Freezemarking greys - also incl as part of f/marking post in stolen

nikicb

nikicb

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In terms of freezemarking greys, is it the colour of the skin underneath that is the issue or the density of the hair. Milli is a grey section A but was born skewbald so has dark grey patches of skin. But his coat is really dense (not particularly long, but really really thick) even in the summer (he is clipped in the winter anyway so that wouldn't be a problem, or would it?). Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks.
Edited to alter title.
 
From memory (having had my grey Highland freeze marked) they have to leave the irons on longer so the hair never grows back. I have to say it was a bit of a disaster when my boy got done and I vowed never to go there again. The mark was barely visible and the pony was really quite sore for a few days afterward.
 
My grey is marked - she had to have hers redone as it hadn't fully worked.

Hers is black and pink skin - I think from where the irons were left of for varying lenghts of time, as all her skin is black.
 
Thanks PrincessSparkle and CrazyMare. You see this is my dilemma. I have just been persuaded by those in the Stolen forum that I should get him done, but noone ever seems to have had it done on greys without problems. Oh, what to do??
 
I have seen a fair few coloured done - on the shoulder and the mark whilst not as good as a white hair one, is obvious and can be seen.

Our clydie, though a chesnut sabino has a very grey undercoat and I seriously wonder if she will end up grey had to have her mark redone - it is a white haired version and this time looks as if it will be fine.

If not, she will have a bald mark done on the shoulder.
 
Mine had issues because she wouldn't stand still - she hates hates hates clippers, and is never clipped unsedated - they have to clip the area first.

So she was wound up beyond belief BEFORE they got to marking her. She just spun round and round the woman doing it - not advisible.

We sedated her for the remark - hindsight is a fantastic thing and we should have done that first time round.
 
Ive had 2 greys (both white with dark grey skin) freezemarked and chipped.

the first (welsh) had to have the freezemark done twice and the result was not totally clear. BUT he was hell of a lot more identifiable than a totally white horse with no freezemark.

the second (connie) was done last September and the mark is absolutely clear.

again i think hindsight is involved. i knew the connie would have to tolerate the irons on for a longer time so had a substantial hi-fi and treats bucket ready for the event. he stuffed his face for most of the session and the results were great!

probably controversial, but i do wonder if the competence/experience of the person wielding the irons affects the success rate in greys.
 
Thanks everyone for the help - I think I will go ahead, now have to discuss it with the kids - it's their pony after all! I remember how upset my son was the first time Mill was clipped right out and I'd forgotten to tell him in advance! Ooops, bad mother!
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My grey was done on the 30th of May, this was her freezmark last week.

Her skin is black - muzzle, teats etc so I am surprised her skin is showing as pink - I'm hoping it will grow back black once it has had more time to heal.

starmark.jpg
 
With greys, the brand has to be held on much longer, to produce a bald brand (i.e. it kills the hair off rather than changes the pigmentation of it). It does hurt, as it is on the skin for so long, so I would recommend a sedative in any case. Another option, as someone showed on here, is a hot brand - no idea what your thoughts are or if there is the option to do that where you are.
 
I had my grey pony done some years ago now. It has to be done on the shoulder, and it has to be a bald mark otherwise the white hair will not show amongst the white hairs!
The irons are held on slightly longer and it does NOT hurt them.
F91Freezemark.jpg
 
Even Farmkey admit it hurts greys - it is a burn right down to the skin, which is why they will only do it on the shoulder, and they recommend sedation for greys. Anyone who has had a ice burn will tell you it hurts at the time, and hurts worse afterwards. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done - it is a very short term pain, and there is certainly an argument for having it done.
 
Thanks everyone. I have made up my mind - he will be done!! I have even texted my YO so she can let everyone else know in case they want it done as well. The pain bit actually doesn't worry me, in the sense that it is pain that is justified (in the same way that when my children were babies I took them for all their injections, and yes they screamed, but far better that than having the illness etc.) I will however speak to my vet about a sedative. Have also checked with my son (whose pony it is) and he understands why we should do this, but 'doesn't want to be there' - understandable, he's 12 and sensitive.
But shellonabeach, I am quite shocked at how 'proud' the scar is still after all this time. Does it worry her at all? Do the flies go on it? Only wondering, that won't stop me, just so I know. Thank you to both you and donklet for taking the effort to upload photos, much appreciated.
 
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But shellonabeach, I am quite shocked at how 'proud' the scar is still after all this time. Does it worry her at all? Do the flies go on it? Only wondering, that won't stop me, just so I know. Thank you to both you and donklet for taking the effort to upload photos, much appreciated.

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I will at the weekend upload the pics I have taken over the past 6 weeks of it healing - if you look at posts I have made previously I did one the evening she had been done and you can see how quickly it started to swell.

I think my pics may be a little deceiving as in "the flesh" the flesh is not proud at all. My mare however is rather thin skinned with a very fine coat. The paperwork I received from Farmkey said to allow 4 months for the mark to fully develop hence why I'm hoping the skin will go back to black.

My mare was very good about being done so I wonder if the technician held them on a bit longer than usual for a grey... She wasn't sedated and she's a very sensitive soul and a bit of a drama queen.

When it started to scab I put some soothing cream on it for about a week to keep the flies off but have had no problems with flies. She wore a rug whilst it was healing when we had a couple of cold nights.

When it was first done her shoulder did swell quite a lot and she actually got a week off work as my soppy non horsey OH guilt tripped me into not riding her until it had completely gone down. I think it was a little sore for her for a couple of weeks just from the way she acted TBH.

My mare is also micro-chipped, she was done before I bought her. I decided to have her freezemarked because I wanted to do anything I could to keep her safe.
 
the connie has both due to 2 factors:

firstly the brand was not perfect on my previous grey.

the other reason was because i was still deciding whether to have a micromark or a number. i went for the number as i don't think enough people are aware of what a micromark represents. i also had a 3 month wait before we could be fitted in. the pony needed to be sedated for his teeth, so i got the vet to pop a microchip in at the same time (its a big needle!)

as far as theft is concerned, personally i consider microchipping to be insufficient

the swelling from marking did take about a week to go down
 
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