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Older (late 90's-early 2000's)Racing photos)

Does he have a mixed patch of white hairs to the right on the forehead? I really don’t see that in these pics. His white looks very central?

The left fore doesn’t appear to have any white in the front. Does have have dark spots in the white he does have on that foot?

The is the left hind white higher in the back?

Same question about the right hind–higher on inside & back?

Does the white come up to the ankle in the back on that right front?

These markings look really very close, but perhaps just a little off. His teeth don’t look as angled as I’d expect for an “old” horse although that’s a tough mouth to age.

It really might be interesting to send DNA to the Jockey Club here. If he’s really a '97, you’re not going to get anything, but if he’s 2001 or younger, you will. Info at the bottom of the page here: https://tjctip.com/About/TBHSI

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I see what you mean - scrolling back up and looking at the markings it’s pretty central, if anything it points towards the left not right - I thought close but maybe not a perfect match but I don’t know how accurate a description would be over two decades if he is a '97.

Also looking at the leg markings again, doesn’t the description mention dark-colored spots (same color as his coat) in some of the leg markings? I don’t see those clearly, I see some dark spots on his hind legs but they look more like dirt to me. My old guy was a chestnut with similar hind leg markings (white pasterns/ankle height socks on both hinds w/chestnut spots in them, small white coronet stripe on one front leg) and the JC description of his leg markings was exact - chestnut spots on the hind feet, etc.

The one thing I will add, though, is that face markings can move and change with time… especially those of the scattered white hair varieties. I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t own a horse whose papers don’t even match her current face. Leg markings can change a bit, too, but usually not as dramatically.

So many fun mysteries this week. I hope you run DNA, OP!

Just re-read this and it mentions dark spots on the coronet but not on the hind legs, so disregard my previous post noting the lack of dark spots on the hind legs.

Not sure I’d say his coronet white stripe has “dark spots” as much as one large “dark spot.”

I was wondering about that possibility - most of the horses I’ve known don’t have face markings of the “scattered white hair” varieties but I thought there was a chance too, that he could’ve developed more/different patches of white hair with age.

Good luck OP and let us know if you find out his registered name! Also hoping you try running DNA - that might be your best bet.

Totally agree on the way scattered white can move around especially, but do think this horse might have a few misses based on the pics here. I’d love to see more pics! :grin:

I can take more, just tell me what you need. I’ve spent so much time trying to figure who he is. I will try to get more of the tattoo. Poor guy had his forelock cut off and feet are too short, pinfired in front ankles which tells me his older?

I have owned this horse every second of her life. Left picture is sometime in the first week of life (I think day 3). Right picture was taken a couple hours ago. She’s 16 now.

I think there’s a guide on the JC website on making a tattoo a bit clearer to read, like, blot it well to get rid of some of the saliva or something like that and/or get an ultraviolet light and shine on it (been a while since I’ve looked at that, laptop battery starting to die need to plug in - if anyone else wants to say I’m on the right track or provide a link I do know there are some tips on the JC site to make a tat a bit easier to read).


Vet says 20 years old

20 would be '01 so the letter should be “E” if my mental alphabet singing while counting up to “H” is correct, maybe give or take a year or so either direction - he can’t be Mr. Sonata though if he was foaled in '01.

It’s really really hard to read this but what I’m seeing looks like the numbers of the tat and it looks to me like it might be 0266 (the blurry mark to the left (viewer’s left not horse’s left) of the possible “2” looks like it’s a bit rounded like it might’ve been a 0 or maybe an 8. It also looks like a line so maybe could’ve been a 1, I really can’t tell) and then something really faded that might have been a 1 (like the line at the bottom of a “1”) of maybe the line through the middle of a “4” but that’s just my best guess and might not be accurate.

Don’t have time to look those number combinations up on JC right now but someone else might or I could try later. Just happened to see there was a new post.

Aging by the teeth is guesswork. If the vet said this horse is 20, that’s a general timeframe that means it’s unlikely he’s like… five. It just means he’s an older horse, not that he’s exactly 20 years old.

Hell, I had a horse who was perpetually 8 by his teeth. I owned him for nearly ten years, and bought him as an adult horse.

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True - I’d say give or take a few years but it’s still possible he’s 25 - teeth age at different rates, though, so.

I had a horse that everyone thought was 8 (this was back when I rode at a sketchy barn I’ve talked about in other threads). Finally got a dentist out to float his teeth (he needed it) dentist asked us to guess how old the horse was - we all thought 8-10 maybe (I hadn’t really looked at his teeth closely myself and obviously no one else had). More like 15 and the dentist said that the horse was at least 15, more likely a bit older.

For OP or anyone else who has time to check the JC tat look up today, I’d say search the numbers you can sort of read in combination with letters within maybe a 5-ish year range of 2001 just as a starting point, see if you return any other likely matches.

If I were a betting woman, Id say this is the horse, from the pictures and description.

Mr Sonata’s Tattoo is A12614, to me I can make out some of those numbers in his Tat. I’ve spent hours looking up every letter and 26, that is the closest description that matches him. Yes he does have white on his right fore on the back of his right heel and coronet. Not in the front.