I currently have the option to brand my registered warmblood gelding. He is currently a yearling and was not taken to inspection as a weaning, but can be taken as a yearling to be viewed and branded.
Should I get him branded? My plan is to keep this horse forever; however, life isn’t always certain so would getting him branded raise or hurt his resale value as a hunter?
I would simply for ID purposes. I’m very easy to notice a brand more so than subtle markings. If he ever ends up in a bad situation someone recognizing a breed brand could save his life.
I would brand. It is good for ID’ing purposes, may add value and these days the momentary process is fairly humane/non-traumatic when done by an experienced person.
Brand. Warmbloods graded premium need that good brand on them even if they will never be sold. For identification, and for bragging.
Absolutely get your WB inspected and branded.
IMO, a horse should have every bit of education and credential his HO can procure for him. It helps him have value and it helps the industry of good, responsible selective breeding. It’s so, so hard to find carefully-bred purpose-bred horses in the US. One of the contributing factors to this is the lack of attention to performance data. Getting your WB “on the map” even if he’s a gelding and you’ll keep him forever helps contribute to the data set containing the performance records of his relatives.
I didn’t brand my gelding. It just wasn’t convenient when he was a foal and I knew I was going to geld him. He is microchipped and has lifetime recordings for USEF and USHJA. A good horse is a good horse. I will price him based on his talent and experience and a brand won’t add any value. On the other hand, if he’s junk and not worth much you might be able to sucker some poor ponyclubber into paying more than he’s worth because he’s a “FANCY warmblood!”
I brand all my horses as foals/weanlings. I would hesitate to brand a yearling only because of asthetics. The brands are meant for foals and “grow” with the horse. Brands done on older horses can end up significantly smaller on the mature horse.
In addition, some registeries will require older horses to be sedated for the branding. Foals can be managed during the process, older horses not so much.
I had the option of branding my Hanoverian gelding when I bought him as a yearling. I chose not to due to the aesthetic reason Bent Hickory mentioned as well as hearing some horror stories, especially about yearlings vs. weanlings. Europe is moving away from branding too.
In retrospect I wish I had, just in case he falls on hard times somewhere down the line and the brand helps him find his way out. He is papered, registered, and microchipped too though so hopefully that would help. But he is a very very plain bay with just a small star, so a brand really would have helped make him at least a bit more identifiable.
I doubt a brand would add resale value to a horse that is already papered and registered, but I could be wrong.
My much older horse has a brand that is only visible at certain times of year in certain lighting conditions. Most of the time I forget he even has it. So you could end up with one of those and all the trouble would be for naught anyway!
When I took my Dutch filly to her keuring as a 3 y.o., I decided not to brand. They were no longer branding in Europe and she had a six hour trip back home afterwards. I didn’t want her to be in any discomfort should she rub in the trailer. That being said, the people that performed the branding did a fabulous job – shaved the area on the haunch so that the brand was fast. The majority of the horses didn’t react any more than had a fly landed on their haunch.
I would brand. How many times do we all see a post about a branded warmblood in a kill pen and the horse gets saved because someone noticed the brand.
They don’t brand in the Netherlands, they microchip. Much more humane (especially if you plan to keep him and there’s no risk of needing to id him in a kill pen as jherold noted)
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