Freeze marking

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J1993

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Has anyone had it done recently? How did you arrange it and how much did it cost?
My mare is microchipped and I would like her freeze marked for the peace of mind but she is a bit of a sensitive soul and was wondering what it involves/ will it be painful? Thanks :-)
 
You are very sensible to have your horse Freezemarked as this is the only way to ensure that your horse can easily be identified by anyone. 95% of stolen horses that were Freezemarked have been recovered.
My advice would be to get your horse Freezemarked on it's shoulder so that it can be seen when ridden. This also means that you can continue riding your horse while it settles down. You horse may experience some discomfort while the cold irons are placed on it. (They use liquid Nitrogen to cool the ions down)
There are two companies that do Freezemarking and they are Farmkey and Freezemark Ltd.
 
My mare was far more interested in the treats that I had for her, than the freezemarking process. She's quite a sensitive, fine skinned animal too.
 
farmkey no longer do freezemarking , their freezemarking technicians have set up as premier equimark
here is the statement from their FB page

Changes in Farmkey Please note-

Farmkey have now pulled out of the freeze-marking sector, However we are outsourcing the freeze-marking to Premier Equimark.

Premier Equimark is a freeze-marking company set up by Farmkey freeze-marking technicians.
Farmkey decided to stop freeze-marking to concentrate on our security membership, we felt that we could give our customers a more comprehensive service and we wanted to dedicate our time to this.
Some of the technicians chose to carry on with the marking, and they had to set up as a new business, Premier Equimark.
We now work in partnership with them, they carry out the freeze-marking as before and then send us the paperwork to be added on to our database.
This ensures that the customers can have the 24 hour security membership which we pride ourselves on.

If you are interested in having your horse freeze-marked and are in Kent, Essex or home counties, please contact Jenny Fitzgerald on freezemarking@yahoo.co.uk

All other areas please contact Alison Duffield on freezemarking@premierequimark.co.uk



if you are a horsewatch member they also offer £5.00 discount on freezemarking
hope that helps
 
I had my youngster done in January by Farmkey before they stopped.

He is chipped but with no distinctive markings I was worried he wouldn't be easy to trace if he went missing, either by being stolen or through wandering.

He has his 3 initials plus the microchip mark under the saddle and even though he is scared of everything he was fine. The lady who marked him didn't give him a chance to get worked up and other than swishing his tail and moving his back end he was very good.

You can also get patches to sew onto your rugs so people can see they are marked. It doesn't matter if it's on the shoulder or under the saddle if they are rugged you can't see either.

Cost was £113 in total (I think) and that included a unique mark which cost £20, the marking itself and 5 years on the register which I think was £38.

Personally I would have been happy to pay more just for the peace of mind. Microchips can move, a freeze mark cannot.
 
Not sure if i would freeze mark again. Since my mare was freeze marked she has become quite nervous to clip. Beforehand she was fine. They obviously have to clip the area to be marked and now is spooky around clippers. All i can think is that the actual marking process was pretty painful.
 
My trad-lad is a real wuss, just think the word "vet" and he goes to the back of the stable and sulks about it, but he was actually OK when he was freezemarked. Because he's a coloured, we had to select a black bit, which was actually on the side of his bum/rump area. He was only a bit fidgety when the last two digits were done, and it was certainly a lot easier than clipping his legs, all that was needed was to trickle a few horse cubes into a bucket to keep him amused.

Personally, and this is just my opinion, but I'd far rather have to get the vet out even, and sedate if necessary, and get the freezemark done - in the knowledge that I'd done everything possible to protect my horse and provide a visible deterrent to being stolen - than to suffer the heartbreak and distress of losing him and not knowing what had happened.
 
My three year old highland had never seen a pair of clippers nor been in any stressful situations . She failed to notice it been done. My trad mare who can be nervous was fab. Bucket and honestly hardly noticed. Only Freddie my highland was naughty. Typical him!
 
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