Are you seeing ergots on the back of the pastern?
I think it’s much more likely the horse had an accident with a wire fence than that he was whipped so hard the skin broke in multiple places.
2 Likes
No not ergots. They’re horizontal lines - one on each hind pastern. At first I thought all these marks on him were from a fence accident. I guess it’s possible wire cut into back of pasterns the same place both hinds? Or did someone put a rope behind his pasterns and he fought it? This horse is def. a PB Arabian but in truth - he sometimes acts like a mule. That is why I started suspecting the scars were from whip marks. We’ve had some issues - which is why I’d like to know who he is and try to piece together his history - if possible. He is incredibly smart which I think might have gotten him into trouble in the past. I think he might have frustrated someone enough for them to want to whip the tar out of him. He’s doing great now and I enjoy working with him and riding him. He has been an interesting challenge. I hope we can figure out who he is. Oh - re: DNA. I’m sure his is not on file. I don’t understand why AHA and the testing lab can’t help ID a horse if DNA sent in. Couldn’t it be matched to a younger sibling or family group like is being done for humans?
I expect that with a group of purebred animals, the DNA is all much closer than it would be with a random group of humans. If you think about it, all Morgans go back to one foundation sire and all Thoroughbreds go back to four sires. So you might find that all members of one breed of purebred animals are basically all essentially cousins which is why they look alike. I don’t really know, though, maybe a genetics expert can chime in.
As far as whip marks, how hard have you ever tried to whip a horse? Really no commercially produced whip is going to break the skin.
1 Like
I agree, sounds like the horse got into some wire and had cuts from it?
Maybe that is those on his pasterns, or could even be scratches, that if bad enough can leave scars.
That would not matter at all as far as what his breeding is.
The story as told still doesn’t make much sense, must be missing something in all that.
As we say around here, if someone wants a registered horse, they need to be sure the horse they are buying has the proper paperwork, or is all just one more horse story.
Not sure yet of the motivation for this search?
Is it to find someone to blame for … what?
If that is a really nice horse, enjoying him as he is, no matter what his background may have been, would be a good way to move forward.
Will be interesting to know how this turned out.
1 Like
People with rescues often get obsessed with trying to find out the ownership trail of a horse. More so than people who buy a nice mid career grade horse of vague provenance.
Partly it’s trying to find someone to blame for “trauma.” Partly it’s wanting to establish value and vaildate the buyer’s eye, like finding a Picasso at a flea market. I think this is something ammies do more than pros. I mean a pro would get the papers if they were available, but if they snatched up a nice rescue horse without papers they wouldn’t be wasting money trying to get a DNA match especially on a gelding.
The thing is, horses live in the moment. Finding out the “real story” is not as useful as being able to assess accurately where the horse is now and proceed from there.
One person’s dangerous flighty problem horse is another person’s tractable quirky snuggle bunny. This is particularly true IMHO with Arabs! I hang out at the low end of nice horses, and I get to see skilled people fix fallen through the cracks horses as well as newbies get into trouble with perfectly fine horses.
Really how a horse behaves is much more about the handler than the horse. You don’t need to know how past folks failed with this horse to know how he is for you with your skill set.
OP, I understand wanting to know who your horse is. My coach bought my very nice mare at auction as a 2 year old, never got her papers. If a local breeder recognized her and could give me her lineage i’d be thrilled. But this isn’t something to spend much money or time on, especially if you aren’t planning to breed.
If I acquired an older horse of unknown provenance I would be putting my major investment in time, money, and worry into vetting for and managing soundness questions.
2 Likes
You might ask AHA if they could match your horse’s DNA to those on file if you have his DNA done now. Or, if they can confirm he’s a purebred. My Mom had a half-Arab that didn’t look at all like the other half. She was challenged a lot at shows. I guess because he kept winning his classes.
Back when, it was cheaper to register a foal before a certain age. Hence, the reason folks have to change colors with greys.
I do genealogy as a hobby. So, I get the thrill of the hunt. Good luck again.
TCA Arabians - I also do genealogy as a hobby. If you feel like doing some detective work - go to the FB group “Arabian Horse Rescue Success Stories”. My horse is on there. I’ll continue my hunt (with help from others) searching through the AHA Datasource. I’m hopeful that he was registered and we can ID him. Just because…
grayarabs… I’m not on FB. This group and a local, community group site are my only social media contacts.
And, to the poster that stated “you still have to have the registered owner’s signature to get his papers.” You’re right. But, I worked with the AHA legal dept. They will also accept a judge’s decision and told me exactly what they needed. I could have done the legal work myself. But, being lazy, I hired an attorney.
My friend bought a fallen through the cracks Arab gelding. She was able to follow the paper trail, get ahold of the last person who held his registration papers, and knows his breeding going back millennia. But then it turned out it would cost hundreds of dollars to transfer and renew his registration. And she will only need that if she wanted to spend thousands of dollars to attend the breed show.
I have an idea now of my girls real age and where she came from. I also talked with a previous owner who was happy to know she had a good home.
I haven’t spent the money on DNA testing because I love this mare regardless of her past. And I’m not a breeder, so I really don’t care if she has papers.
I don’t need his papers. If his markings can be matched with those on file with AHA Datasource online I could find out who he is. Datasource shows horse name, pedigree, breeder, previous owners and show records. To find him means making a template of his markings and starting with year of presumed birth. Narrow that down by sex. Then color. Line by line - page by page - through hundreds of horses. Click and look. It can be done. Many others are doing it to ID their horses born before 2002 (no DNA on file). There are some very nice part and purebred Arabians that end up in kill pens. I had no idea. This has been an education for me - for sure. So…back to my original questions on the subject of grays. I went over him carefully yesterday. He is gray (white) all over. The few non gray strands in his mane are black. I found a few fleabites on his neck - in a very faint reddish color. I had to look closely to find them.
GrayArabs… Your methodology reminds me of rooting around in Colonial VA records - a project I’m currently working on.
My grey no longer has the black hair in his mane and tail. But, he did for a long time. I don’t remember when he started to tick. He’s 30 now and his mane and tail are snow white - sort of like me.
You might consider starting with foals born in Texas. If that doesn’t produce results - expand to neighboring states and so forth. Sure, he could have been born in East Poughkeepsie - but, it is a way to start with a smaller group.
Mom sold a lot of horses from here in CA to a fellow in Texas. So, yes he could be from anywhere.
We acquired a mare when she was two or three that had not been registered. We were the first to register her.
Prior to the Registry going to DNA testing - horses were blood typed. So, if you find a bingo with the markings you might ask AHA if they can match your horse’s blood type. Again, the best of luck.
