The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Freeze branding our horses. What is your opinion on freeze branding btw??

7K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Chessie 
#1 ·


I was very business like with the other three horses,
But when it came to Beauty darling it was a whole different story,
I actually started crying a little as you can probably tell with me not facing the camera much and burying my face in her neck..
I have never been so emotionally attached to any horse as I am to my Beauty darling.
I love how she is a one girl horse and she does not like to share me just as I don't like sharing her lol ;) (Because I don't want other people riding to hurt her or confuse her in anyway)

Why I got my Girls branded and I insisted on getting them branded was because

its for identification and theft protection.
As the people and subscribers of mine will know I would NEVER do anything intentional to hurt my girls Especially not my Beauty,
This is freeze branding it actually NUMBS The skin, And then freezes it rather then Burning the skin (hot branding that is very painfull)
Yes it Is much more expensive but it is VERY worth it as it truly is painless
The horses where also Sedated Yes sedated not injected with any Barbiturates (Paralyzing agent) I have researched Barbiturates and I would Never allow them to be injected into my ponies to force them to stand still.
As you can clearly see they where SEDATED as they can move but there very sleepy and relaxed and Beauty even has her back leg rested is some of the photo's.
And when it came to branding none of them even flinched and if that was a hot brand even if they where sedated they would have at least tried to move away flinching rather then fall asleep in my arms. We could have got a very cheap person to come out who would not have sedated them but rather TWITCHED them into submition but because I did not want it to at all be a fearful experience we got a veterinarian out to do it, And I would not have wanted it done any other way yes it was more $$ But they are more then worth it,
Why did I decide to save up and freeze brand?
Because in my family we have had more then 5 horses stolen through out the years all of winch where not microchiped or Branded.
I would of hated to go to the paddock and not see her one day,
And knowing that if I ever did see her again it could be at a dogger sale or at a person's place and there would be no way to prove she was mine. (So I could get her back)
So I decided to get it all done and I did and looking back I would not change a thing.
I think what I did was the best for her,
And if you want to go ahead and dislike the video well its a shame you dislike the fact she got freeze branded .
But the whole reason she got freeze branded in the first place was because I would dislike a whole lot more her getting loaded on some dogger truck and not being able to do anything about it.
And I feel a whole lot better know that I wen't ahead and got it all done and its for her own good in the long run and there was no pain involved.
So I'm very proud of ourselves for getting it all done when we did.
And I encourage all other horse owners to do the same as it just might save a whole lot of regret in the long run.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I like the idea of freeze branding, but its not popular in my area, and pretty much the only horses to have it are adopted mustangs. The rest some have old hot brand marks, and some are microchipped and lip tattooed. I considered getting my horses freeze branded in case of disaster or theft. But since two of my horses are white the freeze brand area will be hairless, which i get concerned about because of bugs and sunburn. But other than that i thought freeze branding was a good idea for id, microchipping is too. There is even this new thing called EyeD, where it scans the horses eye, because no horses eyes are the same, and they get registered in your name, even if they go blind, the eye structure stays the same. I think they do both eyes, just in case of an accident where the horse may lose one. Its pretty pricey though since its new.
Just my OP on branding and a few other methods of ID :)
 
#7 ·
Wow that's incredibly interesting eye scaning I had never heard of that before thank you for the info.
And yes around my area lip tattoing is only used on tb's on the track and its apparently a bad form of Identifaction as the tattoos fade and the other disadvantage of having only a microchip and/or tattoo is that walking past a sale yard searching for your horse you won't just be able to pull up there top lip and prove there yours or take a portable microchip scanner with you everywhere, And anyone with the missing horse is not probably going to look under the top lip and search for a scanner where as a freeze brand is obvious and they can't not notice it.
In my area the brand can only be on the hip shoulder and rump we chose hip as we are with Querter ponies and that's where they tend to place them .

Hot brands we have found are so pathetic,
They serve no theft protection at all as they are incredibly hard to see and hair grows over some of it,
And some of them you can't even see the brand at all unless you shave the hair off shoulder right to the skin.
And its so easy to over cook the horses brand where as its nearly impossible to do that with freeze branding.
So we personally find hot branding serves us no theft protection at all and is 100% and utterly useless to us .

And I hate the idea of white hairs growing on our horses, (I think it looks very un professional and Quite ugly)
Hence why we got all our horses none of which where grey.
All bald branded and there colors where Bay, Chestnut, Apaloosa, & Dunalino.

And Its only a relativity small area If you put it on the lower hip or shoulder rather then high on the rump it will be mostly out of the sun and unless there paints they will have dark skin and I doubt very much that there would be any risk of sunburn or any ill effects and it would also be the best in the long run and it looks neat .

Best wishes x
 
#3 ·
I think this is what I want to do with my horses:) My dad had a brand for cows its a hot brand though and I dont think that I want to to that with my horses. How expensive in your area was it to do this? did you guys have to buy your brand then have the vet come out and do it obviously?
 
#6 ·
It was $320 for all four horses to be freeze branded and that included travel cost's and sedation. Yes our brand is registered and in our name.
You can brand them with liquid nitrogen your self but its much safer to just get someone experienced to do it. in our case (vet) and he was the cheapest around :) Ones of ours had a hot brand and you can't even tell he is branded it serves no use as anti theft protection at all even in summer you can not tell he has a brand unless you clip the brand area. And he was all scard after the hot branding .
So we just got him freeze branded so we could actually see his brand. And we Bald branded all of ours I don't like the idea of white hairs on my horse.
 
#4 ·
I think branding (hot or freeze) livestock is not only good but necessary to prevent theft and prove ownership if a horse or cow was ever stole. Branding is permanent where as I have heard that the microchips can sometimes fester out or be removed and tattooing all though permanent is not easily seen. If your horse is branded and you let everyone know that your bay horse with such and such a brand on the left hip was stole now if anyone sees them at a local show they can notify you.
Seeing this post reminds me that I have a few horses at home that need to be done as well. Might have to organize to get them done this fall.

Have a good one guys!
 
#8 ·
I dont think that I could do branding with the white hairs on my horses because they are paints.. so like it wouldnt show up very well. I want to talk to my dad about freeze branding though. It seems like a great idea. even if the horses were to get escape.
 
#12 ·
My Mums horse was done and he is a Appaloosa and we where concerned about it too.
but it turned out great and he has white and chestnut hairs I might be able to upload a photo sometime soon of it.
You could also just do a bald brand that makes the hair where they got branded go bald
hope this helped xxx
 
#10 ·
I am a firm supporter of freeze branding horses. I haven't had any of mine done yet mostly because it just isn't in my budget at this time...plus, we don't have much trouble with animal theft in this area.

IMHO, freeze branding is so much better than hot branding on horses because their skin is so thin, it is really easy to overdo the hot brand and end up with a nasty gobbed up mess instead of a nice, clean brand. Plus, it's a ton less painful, freezing causes a bit of discomfort at most.

Barrelbeginner, you can freeze brand a paint horse the same way you freeze brand a gray one, you just hold the iron on there for a longer time and instead of just damaging the follicle and turning the hair white, it kills the follicle so that the hair falls out and won't grow back. So, the brand would actually be visible pink skin (or black skin on a gray horse) instead of white hair. I honestly don't know how it looks on a paint because I can't find a picture, but that's the way that they do it.
 
#11 ·
I am fixing to do a group brand. A lady outside raliegh charges $50 per horse. discounts for multi horses and she will travel She can do about 3 or 4 an hour.

I think this is much better than miccro chipping or tatoos, simply because you can positively ID your horse from a distance and public road. Where as I feel microchipping is pretty worthless. If your horse gets loose, pretty much everyone in the area will know its yours and wont be any need to scan it. If it is stolen the thieves arnt gonna scan it and there is noway for anyone else to ID your horse if they do see it.
A net posse and web postings of stolen or lost horses with a brand is easy for anyone to understand and positively identified.

What would be better , LOST BROWN HORSE WITH A "4d" BRAND ON SHOULDER.
LOST, BROWN HORSE WITH A MICROCHIPP.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top