Freezemarking: Shoulder/Back/Neck ??

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orangepony

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Reading through all the stolen horse reports on here and increasing 'rumours' of horses going missing/rug thefts and gates left open in our area I have been umming and ahhhing over freezemarking for a while.
The idea of my boys going missing and trying to describe a 16hh dark bay TB with one white sock and 15.2hh chestnut gelding with one white sock suddenly hit home that they could well vanish into the ether if someone decided to get their mitts on them! Hence the freezemarking idea.
All ours are microchipped, and I had a jumping pony freezemarked with the micromark (omega sign) many years ago but looking at the 3/4 digit proper FM this time.

A quick google has thrown up Freezemark, Northern Brand and Farmkey (who I used for micromark)- any preferences/recommendations?

Also, the 4yo is quite well put together and I think I'd like to have a bash at some riding horse classes in the future as a jolly from eventing; obviously I will have the FM regardless of cosmetic effects but do judges have a preference?

And finally, I like the idea of shoulder marking so they can be seen when ridden; but I also think if it was on the neck it would be even more of a visual deterrent to theives as it could be seen even with a rug on?

Help?!
 
Mine were done with Farmkey, I think it depends on the person doing the freezemark how 'good' they are as each area has a different individual doing the marking.

I went for marking on the shoulder as my vet disliked marking on the saddle area and I wanted something visible. I think the neck might be a bit more tricky if you have a horse that really objects to the marking As for the rugging issue, you can buy patches to sew on to the rug, or even paint your horse's freezemark on it, a field sign is useful too.

Good thing to get done though. :)
 
I had Farmkey to mark my very fine-skinned and sensitive mare on her shoulder. The lady that did it was kind and patient, my mare stood beautifully for it to be done.

Carriegrazing.jpg


Judges should ignore the mark. :)
 
Neck or bum :)

Judges will not take any notice of a freezemark... I have also painted Shadow's freezemark onto his rug as an extra deterent against stealing either him or his rug!
 
Painting freezemark onto rugs will be my next plan as a deterrent- we used to paint our postcodes in fluro paint and suprisingly none of those ever went missing!:D

I must admit I'm quite drawn to the neck freezemarking, both boys are very good to do usually and providing person is calm and proficient I would imagine both would be ok. Is the neck area still standard practice or can you request different areas to shoulder/back?

Faracat- your horse's freezemark is beautifully done, and an unusual combination of numbers? Guessing yours was a personalised?

Oh god, another aspect! Personalised or non-personalised?!?
 
Faracat- your horse's freezemark is beautifully done, and an unusual combination of numbers? Guessing yours was a personalised?

Oh god, another aspect! Personalised or non-personalised?!?
Click to expand...

Yep. :D It took ages to choose something and I had some terrible suggestions from friends/family. One friend had her initials followed by a number and another friend had a sort of shortened version of her horse's name. I decided to go for none of the above! :p
 
I recently had my new horse freeze-marked using Farmkey, and was chatting to the operative about locations of brand.

The operative told me that it is no longer recommended to have the horse's neck or crest branded, as too many horses have had skin break down due to resultant scar tissue splitting over what can be a fairly mobile area.
As a qualified saddle-fitter I have seen saddling issues resulting from scar tissue formation / skin thickening due to freeze-branding under the saddle area, so would always advise against using the saddle area for branding/freeze-marking/etc. (The operative said that the saddle area is often the first choice to mark as it was easier for the operatives to place and hold the irons there !!)

So really, the shoulder area seems to be the area of least concern with regard to he horse's future welfare, all things considered...

I will add that I have had my previous horses marked both on the shoulder and on the crest, including a 'bald mark' on a Palomino, with no long-term welfare problems from the inevitable scarring.
 
Mine are all marked on the shoulder, originally they were done by Farmkey then when Mary moved away from that company I went to Freezemark and have used them very happily ever since.

My youngsters have 3 figure personalised marks that reflect their names
 
My horse has a very good back end and thigh so I had my micromark put on his thigh, many people comment on it but as far as I know it hasn't made a difference to showing (admittedly I don't do top level). I used Farmkey as they were the only ones I had heard of, they were fine but I have no comparison :)
 
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