[Hardfeather]

Following on from the Fife theft thread...

I have only ever had one horse micro-chipped, and he is now living elsewhere. The ones I have now are not. I have considered getting them done, but have decided against it on the grounds that the chip register is fragmented due to several companies offering the service, and few, if any, of them seeming to submit their records to a central archive. If, as I did, one loses the certificate, bar code, and forgets the name of the company involved, and can't pass that vital information on to the police/marts/horsewatch schemes, it seems that the chip will be of little use in aiding the retrieval of a stolen horse. Even with photos and an accurate description, the horse's recovery still requires someone with a scanner to be in the right place at the right time.

Micro-chips can 'migrate' to other parts of the body, which makes them difficult to detect and read, and there is even the potential for them to be removed altogether. I have decided instead to have each of them freeze branded in the hope that it may be more beneficial as a thief deterent. Anyone who is interested can cast an eye over a freeze brand, and the more eyes on them as they move around the country means that there is greater potential for a stolen horse to be detected. There is no need for a particular person with a scanner to be involved.

Since July 2009, all foals now have to be passported and micro-chipped, yet there seems to be no provision made for a choice between chipping and freeze branding, according to the preference of the owner. I accept that not everyone would want a branded horse, and that may be a focal point if such a horse were offered for sale; it may even be detrimental to the price of the horse. However, for those of us who have breeding stock, retain youngsters, and want our horses to have a visual display of responsible ownership, branding may be the preferred option.

As the law stands, as far as I know, we must chip and, if we wish to brand, that has to be additional and an extra incurred cost.

Can anyone tell me if the various companies who offer either option are pooling their information effectively, with a central archive body such as NED, or is it all still a mess?

Come to think of it, NED is a mess too...isn't it?

[sabrina]

As far as I know its still a mess unlike cattle who have all their details stored in one area. As for the chips, I have a friend who is very well informed on what goes on in the horse and pony world. she informs me that some dealers are digging out the chips and selling them along with the animals passport. The poor animal goes abroad into the meat chain and cannot be traced as its chip has gone. I spent years trying to find a horse I sold, I had him chipped and all I found out was his details were still in my name, to this day I do not know if he is alive or dead. Chipping foals is crazy, as you say the chip can move. I have a young stallion who will be chipped when he is vetted, I decided to do this when he is a 4 year old. The horse passport to me is a total waste of time as their details are never looked at, you can get one on the day at a sale I have been told now if that is true then any stolen animal can be sold through market sales.  As you can see it makes me so mad.

[CameronS]

Ours (even though they live with my Aunt, and i have  not seen them for about 1.5years) are freeze branded, and are microchiped. But i believe all of hers are just microchiped, but they have never come to any harm, up on the North Yorkshire moors   

[daniellestocks]

Chipping foals is crazy, as you say the chip can move. I have a young stallion who will be chipped when he is vetted, I decided to do this when he is a 4 year old. The horse passport to me is a total waste of time as their details are never looked at, you can get one on the day at a sale I have been told now if that is true then any stolen animal can be sold through market sales.  As you can see it makes me so mad.

Its ridiculous isn't it! they shouldn't sell a horse at the sales without passports full stop!!!!, as you rightly say it could be stolen and entered at the sale with a passport pending to the new buyer!!!
Danielle

[juliag]

We recently had a scare with some gypsy types who took more than a passing interest in our land, horses etc. So much in fact that I contacted Farmkey and had everyone of our ponies freezemarked. They also do microchipping plus Horsebox identification. Unfortunatley the Freezemarks do take 8-12 weeks to come through properly although they are now showing up clearly. Farmkey leave you warning signs to put on your gates , stables etc stating that the horses are freezemarked and can be identified by the police. They also offer a very large reward and will undertake looking for your horses/ponies if a freezemarked horse does go missing. so far they have a 98% success rate in recovering stolen horses. I feel much happier now they are done. I know some people dont want the freezemark if they are showing etc, however I have a coloured pony who we show in coloured classes and he has never been put down due to his freezemark. (and that is in HOYS qualifiers). For me its got to be freezemarking everytime and it was much much cheaper than expected!!

[beany]

I had a vet telling me of a new way dealers are getting chips out, they use potato peelers. They stab the horse where the chip is take a chunk of flesh and then remove. They then scan to see if they get it. They do it this way because if they cut the horse with a knife it leaves a def scar, but if they gawge out a piece of flesh when it heals it leaves like a tuft which can even be mistaken for a whorl. I agree with the comments about sales I don't often go to auctions, but was horrified last time I went, as the sellers were bringing their passports to this woman sat at a desk who then gave them their lot numbers, and then put the passport in an envelope. I asked her when they checked the passport against the horse and she said if trading standards couldn't be bothered to do it neither could they!!!!

[sabrina]

Another tick they have when it comes to stealing animals is to leave a car wheel rim poped up against the field gate, that one was posted on the Shetlandpony web site last year.

[beany]

another one which was being used in shropshire where they lost 6 horses was plastic bags like a tesco bag, wrapped around fencing, usually more than one, often quite a few used to guide them in in the dark to the area of fence they are going to cut. I met one ladt who had lost all her tack, and they found pink loo roll wrapped round the fence and again in a tree just up from the yard.

[Rosemary]

I had Smokey freezebranded when I bought him 7 years ago. Because he's grey it's on his shoulder. He's registered with Freezemark, who keep a register and promote searches if he is stolen. Costs twelve quid a year; can't remember how much the brand was. It gives me some peace of mind although he's probably not a great target for thieves.

[beany]

I had mine done with Farmkey had the first ones done over 20 years ago. I used them a) because I had before and b) because they do the micro mark for horses that have a micro chip and he's a coloured with almost no coloured so I didn't want a bald mark so the lady put it about 6" behind his ears on the only available coloured bit. Looks great as is a little horse shoe and you can see it even when he has his full neck rug on. My others have full personalised freezemark.

[daniellestocks]

What exactly can you get freeze marked? as in the actual mark? is it a choice of what you want eg, numbers or shapes etc?

[Annie22]

This is scary.  I know people steal horses here but not to the same extent.  I own thoroughbreds which have to be branded to be registered in the stud book.  I think all thoroughbreds have to be microchipped here to go into the stud book and DNA tested.  This started from about 2000.  I don't think my gelding is DNA tested as he was born in 1999 but my mare born in 2000 is DNA tested and microchipped.  Only thoroughbreds seem to have passports, not sure about other breeds.  Actually still waiting for my passports, but easy to get I only have to say the seller didn't give them to me (with a statutory declaration) pay $120 and they will send them to me.  Defeats the purpose really.

[beany]

Where are you Annie as in GB all tb's are dna'ed and chipped and all equines in the uk must have a passport. all new passports from july last year must be chipped. on the subject of freeze marks i think apart from farmkey's micromark all freeze marks are letters and numbers apart from the loss of use mark if you have your horse written off they brand them my old horse was loss of use and he had a circle with an L in it to say the was lame. Sadly no longer with us as his navicular caught up with him.

[juliag]

What exactly can you get freeze marked? as in the actual mark? is it a choice of what you want eg, numbers or shapes etc?

It costs slightly more to have your own personalised mark put on and it has to be checked and approved in advance that there are no others with the same mark. It is made up of 4 letters/numbers. a great deterrent , I am very happy now mine are done. On a coloured horse the mark comes out as white hair against the dark background and on a grey horse the mark comes out as a series of bald letters/ numbers. It appeared to be totally pain free, my ponies just continued to munch on their haylage during the entire process without so much as flinching. 

[daniellestocks]

all new passports from july last year must be chipped.

I thought that just applied to foals? am i wrong there? is it all horses?