If only...Rescue Horse Identification Program

I was thinking about it again today. What if there was a sort of site on the net for identifying rescue horses? Where rescues and private people could post a specific description and pictures of the horses they take in, and breeders or private people could browse to maybe 'identify' horses that they bred or once owned? Have a sort of search for specific markings, colors, and brands?

I wish, wish, WISH I knew more about Sammy's history. He's a rescue and I have no idea what he is really (TWHx something else), what kind of training, medical history, true age...nothing! Was he shown? Was he a children's mount?

It kinda brought around the idea of a 'Rescue Horse Identification Program'. I'd die happy if I could get in touch with Sam's breeders, or even just past owners, and maybe trace his history, find out more 'bout the old guy.


What do you guys think? Am I out of my mind on this one?

All the more reason why you should register your foals....

Personally I like your idea. Ideally, every foal that is born would be of a specific breed and registered with a breed organization, that would record everything from birth date, color, markings, significant features, etc, and there would be a search function to look through these databases to find a potential match....

The Saddlebred Rescue Organization actually does this. There are members who actively hunt for the identities of horses SBR bring in. With the American Saddlebred Horse Association's registry records online, they have expanded their search function so that you do not have to search for "Registered Name Only". You can search through horses foaled after a certain date, mare/gelding/stallion, by specific markings, by this particular color, deceased/still recorded alive... and if you find a potential, solid match for your Saddlebred who has lost his identity through the years, you can pay for a DNA Kit to see if your horse is actually who you found. It is often very difficult to do though, and you have to have a very good eye, and trust/hope that whoever might have registered the horse, entered his markings correctly. Not all of them find their identities though, unfortunately.

This is just within one specific breed though. I cannot fathom the difficulties you would find with trying to do this with all the rescues, many of which are unknown breeds, grade, or unregistered.

I think it's a great idea in theory, I see a few problems with it. For one thing, when someone identifys a horse and gives its history, how would you know for sure that it is in fact the same horse that the person giving the history thinks it is. It could very easily be a case mistaken identity. Many horses look a lot alike. So how would a situation like that be avoided? Also, what would keep a person (we have several on this forum that likes to do this) from just making up a lavish story about a horse they don't even know or have never seen before. You would have to have a way to verify the information given. Also, what would motivate people to look through thousands of horses just to identify them?