Why Do Cutie Marks Appear On The Flank?

[Midnight Seashell 206]

When a pony receives their cutiemark it appears in the flank but why is that? Like why can't a cutiemark be placed on the forhead or the shoulder? What do you think?

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

I gives us an excuse to look at their butts
 
Jokes aside, In a design perspective, it makes sense for the marks to be there.. The face and front of the body should be the focus of emotion..
Whilst the rear of the pony is out of the main focus and that's where other design aspects can be.. and thus cutie mark location

 

Also in anatomy perspective.. The back thighs seems like a great place to put marks too, as it's a large flat surface on a powerful muscle..

The head is too small, and the shoulder distracts away from the face (which again is a point of emotional expression in MLP)

Edited June 1, 2016 by AURAequine

[Concerned Bystander 2,904]

I gives us an excuse to look at their butts

 

Jokes aside, In a design perspective, it makes sense for the marks to be there.. The face and front of the body should be the focus of emotion..

Whilst the rear of the pony is out of the main focus and that's where other design aspects can be.. and thus cutie mark location

 

Also in anatomy perspective.. The back thighs seems like a great place to put marks too, as it's a large flat surface on a powerful muscle..

The head is too small, and the shoulder distracts away from the face (which again is a point of emotional expression in MLP)

 

All that.  Also, the flank is less likely to be obscured by the mane.

[cmarston1 5,960]

Because it is a design choice that has been in the franchise sense the very beginning.

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

the cutie marks are special emblems on what the ponies are extremely capable of (fantasy and real life). sometimes they even mark the interests they are "born" with

[BennyBoy 21]

I'm not sure why they had them that way since the beginning, but I think that Lauren just ran with it and gave it a bit of a new meaning, with the whole "finding yourself" idea. Unless it was that way before, but I don't remember it. 

 

Anyway, I just think that it was a good idea to leave them where they were already, and as others have said, can not easily be obscured, does not distract from other characteristics, and is good for balance with the design itself, being not tiny but small, easy to see, but not completely eye-catching, allowing us to focus more on other things like facial expressions, backgrounds, and what the character is doing at the moment. 

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

A long time ago horses were marked with a symbol on their flank. This symbol made the owner recoginse them. Those symbols could be a leave or a horse shoe or anything. It was like a little picture on their buts to identify them. I beleve the cutiemark was taken from that. Horses always had little pictures on their buts. Not anymore since there are other ways to identify your horse as with burning a symbol on their but, but it has been like that for a long time so it was logical to put the cutie mark on their flank since that is where it always has been.

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

Because it would be weird to see a picture of balloons on a pony's forehead...

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,896]

I think because it is such an open area on a pony's body., it gives a good amount of room to work with. At least, compared to the rest of the body.  It is essentially a Cutie Mark canvas. A butt canvas. Can't believe I just said that but that is what it is!

[cuteycindyhoney 13,316]

A long time ago horses were marked with a symbol on their flank. This symbol made the owner recoginse them. Those symbols could be a leave or a horse shoe or anything. It was like a little picture on their buts to identify them. I beleve the cutiemark was taken from that. Horses always had little pictures on their buts. Not anymore since there are other ways to identify your horse as with burning a symbol on their but, but it has been like that for a long time so it was logical to put the cutie mark on their flank since that is where it always has been.

I do agree. I've always felt that Cutie marks represented branding in a much cuter way.

 

Branding is still in use today. The more humane version is "Freeze Branding". That involved chilling the brand in liquid nitrogen. It is claimed to be far less painful than using a red hot iron to brand.

 

In freeze branding, you shave the area to be marked. The cold brand is applied for a set amount of time.The hair at the brand site grows back in white. It will remain white for the rest of the horse's life.  If the horse has a white coat, the freeze brand is left on longer. Then the horse gets a permanent bald spot in the shape of the brand.

 

At the risk of sounding weird, I wonder if it would hurt to have a small white streak freeze branded on my head. That would look so cool!