How safe ARE OUR horses?????

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hadfos

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My lad is freezemarked,microchipped and passported??Does that make him safe???Could someone steal him and take him to a sale and get a passport on the day(which auctions will do if you claim the horse you are selling does not have one)!!!DO these auctions check for microchips???in light of what has happened(and wondering how many stolen horses were in that field),i have done everything in my power to make him safe but is this really enough????
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I think at the end of the day if someone wants to steal something then they will
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Insurance companies give discounts for freezemarked horses tho so they must make a difference
 
mine are passported although not nicorchipped!
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they are, however in a very secure yard ... security lights vvv heavy duty locks on gates etc. theres alos the fact that 1 would absolutly not load into a trailer/ lorry without someone he knows and one would knock any theives out with his flying head buts!... id say they keep themselves pretty secure!
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mine are passported although not nicorchipped!
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they are, however in a very secure yard ... security lights vvv heavy duty locks on gates etc. theres alos the fact that 1 would absolutly not load into a trailer/ lorry without someone he knows and one would knock any theives out with his flying head buts!... id say they keep themselves pretty secure!
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LOL!!!Would like to think mine would do that(sense something noy right),He dosnt approach anyone else in the field other than me,but i think if he was to be brought straight from a stable he would trust whoever had hold of him(he loves people),which would make it soooo sickening if someone took him!!!We do have a well secure yard,so that is a great help!!!
 
A Passport gives no security whatsoever. Microchips are not scanned for nearly enough. Unless a Freezemark is checked to see if it is stolen, then, in all honesty, our horses are not safe. As said above, if somebody wants to steal something enough NOTHING will deter them.
 
my girl is currently microchipped and has a passport, but i want to get her freezemarked too to act as even more of a deterrant, i only hope this is enough to safe guard her, i really dont know what i would do,hate to think really if she was taken
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A Passport gives no security whatsoever. Microchips are not scanned for nearly enough. Unless a Freezemark is checked to see if it is stolen, then, in all honesty, our horses are not safe. As said above, if somebody wants to steal something enough NOTHING will deter them.

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Exactly!!!!We spend all this money on TRYING(sorry for shouting)to keep our horses safe but who is helping US keep them safe????
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I have thought about freeze marking and/or microchipping, but decided not to bother. I love my mare to bits, but I just don't believe those things would keep her safe from the type of people who steel horses
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I am fussy about where I leave her. No matter what the facilities, I wouldn't have her on a yard where there was no-one there over night. I'm a fan of CCTV as a deterant and the yard that I keep my mare on would be difficult for anyone to drive up and take horses without triggering an alarm or at least barking dogs, so alerting the YM and her partner.

I wish micro chipping would be effective in horses, but they are not checked for them at sales. For God sake, even after all this time, horses can still be taken to the sales without a passport and one will be allocated there!
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Freezemarking has proven to be the biggest deterent with 100% of 'stolen' Freezemark.biz horses having been found quickly. (I think horses freezemarked by Farmkey have a 97% recovery rate, don't undertsand the difference)
 
Mine are in stables, 10 footsteps from my front door,which I think is safe enough, I have a good guard dog
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and to be honest, whoever stole them would soon bring them back, they are as mad as a bag of frogs.
 
I'm hopefully just about to purchase a youngster who is going to live out 24/7 and I'm starting to worry alot about how easy he may be for someone to take. Before he arrives I'm going up to re secure all fences/ gates etc but apart from that there's not alot I could do, any suggestions???? He will be on a lane with alot of other yards however this is only a relatively small yard with no one living on site up a small track just off the lane. I couldn't bare the thought of going up there to find him gone one day!!! I think if someone was intent of stealing something they would always find a way of doing it.
 
I was told that travellers etc will not lift a freezemarked horse, i dont know if this is true or not. Back street auctions wouldnt check for anything, there is one near us that doesnt even ask for passports.

If someone wants to lift a horse then they will, nothing would stop them. Mine are so soft, they are good to load and would go anywhere there is food.

Ive heard of horses being dyed to sell them on!!
 
No it will never be enough...if someone wants something they will take it no matter what. I have learn't that the hard way.
 
Freeze marking horses is fine as long as the registers are kept up to date. How many people have bought a freezemarked horse & have tried to find details of its past but have not been able to due to 'membership' having lapsed.

As for Microchiping a horse. I have mine chipped, I don't think it will necessary stop him being stolen however it will greatly assist identifying him should he be subsequently found & identification be required.
 
In terms of location, ours isn't great as we are right next to the A429 which takes you pretty much anywhere very quickly! But there are close neighbours, and a caravan that the YO uses when her mares foal with a light on timer so it looks like there's someone in there (used this during Stow fair time when there are a lot of new people coming in wanting to make money!) My beastie is freezed marked but not microchipped and he has tags from farmkey that are sewn onto his rugs saying that he is freeze marked. Not sure how much good they'd do but they make me feel better!
 
I have the freezmark and microchip warning sighs on both our gates. Also have postcode painted on my rugs. The horses are at home right outside my back doo overlooked by my bedroom.
 
I like to think ours are safe. A while ago on my old yard, there was a load of break ins (only equipment not horses thankfully) every stable was broken into and 'rummaged' through until my horse...where it had stopped. Lets just say my horse is not best happy when a person comes into his stable and does lunge bite and sometimes kick- i like to think these theifs got what they deserved!!!
 
i havent freezemarked or chipped ... yet - might do one day.
if they want her they will take her.
i keep her on as safe a yard as possible, touch wood i dont think any horses ever been taken from our yard.
she's in an indoor alarmed barn and fields are quite secure.
thing that worried me is she's so easy to catch and will go up to anyone - can work as a negative
 
Ok I agree that if a thief wants something bad enough they will find a way BUT what we can do is make life harder for them.

Freezemark your horses ASAP it does put them off (its been known for Freezemarked horses to be dumped once the mark is discovered.) Mark your rugs especially the outdoor ones with your postcode & the Freezemark number.

Make sure your details are up to date on the Freezemark company register (no good going to the trouble of marking them if you dont make sure the register is up to date)

Join or set up a Horsewatch group locally (how many of you are members??)

Horsewatch make sure that stolen horse details are passed round the networks & no matter how long a horse has been missing we still keep details on him or her.

I'm the secretary of the local one here in Sandwell & have 4 (yes 4) lever arch files full of stolen horses (Does that shock you, it should!!) how on earth am I or any other horsewatch person supposed to keep our eyes open for all of them.

The Freezemark (yes that again) makes it much easier for us to identify if that black gelding is a stolen horse or not, remember if your horse is stolen (& I hope you NEVER have to go through that as other people I know have) the chances are he or she will not be found locally so how are you going to locate him or her, can you be in more than 1 place at a time, can you check all the sales/markets/dealers/fields in the UK? I know I couldn't. But with the Freezemark at least we all have a fighting chance to find out if that horse is yours & hopefully get him back to you ASAP.

BUT Horsewatch is only as good as its members. I bet you are not all members of Horsewatch but if the worst was to happen you would want Horsewatch's help & advise wouldnt you.

My horse wont be caught/load etc I hear people say. How do you know what sort of treatment a thief would use to load your animal (beating/drugs) still think he wont load.

He's nasty to people so they wont touch him on a secure yard (again a thief can find ways round this if needed)

The only answer is to make them more easily identifiable so that the thief thinks its not worth the time to touch your animal & join Horsewatch to make strength in numbers so that we can ensure that if a horse does go missing the maximum people possible are looking for him or her. Its what I would want, wouldnt you?

We can with numbers perhaps press for more ways of making the passport system work for our advantage. making auctions/dealers etc help us but the more numbers behind the schemes the better. I have 64 members & am happy to have more people join so what are you all waiting for.

Lets make the world a safer place for our animals, we can & do make a difference (I personally located a Freezemarked horse that had been stolen & its a lovely feeling to know that I helped someone find a much loved horse, would you like to help as well?)
 
Am a big fan of freezemarking as a visual deterrent. Also, I know we worry and mine are out 24/7 but in 30 years of horse keeping I don't know of any one in my riding circle who has lost one through theft.

I freezemark mine as I know through vets, auctioneers and dealers I know, that the vast majority check ownership if a horse comes in with a mark.

Despite the fact unscrupulous people are out there most people buying a horse want to check its history.
 
I've freezemarked my old girl...and would freezemark my 3yo...will probably do that soon. The trouble is, my 2yo is going to eventually be white grey....and I'm not sure about bald marks.
Does anyone have a freezemarked grey?
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Yes, I do - well, did (she died). The irons are simply held on slightly longer so it kills the hair cells with the result that the hair does not grow back. During the winter you find it necessary to clip the area, but I have to with my bay, black etc too. I'll find a photo of the freezemark for you.
 
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Yes, I do - well, did (she died). The irons are simply held on slightly longer so it kills the hair cells with the result that the hair does not grow back. During the winter you find it necessary to clip the area, but I have to with my bay, black etc too. I'll find a photo of the freezemark for you.

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Her death, I presume, was unrelated to the freeze marking?
I'd like to see a photo...mind you my 2yo is a chav so thieves would probably send her back....
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Okay, I've been reflecting on what has been said here and on those poor horses in Amersham and I'm thinking of having my mare freezemarked.

Can someone tell me, how long the process takes, what exactly is done and is it painful for the horse? I would have it on her shoulder as the whole point would be visibility!

Also this thing about freezemark.biz having 100% recovery rate and farmkey having less. Do we know if freezemark.biz is a much newer company, with fewer people and therefore fewer lost/stolen horses? That could then account for the difference.
 
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My lad is freezemarked,microchipped and passported??Does that make him safe???

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i doubt it.....

i have takien many, legitamate, ponies to sales with freezemarks/chips and not once have been asked for paperwork...

TOTAL waste of money IMO...but it makes JOE PUBLIC feel better...
 
Had to have a horse put down last week due to severe illness. The horse was on loan to me (the owner was aware as we had had daily conversations while he was ill & she made the final decision). I made sure I had the passport & loan agreement with me & my driving licence. I wasn't asked for anything - just had to write the adress for the invoice on a peice of paper. I could have been anyone & the horse could have been anybodies. I could have given a false name & address. At the time I was too upset to think about it, but it makes me shudder now.
 
I have been involved in the recovery of a number of stolen horses and I can assure you that a Freezemarked horse even if stolen can be identified by almost anyone and is normally recovered. Non- Freezemarked horses are at a big disadvantage. Even if it has a rug on once the rug is taken off the freezemark is there for all to see.

Absolutely no horse is safe, not even bad loaders or those kept at peoples houses. Horse thiefs are very good at quietly handling horses and know ever trick in the book.

So best advice is get your horses freezemarked and also micro-chipped. Take good photos of your horses from all sides both Summer and Winter so if they do go missing you can instantly send photos out of them to Horsewatch etc.
 
Is it true that most horse theives don't target big hunter types e.g 16.3hh heavy hunter dark Bay? I have heard that they prefer smaller horses because they are easier to fit in a small barn, trade etc. Have also heard that they prefer coloureds.
 
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