micro chipping/freeze brands

[the galah]

No longer freeze branding is creating an issue for ex harness horses in the USA, with more now being sold and ending up in auctions where they are  more likely to be bought for slaughter or to end up in what they call kill pens.

The problem is ex harness horses were previously being identified through their freeze brands and were easily identified and were being bought because of their temperaments and previous handling and were ideal for other uses post racing and also many were being bought by organisations who rehomed them.

Problem is now,without the freeze brands,people can't tell anymore.

Apparantly you can still get in the pens and if you can get the horses in the pens to stand still long enough for you to find the chip and hold the scanner against it for a few seconds ,then you can tell,but everyone is complaining that isn't really practical or entirely safe sometimes.Also there has been complaints of the scanner occasionally not always reading the chips and multiple scanners having to be used on rare occasions on a horse..

So it was recently proposed the USTA introduce a rule requiring both. Apparantly the extra cost is only $40-$50 per horse,but USTA has upset many by simply saying,no the extra cost is unnecessary and seem to have the approach that where they end up isn't really their problem.

Also it seems that is also the attitude of most in harness racing in the USA. For example in 2021  10,000 horses were identified and only 2600 were given both a chip and a freeze brand.

Of those 2600,most were owned by the amish. The amish object on religious grounds to micro chips in their cattle and horses as they believe the chips 15 and 16 diget numbers are the mark of the beast warned of in the bible's book of revelation.

Also the likes of jeff gural also freeze brands as he believes in rescuing any that he has bred that end up in kill pens.

It apparently can be a double edged sword with the amish,as they but a lot of ex harness racehorses,but move them on when thye are no longer useful. 

Its those Mexicans and Canadians who love to buy them and immediately transport  them to their countries to be sl;aughtered and processed, or on sold to the likes of japan for human consumption.

Canada not the best place for a ex racehorse given the number of ways they can expolit them for the $.

Anyway,it does make you wonder ,wouldn't we be going to have the same sort of problem here and in australia as well given there is no longer freeze branding. Ok,not on the same scale, as they can't be exploited as much as in say canada or the usa,but some are sure to be overlooked going forward,whereas in the past people would have bought or rehomed them knowing their background as harness horses.

Edited April 10 by the galah