Hi! Do you know the history of the brands on the withers? I know several breeds base location of brands on the lineage or breed of the horse (mustangs: high under the mane, Conteros by Contender: low on near haunches, etc), but I don’t think I’ve seen brands high on the withers before.
The placement of brands on Russian-bred horses is regulated by rules that were adopted during the formation of regular cavalry in the Red Army in the twenties of the XX century. These rules seem to originate from the practices that were used for branding horses from cavalry remount stud farms during the XIXth century. And those were probably adopted in earlier times from the Eurasian Steppe horse cultures, particularly from Mongols, who had (and still have) tamga, clan seals, which are used for identification of belongings and livestock. (Note that not only Mongols have tamga seals, but many nations and ethnicities along the Great Steppe have also adopted them).
It was and still is a common practice for Russian stud farms to keep horses in freely roving herds in steppes and forest-steppes; for Don, Budyonny and native breeds this is an obligatory practice for the full year, the stud breeds such as Orlov Trotter, heavy drafts, Russian Trahkenner, Akhal-Teke, Arabian and Tersk horses spend whole summer in free-range grazing. In order to manage the herd in such condition and to help to pick an individual horse easily, the brand must be placed where it is very visible on a horse that is grazing in a herd, and such place is the withers.
Current rules ask for the brand with individual horse number on the withers. This number consists of two numerals, the upper one is the horse’s number in the stub book, the lower one is the two last digits of its birth year. There can be an additional brand that denotes in which stud farm the horse was born. Some stud farms place such brands on the withers to the right of personal number, others place them on the left thigh. For example, the brands of various stud farms that breed Don and Bunyonny horses:
Kazachii Stud Farm. The stylised letter "K" on the thigh.
S.M. Budyonny Stud Farm. The stylised letters "Б" and "З" on the thigh.
Stepnoy Stud Farm. Letter "C" on the thigh.
Tselina Stud Farm. Letter "Ц" on the withers.
Zimovnikovskii Stud Farm. Two letters "З" ("Z") on the withers.
Donskoy Stud Farm. Cursive letter "Д" ("D") on the thigh. (The lower number on the withers should be read as "15", it's an imperfection in branding.)
Comdiv (division commander) Moshchalkov Stud Farm. A shield with letter "M" on the thigh.
The 1st Cavalry Army Stud Farm. Letters "K" and "З" on the withers.
So, summarily, brands placed on the withers were deemed the best practice in the management of large herds of horses.
