To brand or not?

[jayessbee]

I have a registered Hanoverian filly who is set to be branded within the next couple of weeks. I understand the Verband is eliminating branding in the next couple of years in favour of microchipping, in line with many other registries.

I’m on the fence about having my filly branded if this is going the way of the dodo. She isn’t intended for resale although that is not impossible depending on how she works out for me. I also will likely have her microchipped in any event.

Am I making a mistake considering not having her branded or does it not make a difference? Also I haven’t heard back yet whether or not I would be allowed to opt out.

[CLB15]

I had my filly branded as a yearling as last chance after she didn’t get done as a suckling or weanling. I like that there’s one more visible characteristic if she ever needs to be ID’d. One of my old horses had been moved & sold took a while for her original registration papers to catch up with her, but she was branded so didn’t fade into the sea of brown mares of any possible breed or age while the papers were being obtained.

ETA: Mine is AHS and I don’t think you have to opt out NOT to brand, but would just need to sign up to have it done at an inspection or through the outreach option.

[Hej]

I just had my foal branded, and while I will admit to being a bit apprehensive about it, it was really no big deal for the foal.

He was also microchipped, but like CLB15 said, the brand is visible i.d.

[Dance_To_Oblivion]

A visible brand has saved many horses from a kill pen. That alone is sufficient reason for me to brand.

[Sparrowette]

Question: I had a Dobie microchipped as a young dog, but when she was an old dog, she escaped the yard and although I DID get her back, the people who found her informed me that when they took her to a place where they could check for a chip, the machine couldn’t find it to read it and they looked for multiple brands if chips. The only way they found me, was that I’d had engraved her chip number on a brass plate on her collar, and although that was so old as to be difficult to read, they eventually made it out, contacted the company and called me.

A brand may be difficult to read, but you will always know that “something” is there to look up. Horses can live much longer than dogs. How often do chips move around in horses to the point that they are unreadable, as they did in my dog’s case? Anyone have any experience in this?

[clint]

I prefer branding to microchipping, as noted, it is visible and a deterrent to ending up on a feedlot. Microchips on horses need to be placed in the nuchal ligament on the neck, and when I have had my GOV horses microchipped a vet did it, which adds expense plus it is a bigger deal to the horse than a brand.

[dani0303]

Branded warmbloods that accidentally slip through the cracks get noticed immediately at auction and feed lots. That alone would sway me to brand.

[RedmondDressage]

i agree with the other posters on this thread. Chipping is great but they don’t check for chips at the auction houses and kill pens. I follow multiple auction and kill pen groups and have yet to see a branded WB actually ship to slaughter. As soon as people see those brands they are snapped up immediately. It’s easy to think that a well bred WB will never be in that situation but it does happen and that brand can be the difference between life and a pretty gruesome end.

[Libby2563]

I could have written your OP in 2014, except my Hanoverian yearling was a gelding rather than a filly. I decided against branding for your exact same reasons and have since regretted it, to the point that I asked about doing it the next year. I don’t plan to let my horse slip through the cracks but shit happens sometimes and I’d feel better if he had a visible indication of good breeding.

BTW, I did not have to opt out in advance, just didn’t take him over to where they were doing the branding. This was with AHS.

[Dutchmare433]

@RedmondDressage

i agree with the other posters on this thread. Chipping is great but they don’t check for chips at the auction houses and kill pens. I follow multiple auction and kill pen groups and have yet to see a branded WB actually ship to slaughter. As soon as people see those brands they are snapped up immediately. It’s easy to think that a well bred WB will never be in that situation but it does happen and that brand can be the difference between life and a pretty gruesome end.

Along with most of the others, the above is why I branded mine.

ETA, mine is KWPN and was branded at 4 when presented for Ster.

[soloudinhere]

I elected to have both my ponies branded.

It’s insurance - that someone knows they are something that someone deliberately bred, registered, and inspected.

Unfortunately the way a lot of the registries are branding now, the brands are almost invisible on the adult horse. If I didn’t know where to look, I would not have known they were branded at all. Both of mine were branded at their foal inspection and the brand was clear as day, but to even get a clear photo of it now I’d need to clip close to the skin.

[jayessbee]

Thank you for your thoughtful replies everyone.

[Aleuronx]

Any thoughts on brand care afterwards?

My mare was branded as a 3 yr old last week at her inspection. I was told and not put any aftercare/healing ointments etc on it because that can cause the brand to be less ‘clear’. At this point it’s scabbing up something fierce. Do I continue to leave it alone? Wipe off scabbys with plain water? What have others done?

[clint]

I leave the brand alone. They scab, the scab falls off, leaving the brand.

[4horses]

When I picked up a mare from the feedlot I took her to my local dog/cat vet and had them scan for a microchip and it immediately identified the chip and with some online research I was able to identify the company the microchip was registered with. I realized later that her microchip was indeed on her coggins the entire time! The first time I looked at the coggins, I did not notice it at all.

Maybe some feedlots do check for microchips, after all a horse that is registered is a lot more valuable. Now once the horse ships to the killer, they don’t bother checking but I suppose that goes for brands too. Once the horse ships, it is gone.

Branding is an excellent way of identifying a horse, as long as the people at the auction or sale pen recognize the brand.

People specialize in a certain breed- Brands commonly used in Paso Finos, might not be recognized by QH folks, etc. The fact that a horse is branded does not necessarily mean the horse is a valuable horse. After all the horse may have behavior problems or lameness issues and that is why it ended up there.

If you want to be extra cautious, you should Microchip AND Brand. I think Branding is mostly just a deterrent to theft. Microchipping does allow you to trace a horse back to a previous owner easier than a brand does.

For that matter, I picked up an older QH once with at least 3 brands on her- overkill in my opinion- and she bronco bucked under saddle. I had to completely restart her as someone clearly had rodeo’d her. One brand is sufficient, you certainly don’t need 3 brands!

My personal horses are microchipped, not branded. If I was worried about theft I would put up security cameras.