Scars on the legs

Question

Trigger  

Trigger   My son recently feel in love with a retired race horse. We bought him from a family that was a new horse owner and they had very little information on him. He is pretty skinny and needing his teeth floated pretty bad. I can barely read the tattoo on his lip. So I am not getting very far on that. But along his front legs he has about 8 slash type scars. they are on both sides of the front legs. They are black and it doesn't grow any hair. The previous owner thought they were a type of brand, like a freeze brand. I don't really think this is nerve blocking, but I have never come across something like this before. Pin Firing is more circle like scars. I would like to know what its from and to make sure he is safe for my son. This horse is very gentle and very responsive. But I'm afraid of his legs having issues. My son would be heart broken if I took him back so I decided to find out first if this is a problem. They told us his name is Pull that Trigger, and the tattoo she gave me is E37051 but when I research the two they don't match up, not sure if the tattoo is wrong or if they got the wrong name. They also told me he was 9 but the tattoo starting with the E means he is more like 12. So I am very confused and don't know where to turn. Hope you can shed a little light on this for me.

Answer
Hi Sherry,
         Indistinct brandings always make the job of tracking a horse history more difficult however I would try entering his name in the search box at www.equineline.com and see what happens. They are offering all sorts of free searches this month and in the past I have found there service is top notch.
As for the scars, I am at a loss to know what they might be. I agree that they are not consistent with pin firing (a barbaric practice in my opinion)but I can offer no other explanation. If they are even that suggest they were a planned procedure rather than the horse being lacerated in a fence or similar. Your best bet is to ask some vets what they think or take several photos of each and send them to various equine vet clinics in universities. Kentucky is always a good place to start.
Sorry I can't be more helpful. I would of course be very interested to find out what they are so if you do get an answer please e-mail me. [email protected]
I will forward the photos you included to some contacts of mine and let you know if anything turns up. We don't do pin firing or similar procedures in NZ so we don't have a lot of experience in this type of procedure.
regards,
Don Boddie
New Zealand.