Tattoo Identifier

Like most animals, racehorses don’t talk or wear nametags. This isn’t really a problem until they get lost or stolen, and need to be returned to their owners.

To combat this issue, horse owners and breeders tattoo the upper lip of their animals. In fact, certain breeds are required to be tattooed before they can race or compete. Tattoo Identifiers work for racetracks to check the tattoos of horses before they run.

The tattoos you look at as a Tattoo Identifier are made up a series of numbers and letters that tell you things like the animal’s date of birth and identification number. You match this with the information on the horse’s official registration forms, which are filled out when it’s born. If the numbers don’t line up, you know you have an issue, namely that a different horse is racing in the original’s place.

These checks can also help you find stolen horses. When a horse goes missing, alerts are sent to places where it might show up, like racetracks or breeding stables. Since it’s difficult to identify a horse just by looking at it, tattoos are the only way you can tell for certain that it’s the horse you’re looking for.

Before each race, you check all the horses that are running. After each check, you carefully record the information you found. You spend most of your workdays as a Tattoo Identifier at a racetrack, so you should be ready to work outdoors and with large animals.