How to Find the Owner of a Horse

If you find a horse that is lost, you want to get that animal back to its rightful owner as soon as possible. Depending on the breed, you may be able to use breed registry records to track down the horse's last known owner. If you are buying a horse, however, you can use these same records to research the horse's ownership history.

Things You'll Need

  • Registration papers
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Instructions

    • 1

      Find out what breed the horse is if you can. Knowing the breed makes it a lot easier to track down the registered owner of the animal. If the horse is not a purebred, it may be impossible to track down the owner unless you can find someone who can identify the markings or someone who knows the history of the horse.

    • 2

      Lift the horse's lip and look for a tattoo or identifying number. All registered Thoroughbreds, for example, are tattooed. You can research the ownership history of a Thoroughbred horse by going to the Jockey Club website and entering the tattoo number you find. Some quarter horses may be tattooed as well, especially if they have ever raced. If you do find a tattoo, you can also research the ownership status of the horse at the American Quarter Horse Association website.

    • 3

      Find the registration number for the horse if you have the registration papers. Log on to the website of the breed registry and look for instructions on how to find the horse's previous owners. The policies for this research vary from registry to registry. Some breed registries allow only active members to research ownership status, while others allow non-members to check registration records, either at no cost or for a small fee.

    • 4

      Lift the horse's mane and look for a brand or identifying number if you do not have the registration papers and cannot find a tattoo. Look this number up in the registration database of the appropriate breed to get information on the horse and its ownership history.

    • 5

      Call your veterinarian and ask them to scan the horse for a microchip. Many owners implant microchips in newborn foals. These microchips contain complete registration information on the animal. As the horse changes hands and the registration information is updated, this data is reflected on the microchip.