Freezemarking

[clairekat]

Hi everyone, I just wondered whether people think its worth getting a freezemark done?

 

[milliepops]

2 of mine are freezemarked but they came like that as loaned from a charity.
Personally I wouldn't bother to do any of the others 😕

 

[HappyHollyDays]

One of mine is as he has absolutely no distinguishing marks and is all one colour. The other one isn't and I wouldn't bother having him done.

 

[splashgirl45]

i had mine freezemarked as its easy for anyone to identify your horse if it goes missing, especially if the horse has no distinguishing markings

 

[PeterNatt]

I would absolutely agree with the above. It s a visible identification which can be seen by anyone.
As regards this take a photo from the front, rear and both sides of your horse so that in the event of it being stolen they can be quickly circulated.

 

[Kaylum]

Wish it would come back in fashion especially with so many being stolen.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I'm thinking of having my two done.....

There is nothing like a visual deterrent.

 

[Griffin]

I had mine done this year by Premier Equimark and it was less stressful than I was expecting.

I had her freezemarked because I would be devastated if anything happened to her and I couldn't get her back (I would have to go John Wick). To me, a few days off of riding and an extra white mark is worth it for peace of mind for both of us.

 

[Red-1]

I had one done years ago, and believed it to be just a few days off riding. Sadly, it put my horse out of action for about 6 weeks as one of the numbers became very sore. Had them chipped ever since instead.

 

[sunnyone]

I much prefer freeze-marking over chips (one of mine has both). A potential thief can see a freeze-mark and will probably move on before taking the horse, but if they don't recovery is a much simpler process. A chip is only of use if a horse can be scanned. I just wish freeze-marking was possible here in France.

 

[meleeka]

One of mine came with one and I had the Shetland done myself. They are both the sort favoured by travellers and nice looking ponies so I wanted a visual deterrent that they could be traced. My others aren’t done because quite frankly they aren’t the sort of ponies anyone would want and would be very difficult to catch, let alone load!

 

[Mule]

One of mine came with one and I had the Shetland done myself. They are both the sort favoured by travellers and nice looking ponies so I wanted a visual deterrent that they could be traced. My others aren’t done because quite frankly they aren’t the sort of ponies anyone would want and would be very difficult to catch, let alone load!

Years ago, I had a very flashy looking horse who was near uncatchable. She was sharing a field with an elderly pony. Some traveller kids ended up making off with the elderly pony but I knew by my mare that they unsuccessfully tried to catch her. Her suspicious nature came in useful for once😀
Luckily the kids parents made them return the pony after a radio appeal, so all was well.

 

[Shay]

Chips are a requirement -obviously. But they can move, other chips can be added. They need a reader to scan them, and they may not be able to find it. A freezemark is immediate, visible to anyone regardless of qualification or status, cannot be removed and are difficult to alter. Someone took my colored cob from his field a few years ago. On removing his rugs they round the freezemark and let him go on the A3. Thankfully being a placid sort he settled down to munching the verge rather than running through the traffic. The rugs were later recovered by the police from the traveler site opposite - they were marked inside and so identifiable. Although in fairness the travelers also claimed to have found the rugs on a dump.

If I wanted a horse to show I can see the cocncerns about marking the skin. Anything else - absolutely yes. Particularly if they are the type which might be favoured.

 

[ycbm]

Wish it would come back in fashion especially with so many being stolen.

Where are you getting the idea from that a lot of horses are being stolen? They aren't. Most horses reported on the internet as stolen have strayed and are later found. Theft is pretty rare and most of those are sold while on loan. Theft by a stranger is rare in the UK.

http://stolenhorseregister.com/RWSHR/page1.html

 

[splashgirl45]

Chips are a requirement -obviously. But they can move, other chips can be added. They need a reader to scan them, and they may not be able to find it. A freezemark is immediate, visible to anyone regardless of qualification or status, cannot be removed and are difficult to alter. Someone took my colored cob from his field a few years ago. On removing his rugs they round the freezemark and let him go on the A3. Thankfully being a placid sort he settled down to munching the verge rather than running through the traffic. The rugs were later recovered by the police from the traveler site opposite - they were marked inside and so identifiable. Although in fairness the travelers also claimed to have found the rugs on a dump.

If I wanted a horse to show I can see the cocncerns about marking the skin. Anything
i had else - absolutely yes. Particularly if they are the type which might be favoured.

i had mine freezemarked as she was almost black with no white at all so hard to identify by anyone other than me. i also showed her and did well, she won her class at essex county as well as many others, the freezemark made no difference then and they had only been in existence a short time...my horses no was A311, so i was at the forefront of this idea.. at the time, in the late 70's, we had quite a few horses stolen in my local area , they did not stray, none were ever found....at that time i was thought they were stolen for slaughter...2 of my friends had their horses stolen and i was awful for them not knowing what happened top them...

 

[ycbm]

We have both passports and the internet now. Passports make it just that bit more difficult to make money from a solen horse and tip it in favour of a car, a load of heating oil or a lorry tank of diesel. The internet rapidly makes any identifiable horse too hot to handle.

Freeze marking is of value if it gives the owner peace of mind, but the chances of it ever being required for theft recovery is very slim indeed.

 

[splashgirl45]

yes true, i was just illustrating why i had mine done all those years ago., with a horse of a solid colour, one looks much like the other to anyone not the owner, so it did give me peace of mind that i could say the horse was mine if she ever went missing...

 

[Mule]

I wonder what people did with grey horses back when freeze marking was common. I'm assuming it wouldn't work on them 🤔

 

[ycbm]

I wonder what people did with grey horses back when freeze marking was common. I'm assuming it wouldn't work on them 🤔

The marker freezes until the hair is dead and the code is shown by the lack of hair. The patch often needs to be kept clipped in order to be seen properly.


It is, by the way completely untrue that all horses find it painless. I had two done and one was definitely hurt by the process and by the subsequent burn. It's cold not heat, but it's still a burn.

.

 

[Mule]

The marker freezes until the hair is dead and the code is shown by the lack of hair. The patch often needs to be kept clipped in order to be seen properly.


It is, by the way completely untrue that all horses find it painless. I had two done and one was definitely hurt by the process and by the subsequent burn. It's cold not heat, but it's still a burn.

.

Shame it's painful, I think the beast would look cool with a tattoo

 

[splashgirl45]

we had 6 done at my yard and 2 of them were greys, none seemed bothered by it. my horse was almost black and her freezemark showed very well in the summer but i clipped the area in the winter to make it stand out. i did the same with my liver chestnut that i owned after her as she had cushings so grew quite a bit of coat., the owner of the grey horses did the same in winter but the freezemark showed fine in the summer....

 

[tankgirl1]

How much is it to have them done these days?

 

[meleeka]

How much is it to have them done these days?

http://www.freezemark.biz/prices.html

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My chestnut mare is freezemarked and she is very fine skinned and sensitive. They adjusted the time that the markers were held on to allow for that (a shorter time than normal) and a few treats were enough to easily keep her distracted while it was done.

 

[catkin]

If I wanted a horse to show I can see the cocncerns about marking the skin. Anything else - absolutely yes. Particularly if they are the type which might be favoured.

I think you will find that most breed/show societies have judging rules about freezemarks - they should not be marked down.

 

[cblover]

I was just thinking about this recently, I used to have all mine freezemarked. I can’t remember why I stopped to be honest but it certainly gave me peace of mind with my other horses. Think I may look into it again for the two i have now.

 

[Nasicus]

Recently had my two done following an incident just down the road involving some travellers and attempted horse theft. They're the type that would be of interest to them, so it's made me feel a bit happier and safer, despite how minimal the chances of them being stolen is in actuality.

 

[turkana]

I've had mine done on her right shoulder, so it can be seen when we're out & about. I did it because a couple of times men in vans have stopped to talk to me whilst out riding, she's not anything fancy just nice sort of chestnut mare, the last time I was at the top of the drive so they saw where she was kept. It probably wasn't anything sinister but it made me feel better, so well worth the money.
She's a massive drama queen & made a huge fuss about it, you'd think the woman was carving the letters into her flesh with a stanley knife!

 

[Gloi]

I had one done years ago, and believed it to be just a few days off riding. Sadly, it put my horse out of action for about 6 weeks as one of the numbers became very sore. Had them chipped ever since instead.

Same thing happened with mine in that one of the numbers never grew any hair back and he got sore on the bare bit on long rides (I was doing a bit of endurance at the time) . Since then I've had them done on the shoulder and not had a problem, though since I've had microchipped ones I haven't had one done.

 

[The Trooper]

I've been tempted to freeze mark Bonnie, keeping going back and forth though.