Educate yourself about horse theft.

• Consult the web site of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers at http://www.texascattleraisers.org for a number of helpful suggestions.

• The Texas Agricultural Extension Service has some very inexpensive but informative brochures, such as Horse Theft Awareness: 15 Steps to Minimize Theft of Horses, Facilities and Equipment (L-5210). Visit their web site at http://tcebookstore.org .

• Visit the web site of Stolen Horse International at www.netposse.com for more information. They have published a book entitled "Horse Theft, Been There Done That"

• In 2003, several issues of the Horse Council News contained articles on the subject of brands and branding, other methods of identification, and other topics related to horse theft. Those articles are reproduced below.

From the May/June 2003 issue: Horse Theft and You.

Let's hope that you never find that your horse is missing. Most of us would find that too distressing for words. Horse theft is a reality of life, unfortunately, and our speaker at the June meeting was A. L. "Butch" Davis, Field Inspector for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA).

Why did we invite someone from a cattle raiser's organization to speak to us about horse theft? The reason is quite simple: the TSCRA is the most effective single organization in the United States when it comes to recovering stolen horses. Last year, ninety horses were reported to the TSCRA as stolen; sixty-six were recovered.

The TSCRA was founded more than 100 years ago for the purpose of dealing with livestock theft. Its thirty-one field inspectors are law enforcement officers, commissioned by the Department of Public Safety. Their expertise in investigating agricultural crime is legend.

Unfortunately, we horse owners often make the horse thief's job easy, and law enforcement's job very difficult. What can a horse owner do to increase the odds of recovering his horse in the event that it is stolen? One of the most important things one can do is BRAND the horse.

"But there's not another horse in the world that looks exactly like mine--surely I don't need to brand himn!" Want to bet? Imagine that I call you and tell you that our dun mare is missing. She's dun and has a little white on three feet and kind of an ugly head. Can you visualize anything that would let you separate her from the hundreds--perhaps thousands--of dun Quarter Horse mares in Texas? I doubt it. Now suppose I tell you that she is wearing a freeze brand (it will be white) on her left thigh that consists of a letter "L" superimposed on a letter "P" to form one character, with a bar under it. Now if you saw her in a group of other horses, it is entirely possible that you could pick her out as mine.

Photos are very helpful, but not foolproof. Give the horse a little time and let him gain or lose weight, let him grow a winter coat, and let his mane grow long. Now, unless he's a distinctly marked Appaloosa or Paint, he may not look at all like your photo.

A brand has another advantage. If you've followed the law, you registered your brand with your county clerk. This gives you firmer legal footing to claim your horse. "But he's my horse! I have pictures! I've had him for years!" What do you want to bet that a thief can line up friends who will swear it's his horse, and he raiseed him from a colt? He may have pictures, too, by the time you find him. It's just easier if the horse is branded. A registration certificate, by the way, is not considered proof of ownership. Why? You can always sell a horse without his papers. This is often done, particularly with geldings that are not show horses or race horses.

There is another big advantage to having the horse branded with a visible brand, and Butch went into some detail to explain it. It has to do with the legal guidelines that a law enforcement officer must follow if he thinks he has located a stolen horse. Butch described two scenarios: one with a branded horse, and one with an unbranded horse.

Let's suppose he passes by a pasture and spots a horse that looks like one that has been reported stolen. Let's say it is a gray Quarter Horse gelding. He thinks that maybe it's the horse he's looking for. Can he go into that pasture and take a closer look? Can he examine the horse and see if it has a microchip implanted, or a brand concealed beneath the mane? Can he crawl through the fence and get close enough to look for a half-inch scar just below the right eye that clearly shows in the owner's photo? No. Not without a search warrant. So he gets busy and fills out the necessary paperwork to get a search warrant and goes to find a judge to sign it. This may take several hours. And what if the judge does not think he has “probable cause”?

Now let's consider a second scenario. Someone has reported that a gray Quarter Horse gelding with a rafter "J" brand on his shoulder has been stolen. The same officer passes the same pasture, and this time he spots a gray gelding with a rafter "J" on his shoulder. He now has "probable cause” and will be able to investigate further and should have no trouble getting a search warrant if he needs it.

"Probable cause." We've all heard that term. We know that a police officer can't (not legally, anyway) just stop you as you drive down the road in your car, without something called "probable cause." Now, if he sees you run a stop sign, or he sees a beer can in your hand, he can pull you over and ask for identification, check to see it there are any warrants out for your arrest, and other things as well. But if he stops you for no reason, and then cites you for something he finds after that, you may wind up being able to get the case thrown out of court. It depends, I suppose, on a lot of things most of us know very little about. But everyone knows he has certain rights that the police cannot violate without running the risk of having a court throw their case out.

It's no different in the investigation of a horse theft. If investigating officers violate established guidelines, they risk getting a case thrown out of court. It doesn't matter that we may think this is all a bunch of hogwash. It doesn't matter that we--by golly--just want our horse back NOW. All that matters is what a judge is going to think.

There is no method of identification that is perfect. But a visible brand has the above-described advantage that nothing else does. Other methods include freeze marking (the copyrighted system of Kryo Kinetics), microchips, and tattoos. We shall discuss them all in time, but for now, let's take a closer look at what are termed "ranch brands."

Texas law provides that a livestock owner may brand his livestock, including horses, with a brand that is registered in his name, and is unique in his county. Trouble is, there are 254 counties in Texas. So if you registere a circle "S" in your county, nobody else can register that brand in the same county. But there could, at least in theory, be 253 other people around the state who have the same brand. Even so, having a brand on your horse gives you stronger grounds for claiming him if he is stolen and later is found.

Brands, by the way, are site and species specific. If you register a circle "S" for the horse's left hip, someone else in the same county may register a circle "S" for a horse's shoulder (right or left), or right hip, or other location. And if you haven't registered your circle "S" for use on a cow, someone else may do so, even though you have claimed it for use on horses.

The law requires that you register your brand before you put it on livestock. It seems unlikely that anyone would ever check into whether or not a brand is duly registered unless a dispute arose over the ownership of an animal. And that of course is exactly when you would want to have all your ducks in a row!. So register your brand. We'll have more later on brand registration, where to buy a branding iron, where to get the horse branded, and other horse identification methods.

From the July/August 2003 issue: Freeze Marking vs. Freeze Branding

At the July meeting, Janet Sides gave an entertaining and informative presentation on freeze marking. Janet is a certified technician for Kryo Kinetics Associates, Inc., which holds the patent on an identification system known as freeze marking. There is much confusion about the terms "freeze marking" and "freeze branding," and Janet explained the difference between the two.

Freeze marking is the term applied to the alpha-angle identification system. Nearly everyone knows this is the system used to mark mustangs, but it is also used on many other horses, and in fact can be used on any horse. The orientation of lines determines which numbers they represent. (Visit Kryo Kinetics' web site for a diagram that explains the system.) Whereas individual counties in Texas register brands, Kryo Kinetics records the alpha-angle marks. Each freeze mark is unique and corresponds to an animal's breed registry, year foaled, and registration number. The Kryo Kinetics technician keeps a log of these numbers, and assigns the numbers to grade horses in the order in which they are presented for marking.

A freeze mark is a unique mark that is used to identify an individual horse. A freeze brand is a mark of ownership. A freeze mark is analogous to the VIN (vehicle identification number) on your car or truck. A brand is analogous to the logo that might appear on the door of a vehicle that identifies it as a vehicle belonging to a particular company or entity.

To put it another way, you could own a hundred head of horses with the same brand, and someone in the next county might also use the same brand as you. In contrast, no two horses anywhere are supposed to wear the same freeze mark.

Freeze marks are not registered at the county courthouse like ranch brands. There are registered with Kryo Kinetics following application of the mark. A moments reflection and one realizes why this is so. If you owned 50 head of horses, and had to register 50 different freeze marks with the county clerk at $11 each, it would cost you $550.00 to do so---every 10 years! Better to classify them differently (and I'll bet every county clerk in Texas will agree with that).

Many horse owners opt to have the freeze marks applied under them mane, so that it won't ordinarily be visible. This makes the mark less useful to those who are searching for a lost horse, and it reduces the deterrent value of the mark. One advantage of a visible brand is that some horse thieves will pass up a horse with a visible means of identification. However, at 2:00 a.m. in a dark barn the thief may not see any mark. Branded horses are sometimes stolen.

One disadvantage of the alpha angle system is that most horsemen don't know how to read them, and probably never will. It's not that the system is complex or hard to understand. It's just that most of us could learn it today, and forget it tomorrow. Most of us don't encounter a freeze mark we need to read often enough to remember how. This doesn't mean that this is not a good method of identifying horses. It just means it has that limitation.

ALL methods of identifying livestock have some limitations. Brands (or ranch brands, if you like) can be easily altered. Someone in another county could register the same brand that you register in your county. But a visible, easily deciphered brand has advantages. If someone is at a rodeo or a trail ride and spots a horse with a brand that a missing horse wears, he can make a discrete phone call and have the appropriate authorities check it out. I doubt that anyone at a public gathering is going to walk around lifting the mane of all the horses to check for a missing horse with a freeze mark.

People in law enforcement seem to prefer brands, because they are readily spotted, easily read, and are a mark of ownership. But Janet told us that there are currently only 2 freeze-marked horses missing and unaccounted for throughout the entire United States. That is a powerful argument for the use of freeze marks.

One way to avoid the limitations of the freeze brand and the freeze mark is to have one of each applied to your horse. Some people do. Then you would have the benefits of a visible brand (that usually can be read from a distance) and the benefit of a unique identifying mark (the freeze mark). And yes, Kryo Kinetics technicians like Janet can apply freeze brands if they are called out to apply freeze marks. (Note: KK technicians may apply both freeze brands and freeze marks, OR freeze marks only, but their agreement with Kryo Kinetics does not allow them to apply ONLY freeze brands.)

Contact information for Kryo Kinetics: Kryo Kinetics Associates, Inc., P. O. Box 12490, Tuscon, AZ 85732-2490. Phone: (520) 293-5448. Web address: http://www.horseweb.com/kka/.

Also From the July/August 2003 issue: Suppose You Want to Brand Your Horse....

If you want to brand (freeze brand, fire brand, ranch brand, but not "freeze mark"--see above article) your horse, there are certain things you need to know. First of all, you will need to register your brand. It is actually against the law to brand a horse or cow in Texas with an unregistered brand. Would anybody ever prosecute you for using an unregistered brand? It seems unlikely, but it does seem likely that if you failed to register your brand it might lose its benefit as a legal proof of ownership. Since establishing ownership is one of the main reasons for branding an animal, register your brand!

Brands must be registered with the county clerk. In Harris County, you must go to the office of Beverly B. Kaufman, at 1001 Preston, Houston. The office is on the 4th floor, and is open from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

No, You can't do it over the phone, and no, you can't do it at one of the satellite offices. The reason is that you must sit down with the books where the brands are recorded and go through them and determine that nobody else has registered the brand you wish to use. They are listed in an orderly fashion, but some brands could be listed in more than one place (mine is listed on 3 different pages of the book, for example), so it takes a few minutes to do the search. The staff will assist you if you need help.

You will be given a form to fill out. Brands are site-specific and species-specific. For example, if you want to have a choice of branding on your horse's left shoulder or left thigh, you have to register those sites on separate forms, and pay two fees. (If you raise Paints or Appaloosas you might be particularly interested in having a CHOICE of 2 or 3 places to put the brand, because irregular coat colorings may make a particular site on a horse less suitable for a brand than some other site.) To register the brand for use on cattle as well as horses, would require an additional filing. The fee for each filing, by the way, is $11. So if you wanted to register your brand for use on your horse's left jaw, left shoulder, and left thigh, it would cost you $33 in filing fees.

If you register your brand for use on your horse's left shoulder, someone else may register the same brand for use on his horse's right shoulder. They are considered to be separate brands.

Brands are registered every 10 years. The last 10 year cycle began in 2001. The next time they must be re-registered will be 2011. In other words, if you register a brand this year, the registration will be good for approximately 8 years (this article was written in 2003); then you must re-register it. No doubt this is to keep people long dead or long out of the livestock business from tying up brands that other people could use.

Theoretically, registration of your brand with the county clerk should be step number one in the process of branding your horse, but if you are unfamiliar with brands and branding, there is one other thing you might want to do first. Find the person who is going to brand the horse for you, and ask him or her their opinion of the brand you have tentatively selected. Some characters don't lend themselves to branding as well as others. In general, very intricate designs are not a good idea. Simpler is generally better. "Clear and readable" is much more important than "cute."

If you select a brand that is a simple letter or numeral, or some combination thereof, you may not need to obtain a branding iron of your own. Many of the people who do branding for others own a set of branding irons consisting of letters of the alphabet, numbers, and simple figures such as circles or triangles. If you want something more complicated or original, such as a maple leaf or a cactus flower, or if you want a different size, you will have to have a custom made branding iron created.

Where can you have a branding iron made? There are probably many places, but one company that does a lot of this kind of work is L & H Manufacturing , in Mandan, North Dakota. Their phone number is 1-800-522-7091 and their FAX number is 701-663-0401. You can fax them a picture of your brand and get a price quote. If the pattern you have selected is not too exotic, the custom branding iron will probably cost you a little more than $100.

When ordering a branding "iron" be sure and indicate that you want it for freeze branding, not hot branding, because a different alloy is used for the freeze brander. In theory, many different materials could be used, but you will likely get better results using an "iron" made of the right alloy for the purpose.

Who can you get to brand your horse? There are a number of people who can do this. Some veterinarians will do it, so you might check with your vet. The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association(TSCRA) conducts branding clinics from time to time, throughout the state. Their phone number is 817-332-7064. Tom and Kathy Fleming, affiliated with Crimestoppers, also hold branding clinics. They may be reached at 888-932-7263. As mentioned earlier, Janet Sides, who does freeze marking throughout Texas and Lousiana, can also apply freez brands when she applies a freeze mark. Her phone number is 281-659-9582. As we mentioned earlier, Kryo Kinetics technicians are not allowed to ONLY apply freeze brands. Its part of the agreement they enter into with Kryo Kinetics when they become affiliated with Kryo Kinetics.

It is best to employ the services of someone with experience. It takes experience to know how long to hold the branding "iron" against the horse. A dun or roan will require a longer time than a sorrel or a chestnut, for example. It is disappointing to wind up with a botched brand, because a well-done brand is quite attractive.

The most common sites for brands traditionally have been the shoulder, thigh, and jaw on the left side of the horse. The left side is traditional because we usually handle a horse from the left side. How could anyone possibly say that they accidentally picked up the wrong horse by mistake if the brand is in a prominent place on the side on which you handle the horse?

While some people think a well-done brand is attractive, some think of it as a blemish. People in the latter category sometimes put the brand on the horse's back where the saddle will cover it when the horse is riden (which is either good, or bad, depending on the circumstances). If you elect to do this, you will have to give the horse a few weeks off to allow the brand to fully heal.

By the way, one of the big advantages of a freeze brand vs. a hot brand is that the freeze brand does not produce an open wound. Thus, there should be no danger of infection, and no worry about flies causing a problem.

Because the hair comes back white, the freeze brand remains visible even if the horse grows a long winter coat. That may not be true of a hot brand. Of course, if you are branding a gray horse whose hair is white, your only option is to hold the "iron" on longer and kill the hairs, so that they don't grow back. Then the dark skin shows, and it looks very much like a hot brand. A white horse with pink skin does not brand well with either method. Fortunately, such horses aren't common. Sometimes Paints and Appaloosas present a real challenge--on some of them it's hard to find a place where a brand will show up well. (That's one reason some of us register our brand on more than one location on a horse!).

Perhaps an additional note should be added about white horses (white hair and pink skin). You can brand them. The iron must be held on long enough to kill the hair follicles so that no hair will grow back. White hair against white hair wouldn't be visible, after all. So, with these horses the goal is a brand that reveals bare skin. It will be a good brand as far as providing proof of ownership. It will not be a good brand from the standpoint of high visibility. It won't be noticeable from a distance, as would a white mark on a bay horse, for example. In contrast, a gray horse (dark skin, hair may be all or nearly all white when he ages) may sport one of the most attractive and highly visible freeze brands of any color.

There will be more information here a little later. Check back.