Support for Scottish ban on hot branding in horses and ponies (From Smallholder)

Support for Scottish ban on hot branding in horses and ponies

1:40pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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The British Horse Society supports the Scottish Government proposal to ban the use of hot branding The British Horse Society has expressed its full support of the Scottish Government’s proposal to ban hot branding.

Acknowledging that further research on physical and mental stressors would be useful, in matters of equine welfare the BHS prefers the precautionary principle: “If we do not know whether or not an act is injurious to the overall detriment of the welfare of a horse, but have good reason to believe it may be, then for the horses’ sake we will assume that the act is injurious until the contrary is proved.” In the case of hot branding the BHS believe there is little doubt that the application of hot irons to an animal causes unjustifiable pain.

The BHS notes that the arguments in favour of hot branding for the purposes of identification are weakened by the limitations of the method: a brand may be difficult to read from a distance and can be obscured by the thick winter coat grown by horses during the winter. On the other hand, a microchip implanted in the nuchal ligament offers definitive identification, with the insertion of such microchips perceived to be less of a physical stressor than the process of hot branding.

Graham Cory, British Horse Society Chief Executive, said “Whereas some will point to the practical difficulties inherent in other methods of identification, The British Horse Society cannot condone a practice which elevates the convenience of the owner to a position above the welfare of the horse.”