Freezemarking vs Microchipping?

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NativePonyLover

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Which would you go for?

My boy only has unique brand from his previous life on the New Forest, which although would act as a deterrent, I still want to get him either freeze marked or micro chipped but don't know which is best?

Also, does freeze marking hurt them - although I guess his brand was done in much the same way and he shows no ill effect?!

If I did freeze mark, which area is best - he is a solid colour so need to work around coloured bits! - shoulder or saddle area or can you freezemark on a neck so still visible if he is rugged?

Or both?

Thanks :D
 
Freezemarks are a visible deterrent also they make it easier to be spotted if stolen. I had my old mare done on her shoulder so it was visible if she was stolen and was at a show and tacked up. Both of mine are micro-chipped but will also be freezemarked in a couple of months. Some insurance companies also offer a discount for freezemarks. One of my boys is branded but this was a 'hot' brand rather than a freezemark, which is done by freezing :p.
 
my mare is freeze marked and mirco chipped! i would say that it does hurt them, as her reaction wasnt great when it was done! she is dun and in the winter goes very white, they tried to do it so the hair didnt grow back but didnt quite work, so you can only really see it when its freshly clipped.

My new horse is mirco-chipped and I will not be getting him freeze marked!!
 
I'm getting mine freezemarked in a couple of weeks and is already chipped. Freezemarked is great visual. There was a post on the stolen thread about many chipping companies that vets use and many horses don't get registered?! I'd be interested to hear about that as I presumed if someones stolen horse, it gets to the coast and the shipping people would check for any chipped horses before a lorry gets access to a ferry. Maybe I'm living in cuckoo land!

I'd not want to be thinking could k have done more to stop him being stolen or ensure he comes back to me. However need to weigh up risk of where horse is kept or take to. A yard that is manned 24/7 different I guess to field on a roadside, Hannah
 
Get both done.

My coloured cob is both chipped & freezemarked - he was marked only yesterday in fact (I've not had him long).

Does it hurt? I think it's uncomfortable, but I don't think it's agony. I tend to think that a little discomfort now is far better than the things that could happen to him if he was stolen - which is less likely to happen if he's branded.

I've also had a personalised mark done. I figure that if you have people searching for a missing horse (particularly if they're not horsey), are they more likely to remember 95CT (my old mares mark - branded before they did personalised marks) or will they remember JJ0E (my new boy Joeys mark) - particularly if they know the horse is called Joey?!

I also chose to have my boy done on his shoulder. My others are done on the saddle area, but I wanted to make sure that even if Joey were under saddle, his mark would be visible. As he has a lot of mane, I didn't think his neck was a good idea, as it wouldn't be visible.

If a mark doesn't take first time, or only partially, the companies will come back & do it again for free.

If you're worried that horse will react badly, or misbehave, get them sedated - either get vet out, or get oral sedation - we've done that before with a couple of the shetlands.

My boy yesterday was pretty good - we stuffed his head in a bucket of food while it was done, and he just fidgeted & circled a bit towards the end.
 
Freezemarking is something that's instantly recognised whereas a chip reader isn't always available when horses are bought and sold. It's more uncomfortable for them rather than painful I think - the area will scab over after a few days but it doesn't take long to go.

My lad is marked on the saddle area - you can get patches to sew on your rugs warning that the horse is freezemarked, or you could just paint a warning on the rug yourself.
 
I have both :D he has a microchip and also a micro mark in the shape of a horse shoe, visual deterrent that he is microchipped
 
Piglet said:
I have both :D he has a microchip and also a micro mark in the shape of a horse shoe, visual deterrent that he is microchipped
Click to expand...

It's suprising how few people know what that horse shoe mark means though - I've heard of people thinking it was like a tattoo and also a loss of use mark!
 
Ollie's Mum said:
It's suprising how few people know what that horse shoe mark means though - I've heard of people thinking it was like a tattoo and also a loss of use mark!
Click to expand...

I must admit - I had no idea, but you really do learn something new everyday! :D

Thanks for all the opinions - I think I might go for both, as his jabs are due next month anyway, so will micro chipped at the same time and then look to get him booked into for a freeze mark once he has lost his winter woollies and has his sleek summer coat. Fingers crossed, he is so food obsessed he will be easy to win over with a bucket of feed :D
 
I'd suggest going for a freezemark over microchipping because as others have said, it's a visual deterrent. Theives can see it straight away without taking your horse first and then checking for a microchip. Having it done on the shoulder is probably best because that way if your horse was stolen, the freezemark wouldn't be hidden by a saddle - you can also paint the freezemark on any winter rugs so that it's still technically "visable", even when your horse is covered up.
I don't think it's painful - my horse is a complete wimp when it comes to everything, hes very tense and nervous & tends to panic and overreact at the smallest things - we were very worried about how he'd react to having a freezemark. I remember us making a big deal out of it to the freezemarking lady, letting her know he'd probably freak out - and then felt completely stupid because he didn't even seem to notice!! He didn't flick an ear back or anything, I couldn't believe it. Our other horse lifted his head a bit when it first went on but after a few seconds was back munching on his haynet and didn't react to the other letters that were put on, so it could just have been the initial strange sensation that was a bit odd for him.
We had freezemark ltd round to do ours, the lady was lovely and really good with the horses so I'd definitely recommend them - I think they do a discount for multiple horses so if you have friends or people on your yard wanting it done then that could make it cheaper.
 
Freezemarking is ideal as it is such a visable deterrent and so easy to check. Micro chipping is all very well but if you are on the look out for a stolen horse a bay gelding with a sock and a star are a dime a dozen and sometimes it's not easy to identify at a glance - Freeze branding though is great -

All TB and Standerdbred horses in NZ are freezebranded - the SB's on the right side of their necks and the TB's low on both shoulders, Stud or vet brand on the near shoulder and foal number over the year of birth on the offside shoulder. So easy to spot and identify.

Mine are branded with the year of their birth - I'm still trying to decide what personal brand I want.
 
A freezemark can be read by anyone.
Microchipping has the problem that there are so many issuers of microchips and that not all readers read every microchip. Also they are not always detected. Despite a horse being micro-chipped it may not be found on any of the microchipping databases as the vet who originally microchipped the horse did not inform the microchipping company/manufacturer.
If you get your horse micro-chipped please get it added to you horses record on www.nedonline.co.uk
You can also have your horse dna tested and the details kept on a database.
 
Mine is freezemarked and will be microchipped next time the vet is up for jabs. The freezemarking is uncomfortable I think as he just stepped back a bit, but not agony (and this is the type of horse who freaks out and runs a mile over anything). Its peace of mind that if he does go missing or get stolen, that I've done something to help get him spotted at least. It would kill me if he was taken to a ferry port and allowed on the ferry because they couldn't find owners details through either microchip or the freezemark. Its a small price to pay for the potential return of your horse...oh and we used Farmkey for our Freezemarking :)
 
:D I would say Freeze, for its something every 'jo blogs' can see, it is painless and can be done either under the saddle, on the shoulder or under the mane, it stays where its put, unlike some micro chips, micro chips are fine, but yes they can move, and not only that unless you have a scanner in your pocket who actually knows whether the animal is chipped or not, how many people carry a scanner around in their pocket !

And how many times have you heard of people buying a horse and being quite unaware that it has a micro chip, even last week someone on this forum has had this problem and was waiting to find out if the horse had been stolen and not rightfully hers !:(
 
Freeze marking is more painful than hot branding and as hot branding seals the wound cold does not.. Microchipping is about the same as hotbranding in neither case are their any long term stress effects from the pain. Chips can move and be difficult to read. Most hot brands are traceable through the studbooks. A Hanoverian brand H67 is part of the horses UELN and is only a problem when the horse changes colour to grey and you do not know the colour when born. Many European societies started DNA in about 2000 so that is another way to check a horse but with older horses this is notpossible
 
When the freezemarkers came out to my old barn to do a bunch of horses, about 99% of them stood quietly for it and seemed to not care less. The 1% was my weenie of a horse; it took three people and a twitch to get it done.

Microchipping is much more common now. But when I had that done, it wasn't.
 
probably freezemark because its a lot easier to find your horse if it goes missing although whilst they are getting it done it does hurt them. so i would say for example if it was a tb type where they look alike then freezemark them but i have a dalesX with her own markings so i would just get a microchip because it'll still be easier to spot her
 
we had 4 done at the same time(2 arabs, 1 tb and 1 cob) and none of them reacted at all so i dont see how it can be painfull.... i would def get any future horses freezemarked as a first choice...and microchip afterwards..
 
Both hurt and both work so both. I had mine done with both.

If I had to choose one over other the freezemark probably has the edge in that its visible!
 
No brainer to me - Freezemark.

it is a vsisble deterrent, can be seen by anybody, unlike microchips which need you to get close, have a scanner and be able to find it.
I have proof also of how quickly stolen horses with freezemarks can be found.
 
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