Even at USEF licensed/endorsed Eventing competitions, horses are not yet required to be microchipped.
Even in the disciplines where horses ARE currently required to be microchipped (e.g., divisions which require USHJA membership), there is no requirement for show management to scan them.
I would imagine even if there was a requirement to scan them, it would not include having to scan them before every time they enter the ring…so it still would not prevent different horses.
Also, as a friend, you are legally not allowed to ask that question, because of the risk that you are within earshot of a significant other 
…don’t mind me, that’s all I have to contribute to this thread because the rest just leaves me speechless. If someone wants to PM me I would love to know who that UL rider is though so I can never, ever purchase from them.
I cannot believe someone would have the audacity to ride a different horse in the dressage and jumping phases. At that point, why even bother eventing since you obviously aren’t in it for the love of the sport. Although, not sure how a bridle number prevents this from happening at all. The only way I see to prevent from happening is requiring all horses to be microchipped and scanning the microchip each time before the horse goes in the ring, which I can see being a logistical nightmare on already heavily worked volunteers. And even then, I’m sure some devious mastermind would come up with a way to get around that.
The thought of someone doing this for horses that are for sale and then the new owner likely feeling down on themselves because they cant get the horse cleanly around the jumping phases literally puts a sour taste in my mouth. Ew, just EW. The level some people will go to to make a buck. Unreal.
Same - I would love that info.
If it’s common knowledge amongst those in the know, I think that the cheat should be outed to everyone.
Ah, but therein lies the problem. If the competitor is outed, whoever publishes the information has slandered or libeled the competitor and if you cannot prove that the incident happened, and happened on purpose, you have a problem.
So, even though I understand that this has happened, I wouldn’t out the person for fear of lawsuit related reprisals. Because if the competitor that did such a thing had a sales business, you are officially making an accusation that someone was dishonest in their business dealings. If you personally don’t have the ability to prove it, you are on the hook for damages, not only to their reputation but to lost sales etc.
So the chances that the people that know will actually publish details are pretty low.
But, with that said, if you get ready to purchase a horse from someone, asking around for a lot of opinions is never a bad idea.
So true.
But the person asking is at a disadvantage if they aren’t on the inside of the groups who know. A lot of people love their horses, but they don’t really get that involved with all of the other horse people, even if they do show.
So there is an in-group and an out-group, when it comes to important insider knowledge.
The seller knows well that people who aren’t in the in-group won’t find out. They know who to show certain horses for sale, and who not to show those horses.
If the information is true, when spoken or published, it is not a defamatory statement i.e. a false statement that harms a person’s reputation or causes financial harm - precisely because it is true. Stating an opinion versus a fact can be a fine line, it can test the freedom of speech. Making a false statement and claiming it to be true is potentially defamatory if it causes reputational, financial or other harms. Usually it is up to the plaintiff alleging the defamation to demonstrate how they have been adversely affected by a false claim made by the defendant.
However, in the USA, where there are more lawyers than doctors per head of population, I suspect who said what, and who slandered or libelled whom, depends on how much one can pay one’s lawyers. And the law is too often used as a bludgeon against less wealthy opponents (thinking Bob Baffert contesting his punishments for his multiple drug infringements, thinking Trump and his legal history). Defamation is meat and bread to lawyers.
Personally, I don’t think some hypothetical legal challenge should stop people speaking up when they see something wrong happening in the horse world.
I can’t even tell you which hind leg has the white ON MY OWN HORSE. Lol I know she has one white sock. Right or left? Let me look at her or look at a picture and then I will tell you.
My mare with 4 whites - yep, got that. The one with no white socks, got that. But, the little mare with one white sock. Idk, other than she has one hind white sock.
Thank you for saying this. I wasn’t going to be the first to mention that, in my experience, most owners don’t know which leg has which sock. Although they do seem to have a grasp on front/hind. It’s the left/right that gets them. 
Also they don’t know how high is the white marking, or the pattern of the borders. They tend to know short or high sock - sort of.
If anyone reading is not with their horse right now – take a minute to think if you could describe him/her, with specific details, to someone who does not know your horse, but needs to find them for you in a group of similar horses. Just for kicks. 
Interesting if the horse is ever evacuated to a fairgrounds without the owner (on an emergency basis, someone with a trailer takes horses, it can happen). And is just one more chestnut or bay among dozens collected at the site. In person they would recognize their horse, but they may not be allowed to look themselves. They may have to give a description to someone else to look for them (because horses in an evacuation center sometimes have an unhappy tendency to disappear with people not their owner, so no horse-shopping, as it were).
The horse is so special to us, but out in the big world it’s just another horse with similar color and markings.
Keep photos on your mobile device of your horse from different angles showing all markings – with you in at least one clear photo.
Mine is plain bay with one very small star. I’m always looking for things that a stranger could use to find him in a crowd of plain bays!
Oh – I know mine, but it is because of their particular foot issues! The high white left front that tends to pancake, for instance 
Thank God. All these years I have believed that I was the only one!
my horse has been gone for 20 years, but she had 2 white hind feet. The left was higher than the right, and she had 2 dark spots on it. 
That shouldn’t be a problem for me, considering 90% of the photos out of my (checks phone) 5,193 photos on my phone are probably of my horses 
No we could not. But never mind show photographers/videographers, our cell phones are both a blessing and a curse. If this became a topic of conversation online can you imagine how many pics, enlargement/enhancement of pics of the horse or horses in question would show up on social media? Along with hordes of keyboard warriors with pixel analysis that would put the FBI to shame? The mind boggles…
If it were to work I think it would have to be two solid colors individuals who also looked similar. But to be fair, it would be simple enough to take them out to hand graze or bathe them the night before and simply switch them when you put them back in their stalls. Easy to do even in an FEI tent, really…
But again, the ever present cameras… People would be comparing head shape, eye and nostril placement.
Lol we could start this now. No defamation involved, just post pics of the relevant portion of the alleged swapped horses and “innocently” ask if these are the same horses. Bonus points if at least one picture has enough background to identify the venue. Let the games commence!
Talked to my friend yesterday who does the USEA show official, dressage judging, president of ground jury thing and this topic was a total surprise to her. Says it has never come up at all but that she will ask.
In my experience, honest people often can’t even dream up the scams that those with nefarious intent will pull.
That is the truth!
I’ve actually read up on deception and con artistry, in self-defense. And yet the idea that someone would combine two horses into one eventing entry to improve their result never before crossed my mind.
I can even understand that this is probably not as hard to do as we would like to think. And yet I’m mystified that anyone thinks that such a scheme won’t come back to bite them, in time.
But many cons do tend to be short-sighted. And are not as successful as we assume they are.
A reasonably well-known barrel racer tried this stunt a few years ago. Brought out her NFR, World Champion mare to a local race and entered it under a different name of a similarly marked mare with a much less impressive record.
Unfortunately for her, there was a race photographer, and there was just enough difference in the two mares that you could spot the fake if you went back to the proofs and compared the two horses.
She, of course, denied it and tried to gaslight the public. She still mentions “haters” sometimes who “make up crazy claims about how she fakes entries”… but, if she’s willing to do it as a professional - it wouldn’t shock me at all that it happens in multiple disciplines from rookies to pros.
Luckily, most people these days have cameras and photographs don’t lie.
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