Freeze Branding

[Equestrianette]

What would turn out better on a bay horse? Freeze brand or hot brand?
I haven’t gotten any clear answers on if I can brand my horse with his breed symbol or not. I will be microchipping him in addition to branding. When I look at horses of his breed absolutely none of them have a brand, but they still have a designated brand (I see it more represented on saddle pads or coolers). So I’m not sure what the consensus is. I know he doesn’t have to be, but I really appreciate the aesthetic of a nice breed specific brand. Feel free to PM me for more info.

A follow up question to this would be, where do people purchase their branding irons? And 4 inches is what I’ve been told to get for the size. Another question is which flank receives the brand? Right or left?

Consider me a blank slate when it comes to this topic, I am just trying to research and learn about it. Doing it right or not at all, my mind is open.

[Bluey]

I thought hot branding horses went out once freeze branding started.
At least we never again used hot branding on horses.

Freeze branding is cleaner and you can have many more options, unlike hot branding, that will smear the brand if lines are too close.

Never mind is a bit easier on a horse to freeze brand.

[RedHorses]

Freeze branding turns the hair white. It’s supposed to be less painful. Which is a good thing as the iron must stay in contact for a longer period of time to create a successful brand.

I don’t know what breed your horse is, but for Hannoverians the branding is done when the horse is inspected and accepted for registration. I wouldn’t be surprised if other warmblood registries were the same. The impression I got from the inspector last weekend was that freeze brands were distasteful.

[Lusoluv]

I had my Trakehner branded many years ago. He was black, so was going to go with freeze branding as it would be more visible and possibly a better deterrent against theft. Then I talked to a vet. In his experience, freeze brands stayed painful and took longer to heal than heat brands. He went into depth on this explanation so I took his recommendation and went with the hot brand approach. My horse barely flinched at the couple seconds the branding iron touched him. No, it wasn’t as visible as a white brand would have been, but it was quite visible and healed without complication or obvious pain…about a week or so dabbing antibiotic ointment on it. It was done at the breed inspection, so I just paid the fees.

[Caligirl83]

OP, what breed is your horse? If he’s one of the European warmblood breeds, those brands are done upon inspection and approval by the registry. You would have to contact the breed registry to find out about inspections. Dutch Warmbloods are not branded, I believe there may be other registries that are moving to not branding and microchipping instead? You as a private individual cannot brand your horse with a European warmblood brand.

Big breeding farms will brand their young horses to represent their breeding program, especially in the Quarter Horse / Western stock horse world but also in other countries, ie Hipico La Silla in Monterrey Mexico and I know there are Argentina polo pony breeding farm brands. In the United States you register a farm brand with your state brand inspector office and pay a yearly fee. On the brand paperwork you draw out the brand and specify where on the body. But again those are not breed brands.

Hope that’s helpful!

[DiamondJubilee]

I have 2 of my bay ponies branded, and they were both done at around 3-4 months of age when they had their Sport Pony inspection. They used a hot brand and to be honest, you can just hardly see the brands now (ponies are 12 and 8 years old).

We have had around 100 ponies branded and inspected over the years and have actually stopped about 5 years ago now. I don’t think I would ever really do it again since it does look quite painful and it really doesn’t hold up, so not really worthwhile if you ask me. But that’s just my opinion of course

I’ll post some pictures of my 2 guys and you can just make them out on their left flank. When I body clip them, you do notice it, but as soon as a bit of hair grows, they pretty much disappear.

[Bluey]

For decades now, since freeze branding started, we don’t brand, our vets do it as a courtesy to their clients and on branding drives by the state association, as branded horses are much quicker returned if missing or stolen.

According to our vets, freeze branding is better for the horses and doesn’t has problems, as some hot brands used to have with scar tissue.

Freeze branding we never had a horse later, as it heals, be sore while brushing or any other time, unlike hot brands.
Hot branding takes a split second and is a burn that should stop any hair growth.
Hot branding hurts for that split second, but is so fast with the right hot irons, by the time a horse jumps he is branded anyway.

Freeze branding you hold pressure on the iron for 20 seconds on sorrels, more on other colors or thicker skinned ones and 50 seconds on grey, as the brand would not show as haired over white, so it has to be applied to kill the follicles, so the skin there is bare.
It doesn’t hurt while freezing, but some horses want to move off the pressure.

[Foxglove]

My three horses have 5 brands between the: stud, ranch, and trainer all left their mark. I am told my boys’ bright white brands are from freeze branding but (secret) they are bright white against the dark horses because I chalk them with a white livestock marker.

[trubandloki]

@Bluey

as branded horses are much quicker returned if missing or stolen.

I would think a microchip would be even quicker.

[Bluey]

A microchip requires a reader wand.
An inspector in a sale barn or slaughter plant can see brands as the animal goes by.
The local sale barn has a brand inspector that looks over every animal unloaded there.
I don’t know if they also use a microchip reader to scan every one going by?

It takes all to have a chance to find missing horses.

[trubandloki]

Yes, but more than one horse can have the same brand so having a brand does not ID who the owner is like a chip does.

I would guess most auction houses now have a microchip reader.

[beowulf]

The real benefit to having a freeze brand (or brand) is that the horse is immediately recognizable in a bad situation. Many people look the other way when it’s another sorrel or plain bay down the pipeline, but the horse is much more likely to gain traction and the interest of the public eye if it has an obvious brand or is attached to a public figure.

You[g] can’t tell a horse has a microchip externally, and now TBs aren’t tattooed, so there are even fewer immediately obvious identifications for a horse in a bad spot.

I would freezebrand in a heartbeat, in conjunction with a microchip which all my horses have. I have all plain bays and appreciate any sort of ID I can get in the event the horse is lost or stolen.

I don’t find freeze branding distasteful, but certain personalities in certain registries might have a hard time separating the idea of freeze-branding from the stock they feel is beneath them (standardbreds, quarter horses, etc). I find that short-sighted personally.

As far as your questions about which side, it depends on the registry. Whatever you decide to get, just remember that freeze brands are a bit different in terms of design than a hot iron - you can get much more detailed with a hot iron because the flesh and skin doesn’t warp and the fur doesn’t grow back - but with a freeze brand, the lines are less crisp and the fur can make the brand appear fuzzier and distort the brand itself. For that it’s best to keep it very simple and make sure that any lines are separated by a minimum of an inch.

I’ve seen a lot of people recommend this company:
https://lhbrandingirons.com/

[Bluey]

This is a neat brand a top reining trainer/breeder uses, we had one of his horses, a very talented reiner.
That brand would not have worked as a hot brand.
The lines so thin and close up, the corners so small, it would have smeared.

[lenapesadie]

I like the idea of branding as any LEO, or even a passerby(!), would be able to ID it. If I had a lost or stolen horse report out for example I might be very grateful for a brand.

Certainly microchips are good too!

[Jarpur]

I’ve only had my horses freeze-branded, including a bay and a very, very light dun. None of them were the unresponsive deadhead type, but the only one which seemed to feel some discomfort was the very, very light dun, which had to have the freeze brand applied for a longer time than any of my other horses.

IME, if a horse gets a long/heavy/thick winter coat, the freeze brand can disappear during the winter, unless that area is clipped. I never thought of using chalk to make a brand more obvious, @Foxglove!

My brand is one registered with the state, and applied by livestock inspectors as part of a service, so I don’t personally own the equipment (which they supplied).

I wanted my horses to be easily identified at a distance by anybody, not just someone who had a microchip reader on them and could get close. The idea was that maybe, just maybe, it would make a thief decide to pass mine by, and decide to move on to an easier target.