Doug, You can also do a freeze brand on their necks like the ones that the BLM uses on the Mustangs. I have had a few done in the past, but can not locate the lady that did them for me. Those numbers are permanently registered in a national data base. Do a Google search on: "Kryo Kinetics Associates, Inc." they do the: "ALPHA-ANGLE FREEZE MARK HORSE IDENTIFICATION" You may want to google search both. I have tatoos on several ex-racers, but I also have all of them hip branded with my "Registered brand" with a freezebrand. I have two gray horses, that the freezebranding iron was left on longer to remove ALL the hair, (Like a hot brand) instead of just making the hair white. There is a man on this site, goes by "Freezebrand" who does a wonderful job. Hope that helps.

Chipping is a good idea. I know years ago all horses had to be scanned entering a slaughter house. Reason my fatty got done. But a brand is so visual and now wish she had one. If you evacuate and cant take them, make sure they are well ID'd. Kim

Chip registration is a must!!! Sarge, our Germ Shep, came across our horse pasture some 7 yrs ago. We had him scanned; he had a chip. Oops, the ppl never spent the 17.50 to register the chip, so it was useless. It took me over a month to locate the vet who implanted the chip. By this time we fostered and adopted this amazing dog. Lucky for us the owner who chipped him, sold him to some ppl that could not be located. If you chip, you MUST register for it to do any good. Most ppl would not have tried as hard as myself to locate the owner.

One thing that has not been brought up is registration of brands. As I have traveled with horses and had cattle stolen I know that some states don't even have a brand board and most States in the west will tell you "if your brand is not filed in our State it is not recognized". That I found out when cattle were stolen and moved out of State. As for freeze branding I have no problems with them and at least my brand can't be altered with a simple running iron. It is for identification and I know what each of my horses look like. If there was ever a question after one had been stolen I could identify her in a heart beat the freeze brand would only confirm it. Shoot a little boot polish or some such other thing would not hide the brand even clipping the hair would still show the brand.. The best prtection of your investment is register your horse with State Brand Dept. have current picture showing all quarters clearly, and most importantly (this may sound stupid) be able to recognize your horse among a heard of other horses. Every horse is unique even if they are solid.

Working with dairy cattle for many years I have learned ther is no perfect way to ID an animal. Freeze brands can be changed and do not always show up readable, some people are better at their application than others, Hot brands have the same problems. My daughters horse has a well done hot brand and this time of year, winter, you have to clip the hair to see it. Micro chips can migrate and be hard to find and read. But this doesn't mean we should not be making an effort to permanently ID our animals. Doing nothing works less often than any other type of ID. Always make sure you have good pictures of your animals in all seasons and close ups of any color patterns and scars. Redo them every so often. They often look different in a picture as an eight year old than they did as a three year old.

I am having this same dilema on how to mark them. In the midwest I don't there are many scanners. My next thing I am thinking about is freeze branding. Hot branding sounds too painfull.

I have been watching this thread. Some very interesting points made here. Microchips and freeze brands have their place, but I want to bring up a huge point. There are many places and scenarios that a microchip will never have the chance to be read. Freeze brands may look very nice and all, but they usually only are branded long enough to cause color change in the hair. A freeze brand can be easily covered with shoe polish, spray paint, mustache dye, Oklahoma mud, etc. I feel that a hot iron brand that actually leaves a permanent mark in the hide is the minimum one should do to ensure your animals will get home. Our brand inspectors here always say " Hot iron brand them, and they will have their own Zip Code home"..

I love my freeze brands. The first horse I branded probably 15 years ago and his brand is just as bright and clear as ever..that is on a dark chestnut. My palamino that I branded 8 yrs ago still has a perfect brand also. I like something bright and bold so if someone thinks about stealing my horse, they may think..."I better not take this one." I should microchip also tho. I do my own branding and it's really very simple to do. Nickie

Dugb...some of my older horses are freeze branded but the problem is the hair grows over the brand so fast you have to clip that brand every week to make it be seen....and as time goes on it becomes harder to read. So I did mircochip ...we have fires, floods and quakes here , have to evac at least once every summer and usually more. I've seen too many horses not be able to get back to owners because of no chip for ID.

Vince we still brand em in Texas. But last I saw, theres still a lot steroids in those ears.