Wild Horse Identification

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Who’s Who?

Horses have natural markings consisting of color and patterns. Patterns are formed by color patches and parts of the body that lack color. These natural markings, termed "signalment," are used to record a physical description of an individual horse. Although the range of horse color and markings is wide, use of color and markings to identify a particular horse is a fairly standard process:

• To identify one horse from another on the range, wild horse managers rely on the color of the horse as well as body markings that are most distinguishable and easily observed.
• Facial markings—such as star patterns on the head, stripes on the face, and snips on the nose—can be clearly seen and are commonly used to identify a horse.
• Leg markings—such as the extent of white at the base of one or more legs—further distinguish individual horses.

To build a record on an individual horse, managers collect and store pictures detailing the horse's particular markings in the Photo Catalog of WHIMS. Information on the horse and field observations are then added to the horse's record in the Wild Horse Database. Then, to ensure that information is added to the correct horse’s history, managers must review previous descriptions and photographs of the horse's markings. Managers can use the Application Database to retrieve information on individual horses as well as generate various reports. With a database of photos on the color and markings of individual horses, it is a simple matter to quickly identify horses for various purposes, including familiarizing new or volunteer staff with particular individuals and herds.