How to research a brand?

[HenryisBlaisin]

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone can give me some insight on this that I am missing.

I know that brands are typically registered through the state where the ranch is located, but can the same brand be registered in more than one state by different ranches? (I.E., could a ranch in Montana have the same brand as one in New Mexico?)

Also, is there a website that anyone knows of that lists different brands, by state, or otherwise, preferably with pictures.

All I know about Henry’s background is that he came from a ranch out West (previous owner said Montana or Wyoming, I think, but I really can’t remember) and was a working ranch horse, but he has a brand on his hip, and I’d love to be able to figure out where it is from. He isn’t registered, to my knowledge. I tried googling ranch brands etc, but my search wasn’t very fruitful.

It looks like a sun with three rays, at 9, 12, and 3 o’clock.

Any help would be appreciated-I’m really interested in figuring out the mystery!

[Bluey]

That brand, if it is half a circle, may be the Hat Ranch, around Roswell, NM.
They are kind of a dude ranch and raise many of the horses they use, if I remember what I have heard here and there right.

Brands are registered by state in NM, so you can look up the branding book for NM and you will find all kinds of brands there.

Some states, like TX, register by county, so you can have the same brand registered in two adjacent counties.

Yo could also look at the brand books in Montana and Wyoming, I think they are state brands and they should be on the internet.

[sk_pacer]

You’re asking for miracles!!!ROFL
Yes, a brand design can be used by different people even in the same province/state - the real trick is the location of the brand. Simply put, you and I and 6 other people can have lets say a diamond for a brand, but where it is tells who’s the owner. On cattle, there are shoulder, three rib (front, middle and rear or flank) and hip and two sides to the beast. Horses are normally branded hip, shoulder or jaw, with several location designations for shoulder and hip. I know my uncle and my father had the same assigned brand for community pasture, and the only difference was front rib to rear rib, handy thing to know!!

Now the brand you described may be Rising Sun, and there are seveal. I have seen that brand on horses before, on the left hip. I am guessing that these horses were from Montana, since New Mexico and Saskatchewan are pretty far apart.

[HenryisBlaisin]

It’s not a half circle; it’s definitely a complete circle with the three rays.

Maybe I was looking in the worng place for the state books, because I couldn’t find anything like that, or I don’t recall any that had a list with pictures.

The brand is a hip brand, very centered. I have a picture, somewhere; I’ll try to find it and post a link.

ETA: Found the California book online; you have to buy Montana and Wyoming. I was hoping someone had put together an independent site listing brands form multiple states.

[Bluey]

I found this for you on a short google search:

http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/brands.htm#howto

http://www.ask.com/web?q=montana+brands&qsrc=999&l=dis&o=13755&sq=1

[sk_pacer]

well, dang, Bluey, you beat me to it…i kinda got sidetracked looking.

[Foxtrot_s]

We purchased a pony at auction that I fell in love with at first sight - about 14.1 hh, black as sin, large white blaze and two blue eyes. A sturdy litttle thing with huge strong feet and a little feather. On her right hip was a JJ with a line under it. The brand inspector helped me locate the breeders and we found out where she was bred and her age. It was a breeder of Percheron crosses who used them for packing out of Jasper National Park. They remembered her but they had sold her as a two year old because she was too small (possible twin?) That pony became the best little PPG games pony in the world, with so much heart and brain and yet had that marvellous on off button. She would be half-rearing at the start and knew as soon as the flag went down it was time to zoom - just as well as she knew that at the finish line it was time to chill. We have no idea of her interim life, but she was sold to auction before we bought her by a fellow who picked her up to be a chariot pony but she went lame on him. My girls had a lot of fun with her in and out of competitions.

[HenryisBlaisin]

Here’s a photo.http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t66/AmyJ48/?action=view&current=IMG_1332.jpg

Ignore the fact that he’s wearing the rattiest halter in the world and his head looks tiny and his butt, HUGE lol.

It’s not really a rising sun…

Foxtrot’s, how did you find out what state it was from? Or did you already know?

Thanks for the links…I’d already tried both of those with no result, unfortunately.

[Bluey]

If you think Montana or Wyoming, why not contact the state’s livestock board about this?
They will tell you who to go ask about brands.

That looks like a hot brand, not freeze brand.
Most people today use freeze brands any more, so that may narrow to where he came from.

[sk_pacer]

Link doesn’t work for me…keep getting some error message

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=sk_pacer;4149842]
Link doesn’t work for me…keep getting some error message[/QUOTE]

Double http:, so delete one and it will work.

[sk_pacer]

I tried that, and nada, but since then, i discovered i cant get a lot of places. Rain probably bloated the string and rusted the tin cans…er, wet some connection between here and the server on the above ground phonelines

[Foxtrot_s]

Henry - it was easy for us because I live in British Columbia and the guess was the pony would have come from either BC or Alberta.

[DanielleAlexis]

I have a gelding that is Thoroughbred × quarter cross. He has a brand that is a 68 with a line over it. He’s about 14 years old. Does anyone know where this brand could be from?

[Bluey]

@DanielleAlexis

I have a gelding that is Thoroughbred × quarter cross. He has a brand that is a 68 with a line over it. He’s about 14 years old. Does anyone know where this brand could be from?

Is that a freeze brand, or hot brand?

If you know his breeding, could you follow with that information?

You could ask here, maybe someone has come across that brand:

https://www.facebook.com/wrcarodeo

Many western states have brand registries for the whole state.
You could search thru those, if you think he is from the West or SW of the country.