Freezemarking - does it REALLY prevent theft?

Achinghips

Achinghips

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 December 2009
Messages
3,741
Visit site
My mare has a microchip and wears a rug in the field, so a potential thief would not see she's freezemarked. Someone recently told me that when stolen some "profeshnul" thieves alter the freezemark and so it's not worth getting it done. My own view is that any thing "extra" to prevent theft is better than nothing. What we think, and how effective are microchips in helping?
 
Mine are microchipped and have just been freeze-marked. I hope it helps prevent theft! Hopefully it will make them less attractive to a thief but I guess a determined one will take a horse regardless.
 
Yes, it does. Of the few feezemarked horses thaat are stolen, 99% are recovered. A Microchip may assist in identification but, in itself, will not prevent theft.
There is never any harm in taking EVERY precaution available.

A microchip is also moer likely to be removed than a Freezemark altered. Both are very very rare.
 
Yes a freezemark will make a massive difference to what may happen to your horse. If it is stolen the thief will discover this and it won't be retained for long. Whilst there are some urban myths about people changing freezemarks, and of course in the short term you could apply hair dye to disguise them, I have never actually known anybody try to permanently change one; it would be potentially permanently damaging to the horse and is not worth doing.

if your horse strays it can be immediately identified with no need for specialist equipment.

There is no good reason not to freezemark a horse.
 
Both my horses are freezemarked, my mare is also microchipped.

I had mine freezemarked as a visable deterrant and have marked their rugs with their freezmark numbers - to protect horse and rug :)

Chatting to a non-horsey friend about it I referred to them as their "number plates". In the event of their theft I feel I have more chance of a non-horsey policeman / member of the public recognising my horses with their freezemark than from a description of eg. a grey horse or black horse with 2 white legs and a blaze!

I also keep my farmkey membership up to date so that should they disappear I would have their support with contacting abbatoirs, auctions, putting up posters etc
 
Archie has been freezemarked ... twice ... and it still hasn;t worked. He is so thick skinned. Its meant to be a bald mark and the irons were held on as long as possible but nothing has materialised :( Microchip next, I guess.

I do have a sign on the gate so hopefully this will prove a deterrent in itself and a thief would think twice.
 
Donkeymad said:
Yes, it does. Of the few feezemarked horses thaat are stolen, 99% are recovered. A Microchip may assist in identification but, in itself, will not prevent theft.
There is never any harm in taking EVERY precaution available.

A microchip is also moer likely to be removed than a Freezemark altered. Both are very very rare.
Click to expand...

Sorry had to comment on this, mmm easier to locate and cut into an animal to remove something the size of a grain of rice versus putting a bit of hair dye or scarring a freezebrand to alter it!!!!????? I know which I think is easier!

But have to say that having both done really covers all aspects!!

Mine are all chipped and once my babies are old enough to be freeze branded without growth to distort the mark then they will all be branded too!

Please also note that as a visual deterent to thieves, signs stating all horses on a yard are chipped will help!
 
Archiesmummy said:
Archie has been freezemarked ... twice ... and it still hasn;t worked. He is so thick skinned. Its meant to be a bald mark and the irons were held on as long as possible but nothing has materialised :( Microchip next, I guess.

I do have a sign on the gate so hopefully this will prove a deterrent in itself and a thief would think twice.
Click to expand...

Mines the same on the thick skinned heffalump of mine. I rang farmkey and they said to take a picture or what marking there is and it can be kept as a unique mark. My insurance company have a picture of it as well.
 
Yes, I truely believe it does, but at the end of the day, if a thief really wants something he is prepared to risk everything to take it. However, if nothing else, a marked horse can be recognised by anyone who can read, whereas an unmarked one can't by anyone except those who know what they are talking about, so when you horse gets through the fence and wanders off...
 
You should paint all your rugs with your horses freezemark and put signs up in the field which you can buy from the freezemark company saying 'all our horses are freezemarked and are easily indentifiable by the police'. A freezemarked horse is much safer than a microchipped horse simply because its a visible deterrent. By all means get your horse microchipped once it is freezemarked, but all of my horses have been marked within the first fortnight of owning them, I make it absolute priority. I have never heard of thieves altering a freezemark. And lets face it 99% recovery rate for stolen freezemarked horses just about says it all. In fact I would even go so far as to say that in my opinion it is beyond stupidy why people don't get their horses freezemarked. I have no sympathy for horses that are stolen and not marked I'm afraid, but I am sure my opinion will get some people annoyed.
 
unfortunatly there has been the odd case of a microchip being removed - or cuts showing that it has been attempted to be removed - that's in the UK too - anyone who is a member of horsewatch will know that as there was an email recently about a horse they found that had cuts like that :(
in the US a freezemark has been cut out - for a dumped horse - not a stolen one :(
i do everything i can - she may be a madam but she's my madam and i'd rather do all i can to keep it that way - and yup - she's freezemarked M4DM too ;) lol
 
Mine are freezemarked, and have the freezemark, my postcode and my mobile number painted on their rugs in foot high dayglow letters.

My mum does the same, and they have had nighttime visitors who sorted through the rugs left up the yard and only took the unmarked ones.
 
Mine are both microchipped and freezemarked and signs are displayed.

I have a few friends with a lot of contacts with some of the travellers - and I am not stating that all travellers are thieves, but it is a known fact that they will avoid freezemarked horses as they are far more hassle to steal and dispose of.

I want to make my horses not attractive to thieves and as above, I really can't understand why people don't have horses security marked. I also keep my Farmkey membership up to date in order to do everything possible to have them located should they go missing.

A chip is not always possible to find with a scanner, whereas a mark is obvious to the eye.
 
I had mine freezemarked when on livery- a man was seen wandering around one of the fields.....I organised a session for anyone who wanted it doing......nada. zilch. A few said their horses were microchipped so didnt see the point ( I didn't know they were....so a thief wouldnt either- not much of a deterrent there then) ......

Now I have my own land ( I dont live on site, but just 200m down the road) it is more of a concern .....I have signs up saying they are freezemarked and that they can easily be traced and identified by the police and authorities, and I have mahoosive padlock/chains on the outer and inner gate. Plus I have an army of OAP's, dog walkers and local pony-patters keeping an eye out for me:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top