.

The Omega symbol is a Farm Key brand I think.
Yes, is this it?
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/new-bid-to-tackle-horse-theft/

The L is also Farmkey - Loss of Use. Means the insurance company paid out on the horse.
http://www.farmkey.co.uk/farmkey/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=44

I think PRLs (maybe PREs, too?) are also branded under the saddle. Like the Lippizans, they have multiple brands in various places that mean different things.

/http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horse-care/horse-care-tips/freezemarking-helps-target-fraud/

Is your horse imported from the UK? How good a PPE was done?

It is essentially like buying a car with a salvage/rebuilt title. The horse may be fine for intended purpose but it is a warning to buyers.

[QUOTE=opus mom;7210918]
Have a prospect in our barn that has a white (freezebrand??) brand on his back. It looks like an inverted “Omega” (or a horseshoe?) with a circle L underneath it. does this sound familiar to anyone? I’d post a photo, but I don’t know how.
tx[/QUOTE]

Your horse must be from overseas then. The omega freeze brand is a farmkey brand denoting the horse has been microchipped and the circled L is an insurance Loss of Use freeze brand. But then the next question is, how/why does a horse with that kind of history make its way over to the U.S.? If you can find a vet with a new scanner, they should be able to read the horse’s microchip.

I had a Russian WB with four numbers on his withers, but this sounds like a FarmKey brand to me.

[QUOTE=Daventry;7211433]
Your horse must be from overseas then. The omega freeze brand is a farmkey brand denoting the horse has been microchipped and the circled L is an insurance Loss of Use freeze brand. But then the next question is, how/why does a horse with that kind of history make its way over to the U.S.? If you can find a vet with a new scanner, they should be able to read the horse’s microchip.[/QUOTE]

Wow… that is quite a finding on a sales horse whose history has no doubt been lost. COTH is the smartest person I know, for sure.

[QUOTE=Daventry;7211433]
Your horse must be from overseas then. The omega freeze brand is a farmkey brand denoting the horse has been microchipped and the circled L is an insurance Loss of Use freeze brand. But then the next question is, how/why does a horse with that kind of history make its way over to the U.S.? If you can find a vet with a new scanner, they should be able to read the horse’s microchip.[/QUOTE]

Good question. So an insurance company paid out on a loss of use policy, and then the horse was shipped to the U.S. to be sold as a riding prospect? Would that be considered insurance fraud (unless the loss of use was for breeding)?

[QUOTE=DownYonder;7211808]
Good question. So an insurance company paid out on a loss of use policy, and then the horse was shipped to the U.S. to be sold as a riding prospect? Would that be considered insurance fraud (unless the loss of use was for breeding)?[/QUOTE]

If the insurance holders gave up the horse to the insurance company or sold at a certain (lessor) price, then would it still be fraud? Like if it was insured as a 1.60m horse and now it can do 1m with kids and they got the difference?
But the next person that got it can sell it for whatever as long as the new owners were unaware. Hence coming over here…

I never stop learning new things on COTH. I did not know about the loss of use insurance brand. That is brilliant. The insurance companies in the US should do something like that.

I’d love to see a “my horse has a microchip” brand being used extensively across the board. It would certainly put an end to a lot of the lost pedigrees.

I’m sure if the horse looked sound and sellable it made more sense to send it to the US where we don’t recognize the brand! And hey, the horse MAY be sound for it’s new intended use. Maybe it’s old use was eventing or racing, and now it’s being marketed for lower level dressage or lower level hunters?