Illegible thoroughbred tattoo-help!

[Horselover66]

Hey everyone! I have a mare thoroughbred. She has a lip tattoo that is very hard to read. If anyone can please help me out I would greatly appreciate it. She has one letter and 4 numbers, therefore, a 0 goes between the letter and the 4 numbers just in case nobody knew that. She is estimated to be between the ages of 10 and 16. I really want to know her background, her age and where she came from. This is very important to me. Thanks in advance to any help I can get. Right now I’m thinking the numbers would be G022 but I can’t figure out the last two numbers. But because she is white/grey it’s very hard to know what color she was born.

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[SuzieQNutter]

It looks like 2253 to me.

[Bluey]

@SuzieQNutter

It looks like 2253 to me.

Me too.

[WildLittleWren]

I third 2253

[Simkie]

Where are you? When you get this horse wet, what markings can you see? What history DO you have?

I definitely don’t see a zero ahead of the first 2, and it doesn’t look like there’s enough room on the lip for two digits to the left of the two. Zeros aren’t left out of the tattoo.

This may be a possibility:

Tizzy’s Jewel, G22532, Irregular star pointed at top. Median cowlick at bottom of eye level.

Although that cowlick looks at eye level to me, not below.

[Bluey]

Have you asked your vet?
Ours is a whiz at decifering hard to read tattoos, maybe yours is also.

[AA_Hunter]

You can contact the Jockey Club to do DNA testing to identify the horse. You just send in some mane hair with roots and they can identify any horse registered after a certain date (not sure what the cutoff is). They will send you a kit. I did it once a while ago; i don’t think it was that expensive.

[rhymeswithfizz]

Tattoo help here:
https://www.registry.jockeyclub.com/…pDeskTattooFAQ

JC only uses four numbers in the tattoo if they are older than 25.

If you are certain that she is younger than that and you don’t see a 5th number, it is possible that she is actually a Standardbred – They use 4 numbers after the letter. If you don’t know the first letter, you can search ?2253 and see what comes up:
https://pathway.ustrotting.com/searc…?action=search

[Horselover66]

@Simkie

Where are you? When you get this horse wet, what markings can you see? What history DO you have?

I definitely don’t see a zero ahead of the first 2, and it doesn’t look like there’s enough room on the lip for two digits to the left of the two. Zeros aren’t left out of the tattoo.

This may be a possibility:

Tizzy’s Jewel, G22532, Irregular star pointed at top. Median cowlick at bottom of eye level.

Although that cowlick looks at eye level to me, not below.

She has one letter and four numbers. Jockey clubs website says that if they only have four numbers then a zero in between the letter and the numbers is implied. As for her background, I don’t know much. Just wanted to see if I can get close with the tattoo number before I tried dna test.

[Horselover66]

@Bluey

Have you asked your vet?
Ours is a whiz at decifering hard to read tattoos, maybe yours is also.

I tried my vet too. She couldn’t get anything either

[Simkie]

@Horselover66

She has one letter and four numbers. Jockey clubs website says that if they only have four numbers then a zero in between the letter and the numbers is implied. As for her background, I don’t know much. Just wanted to see if I can get close with the tattoo number before I tried dna test.

If she has one letter and four numbers she is either not a Thoroughbred or far older than you think. Zeros are not left out of the tattoo. The last time Thoroughbreds were tattooed with only four numbers was something like 30 years ago now.

[Cammie]

@Horselover66

She has one letter and four numbers. Jockey clubs website says that if they only have four numbers then a zero in between the letter and the numbers is implied. As for her background, I don’t know much. Just wanted to see if I can get close with the tattoo number before I tried dna test.

Where are you seeing the information that a zero is implied in a tattoo that only has four digits? Simkie is correct in that a zero would not be left off a TB tattoo.

6. My horse’s tattoo has fewer than five numbers, or the letter is after the numbers. What does this mean?
Most Thoroughbred tattoos are one letter followed by five numbers. Some Thoroughbred tattoos have four numbers, which indicates the horse is older than 25. Other breeds also tattoo racehorses on their upper lips. A Quarter Horse tattoo consists of four or five numbers followed by a letter, and a Standardbred tattoo consists of one letter followed by four numbers.

[rhymeswithfizz]

Also, if she is indeed a standardbred, she is at least 16+ (2002 model or older) – that’s the last year when they used a single letter instead of two letters to start the tattoo:
https://pathway.ustrotting.com/search/helpt.cfm

[Horselover66]

@Cammie

Where are you seeing the information that a zero is implied in a tattoo that only has four digits? Simkie is correct in that a zero would not be left off a TB tattoo.

6. My horse’s tattoo has fewer than five numbers, or the letter is after the numbers. What does this mean?
Most Thoroughbred tattoos are one letter followed by five numbers. Some Thoroughbred tattoos have four numbers, which indicates the horse is older than 25. Other breeds also tattoo racehorses on their upper lips. A Quarter Horse tattoo consists of four or five numbers followed by a letter, and a Standardbred tattoo consists of one letter followed by four numbers.

That is very weird. Hmm not sure. She is definitely built like a thoroughbred for sure and her age is definitely not over 25, confirmed by the dentist. So I’m not really sure. I might have her just dna tested.

[rhymeswithfizz]

Standardbred lineage is derived from TBs. They are not that dissimilar in conformation and go on to have very successful sporthorse careers. If there’s no 5th number, that’s likely what she is.

But look closer and see if maybe there is another number hiding off to the right that has faded out. The JC website has some good tricks to help the tattoos be more visible.

Either way, she looks like a sweetie!

[sk_pacer]

@rhymeswithfizz

Also, if she is indeed a standardbred, she is at least 16+ (2002 model or older) – that’s the last year when they used a single letter instead of two letters to start the tattoo:
https://pathway.ustrotting.com/search/helpt.cfm

Close but some critical info is missing on the USTA site,that being: a) two letters were always used in Canadian reg numbers; b) the letters shift one space to the right with every run through the alphabet; c) as of 2002, all Canadian reg. horses that raced were freeze branded, and two years later the USTA caught up and now, no registered Standardbred is unbranded - brand must be applied before reg cert is ‘printed’ - quotes because most people opt for electronic reg now

[Simkie]

Racing Quarter Horses are also tattooed and can be heavily TB bred. Depending on location, this could easily be one.

[ladyj79]

Aging by teeth is truly not a great indicator.

racing quarter horses are numbers followed by letters.

I think she’s probably a standardbred, and probably 16+

[mmeqcenter]

I would contact the Jockey Club with better pictures. They are perfectly happy to review photos and send you their guess.
Personally, I think there are remnants of a fifth number all the way to the right at the lip, it’s just very faded. If you had provided a close up picture to that side like you did the left side, that’d have been more helpful.
As others have said, zeros aren’t left off, she either has four numbers and isn’t thoroughbred, or there’s a faded fifth number.
So I agree with Simkie; G22532. Tizzy’s Jewel. [TABLE=“align: center, cellpadding: 4, cellspacing: 2”]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Horse Name[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]Tizzy’s Jewel[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Tattoo[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]G22532[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Year of Birth[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]2003[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Dam Name[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]Jewel Ball[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Color[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]Gray or Roan[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=“colspan: 3, align: center”] [TABLE=“align: center, border: 0”]
[TR]
[TD=“width: 195, align: right”]Sex[/TD]
[TD=“width: 195, align: left”]Mare[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[joiedevie99]

Post more tattoo pictures, please.