This is just proof of onwership.  Utah has state brand inspectors that will come out and look at the horse, review his sales papers and verify that the horse is indeed the one described in the sales paper.  He will create a Brand Inspection card that has the horses markings detailed on it.  Here in Utah you can buy a short term card ( I think it's good for two weeks) or a 1 year or a lifetime. The short term is $5 the one year is $10 and the lifetime is $20.00.  The inspector makes sure the brand has not been altered. The brand inspector usually hangs out at all livestock auctions checking the brands of livestock passing through the auctions.

Since a lot of horses nowdays don't have brands, Usually the horse's registration will suffice for a brand inspection. It shows ownership and details the horses markings, age, gender etc. When I cross state lines, I have to show a Brand Inspection or Registration, Coggins, and Health certificates. So I have found the Brand inspection and Registration papers to be pretty interchangeable. But check with your state and the state you plan to travel to.

Thanks for all the helpful info, so that will help us a great deal.  We always carry current coggins, health papers, etc when we travel from state to state, it is just that we have never had to  have a brand inspection before, and of course we have not ever been west past OK or just inside TX. We have traveled toward the eastern states and never ran into the brand inspection problem before either.  Learn something new all the time.