Lip Tattoo experts - I need some help identifying a tattoo for a 17HH Gray TB we pulled from an auction. Doesn’t appear to have any white markings, but hard to tell as he’s gray. Was told he is roughly 10 years old. However am having no luck identifying the first letter to get the year. Tried submitting request to the JC lookup but they said they had no matches. Last digit looks like a 7 or a 1. 3827? 3527? Hard to tell difference between 3, 5, and 8’s. Have tried different lighting, different angles, upping contrast, etc. Any help appreciated!
Do you have a photo of his whole body, look for any whorls other than on the face. The JC is very thorough on tracking whorls.
You can narrow it down pretty well if he has any unique whorls plus any white. Hose him down thoroughly and take a photo - that will bring out any area with white markings.
I think he is older than 10 from the teeth, but 2014’s letter starts with R. JC tattoo formula is always letter first, followed by 4 or 5 numbers. In tattoos that contain 5 numbers after the letter, the first number will be from 0 to 5 according to JC.
The JC stopped tattoos in 2020 - have you scanned for a microchip?
How wonderful of you to give him a safe landing. Do you have a name?
I have a couple body photos, they aren’t great but I’ll attach them. I’ll have to get better ones. I will examine him for other whorls. He was in rough shape, super skinny, overgrown feet, etc. My bf is a TB fan and felt bad for him so bought him to get him out of there, we are actually going to be looking for a good home for him. He was super depressed, cribbing, anti-social. After a couple months he’s put some weight on, acts like a big goofball, super friendly, doesn’t crib out in the field. We’ve been calling him Stretch.
I thought maybe the letter was an O or a Q but it’s so hard to see, I was trying to look up numbers related. We haven’t scanned for a chip, as we don’t have a scanner. He needs a bath so we will get to that and look for pink skin/white.
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I see ? 1 3 5/6 2 1
There is this one:
Tow Truck , M13621, 2009. Small irregular star slightly to right at eye level; small patch of white hairs to right above eye level. Cowlick to left above eye level.
Did he come with any info at all? Where abouts in the country are you? Tow Truck is a OK bred with no racing history.
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Here is another:
Wolfofwallstreet, K13621, 2007, Mixed star, extending slightly to right on top. Left fore: pastern and part of ankle white, higher in back. Left hind: ankle white, higher on inside and in back. Right hind: ankle white, lower in front, higher in back. Few white spots in coat. Cowlick slightly to right above eye level.
IL bred, never ran.
Another:
Bighood, M13827, 2009, Large star and connected narrow stripe, ending slightly to right above nostrils. Median cowlick at eye level.
I’m really not seeing that third number as a 8 and don’t see a roof on the last digit in these pics, but maybe.
This one is unraced and NJ bred.
Thanks for the responses. Am in southeastern PA. He does have a small whorl just above eye level, very slightly to his left. It looks like a dark spot in the head shot. Hoping a bath will help uncover some white markings somewhere on him to help identify.
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Running his DNA might be the best shot. Info on that is here:
Thank you, yes sounds like that would be a good option.
113527?
This seems the most likely to me. I went through all letters A-Z with 13527, 13627, and 13827.
I’m pretty sure that last digit is a 7 and not a 1 because it doesn’t have the feet/serifs like a tattoo 1 does.
There was another grey, F13827, but that horse would be 22 which seems too old.
Bighood’s markings: Large star and connected narrow stripe, ending slightly to right above nostrils. Median cowlick at eye level.
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Thanks everyone for all your help, we aren’t far from NJ so seems like Bighood may be a good possibility. My first thought on that last digit was also a 7. He’s getting a bath tomorrow so we’ll wet him down real well and look for white markings on his face/feet.
Oh, yeah, totally awesome point. I got so wrapped up in the roof I forgot the foot 
@hollywd Bighood was bred by Kaz Hill Farm, and contact info for them is on the nybreds.com site:
Kaz Hill Farm
Farm Address: 34 Mt. Joy Rd. Middletown, NY 10941
Contact Phone #: (845) 649-4521
Contact: Sal Martin, Farm Manager
E-mail Address: kazhillfarm@yahoo.com
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