BRANDING

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KIMBY

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I read with interest last weeks article in H&H on branding. I am sadly claiming for loss of use on my much loved mare and have been informed by the insurance company that she will need to be branded before they pay out. I am against this on humane grounds as it states on Farmkeys web site that the branding irons will need to stay on longer on greys this is going to inflict unnecessary pain when she is micro chipped. I am currently writing to them and would be interested on anyone elses views.
 
this is freezebranding, not hot iron branding. It doesn't hurt the horses. It just kills off the hair follicles and makes the hair grow white, or for greys, makes the hair die.
 
When you claim loss of use they do not brand your horse they freezemark your horse, these are two completely different things. Freezemarking is exactly what it says, they freeze the hair folicles which kills them and turns them white. Our horse was freezemarked and didn't mind at all. This is not an inhumane practice, you have nothing to worry about.
 
Branding irons are hot and are burnt onto the coat. Branding identifies a person or organisation. Freezemarking is using irons that are placed in liquid nitrogen to freeze and like previous posters have said the hair dies and grows back white. I can guarantee you that freezemarking had no detrimental effect on your horse, either short term or long term. I have owned six horses now and they have all been freezemarked within 2 weeks of my owning them. None have objected to the freezemark which as the previous posters have stated, does not hurt. To be honest I am not really against branding either, Ive seen new forest foals branded on TV and yes it hurts like hell but for the few seconds of pain, it had a lifetimes protection against theft so is beneficial in the long run. And to be honest I can't understand why everyone is so against freezemarking. Yes by all means microchip, but do this as well as a freezemark for goodness sake. What good is a microchip to a potential thief when its creeping amongst your stables in teh middle of the night? Do you think a thief will opt for the horse with the freezemark, or go for the one that is not freezemarked (but may be chipped). If I was a thief I know which one I'd choose.
 
If you have ever burned or scalded yourself, you will know it bl**dy hurts for rather more than a few seconds. Hot branding is barbaric. Freeze branding though is probably just uncomfortable. I had my mare done and she didn't flinch much. A visisble mark is, to my mind, infinitely more of a deterrent. Yes, a chip can be scanned, but someone has go to the trouble of doing that.
 
I'm afraid your only other option other than having her freezemarked for loss of use is putting her down. I'm going through loss of use with one of my horses at the mo so do sympathise with you, but the insurance company needs to make sure you won't just sell her on after they've paid out - a visual mark is the only way they can be sure of this not happening. Despite you writing to them, I'm sure the insurance company will never let you get away with not having the 'L' marked on her.
 
In NZ all TB racehorses are freeze branded on both shoulders, one identifies the breeder/brander the other the number of the foal and the year it was born in. eg 6th foal born in 2008 has a 6 over an 8.
They shave the hair off the area to be branded, firmly press the brand against the skin - it chills the skin so fast it goes numb. Then for about 10 mins you will see a faint ridge where the brand has been and then nothing until the new hair grows through. Usually the vet will sedate the horse so that the brand is held still - cleaner brand that way. I had two of my youngsters done a few months ago - they never even wriggled.
 
Having had two animals stolen just two weeks ago, I agree 100% with applecart, get your horses Freezemarked, mine were found quickly after being dumped because they had freezemarks.

OP, I am sure that you have been told to get your horse freezemarked NOT branded, and Freezemarking does not hurt.
 
I am very impressed with your story about how your horses were returned to you. I recall Farmkey have a 97% sucess rate in returning stolen horses, I am so glad yours were of that percent. What an amazing feeling to get that phone call to say they had been found.
 
I know what you mean, but you could say dew claw removal (done on hounds) is barbaric too, but look at the bigger picture, seeing a dog with a snagged dew claw hopping around in pain is a horrid sight. I would obviously prefer freezemarking to branding and hate it when people refer to the one but obviously mean the other. Incidently my imported WB (as are most) was branded with the Belg WB mark when he was four months old according to his passport. This practice is very readily accepted over on the continent.
 
I agree about the WBs but they do lots of thing on mainland Europe that we wouldn't dream of doing. Branding there is traditional - does that make it "right"? Look how many people and vets are now rallying against docking tails on puppies. Pin firing anyone? I used to ride a pony who had a nick cut out of his ear as part of his identification. There is a pony on my current yard who has had a complete circle punched out of his ear for the same reason. Would we tolerate that happening to children?

The OP is worried that freeze-marking is painful on grey horses. I have seen plenty done and the greys didn't react any more or less than the others. I hope this has put her mind at rest.
 
Thank you all for your posts it has put my mind at rest and understand why the insurance companies insist as there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there .
It is probably also the upsetting finality of having the L stamped on her when she so loved her job.
 
Freezmark has a 100% recovery rate, so both show how good it is.
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Liquid Noitrogen is what warts and veruccas have traditionally been treated with and must be handled with care, but the pressure of the iron makes it work so fast that the skin is almost instantly numbed.
 
Hot branding kills off the nerve cells in a matter of seconds. It is the smell which puts most people off.

Freeze does not hurt as much but takes a bit longer for the pain to go.

Imagines yourself getting a hot burn and then a freeze burn.
 
Have had foals hot branded - it is literally on and off and the foals did not react, went out in the field straight after with no apparent ill-effects.

But as has already been said - try sticking your hand in liquid nitrogen and then tell me it's not painful(erm, DON'T try this at home, folks!
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I had liquid nitrogen sprayed onto my face to remove a mole, was told it might be a bit painful that evening, it was not.
 
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Horses are very tolerant - having had liquid nitrogen sprayed on my skin I can assure you it hurts!

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I have no doubt - but having thrown the contents of a freshly boiled kettle down my legs a few years ago, I can tell you I was in more pain two weeks later than 2 hours later. I had to go to the burns clinic every week for 6 weeks. Burned skin and flesh continues to be damaged for hours after the initial contact. My mare has very sensitive skin and gets upset easily, but she tolerated the freezemarking irons perfectly well.
 
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