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Re: [RC] Branding - Valerie JaquesNot a whole lot of luck involved. I think we've got it pretty much down to a science, and I would suspect that bad branding happens about as often as a close or hot nail for a very experienced or good farrier (which is to say, not often). As I was thinking about it today, I recalled that the branding dude explained that fur (which is what we're branding on) has a weaker attachment and follicle than hair (i.e., the mane or tail). As a result, it is far easier to damage or destroy the follicles for fur, and it doesn't take nearly the level of burn it would take to destroy "true" hair follicles. I also recalled a situation during college, when we were putting clips on a bunch of horses. One of my fellow students was shoeing a mare that wasn't being particularly cooperative, and she jerked while he was hot fitting the shoe. Well, the shoe ended up around her pastern. She was jumping around like mad trying to get rid of it (obviously she felt it; at that point the shoe would've been about 800 degrees). Finally, the student reached out and pulled it off of her with his bare hand. The result? He had second and third degree burns on his fingers and palms. Took close to a week for the burns to heal sufficiently for him to be able to handle his tools again, and longer for them to be truly closed. The mare had some singed fur. Her skin was fine, perhaps a little singed, but not truly hurt. That shoe was on her pastern much longer than the student had it in his bare hand, and yet she came out basically unscathed while he suffered for quite some time. Livestock skin and people skin cannot be compared much beyond the fact that it serves as a barrier and keeps our insides inside.Barbara McCrary <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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