Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Branding at the Rockin Maddy Ranch

Maddy has a freeze brand on her left front shoulder. It is a small, white heart. I think it is cute and gives her character. It reminds me of where she came from and when I see the "Hart" brand, I know the horses are members of Maddy's family. Today, Laura, the woman I bought her from, sent me some photos of the freeze brand process. They usually use liquid nitrogen, but this time they used dry ice and had lots of success. A freeze brand kills the pigment in the cells and the hair grows back white. I guess all you do is shave the area, spray with alcohol, and hold the brand on there for 40 seconds. They did 27 horses on this day. I don't know what kind of sensation this has on the horse's skin. I would imagine it burns a little bit.

6 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

The heart is really cute. I wonder too if it hurts at all. If it does I'm sure it's not as bad as being branded with a hot iron. My horse
Erik had a Dutch Warmblood brand by his rump. It was hard to see though,my guess is because he was gray.

Deanna said...

That is really cool. Thanks for posting it!

Deanna

Rising Rainbow said...

I had a horse freeze branded many years ago, he didn't act like it bothered him at all. He seemed to be more concerned about the clippers than the brand.

Molly said...

How interesting! I never knew. I love the heart.

Esther Garvi said...

Wow, I didn't either! I wonder what Arwen and Sahara would look like with a cute little heart? Cool! :-D

Rebecca said...

My guy Billy has the Hart freeze brand also. Whenever I clip him for the winter, I trace around it hehe :o) He looks goofy on that side, but I like it :)