Horse People...Let's talk about giving treats, new issue for me

[rodriguezpoultry]

I must have a REAL laid back horse. I've given treats to him each time I go out to him. It's why when I whistle, he comes galloping up (or on REALLY cold, wet days...walking his slowest pace possible...).

He's never "treaty" and has NEVER bitten me because of a treat. It might just be because I can read his mind and subconsciously stop the behavior before it happens or he just doesn't do it. The "one" time he tried to bite was because I was forcing him to walk forward and he wanted to stop and eat the grass. My hand was far enough away from his halter and leadrope it was the perfect opportunity. Once I felt the teeth scrape the back of my hand I let out a huge scream and whopped him smack in the nose. He's never done anything since. Probably because I scared the poo out of him.

He LOVES to lip people's hands though. He'll sit there with your fingers between his lips and LICK your hands. You pull your hand out and there is drool...all over your hand. You can see him grinning and if he could laugh...you'd hear it.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
That's just telling you that your hotwires are too far apart (*possibly* also not hot enough). Evidently you've solved the problem for yourself, but in the situation of the original poster, it would be real easy to prevent this from happening just by correctly spacing the wires and making sure they're kept zippily charged.

Pat

 

[debilorrah]

I have one horse that is a real stinker when it comes to treats, and the other is just fine - no rudeness, no pushing, waits til I tell her it's ok to take it. Duke on the other hand gets his treats thrown across the yard! He will chase down a 2 year old with a grocery bag if allowed!!!

 

[babyblue]

Ive honestly never gotten into the habit of treats. the old man will barely eat an apple or carrot because he just does not get them. cookies or mints or sugar forget it he wont eat the strange smelly objects.


as far as fencing goes, we have 1-2 stands of electric around the pasture.(some areas the border is straight up a rocky hill or straight into a brier patch, those areas have one strand) my horses are now scared pooless of the electric fence. a few winters ago the old man came to the conclusion that with a winter blanket on he wouldn't get zapped. so they got locked into the paddock till the first warm day. then I took the hose and soaked him and the mare totally and turned the fence all the way up. now even if the deer go nuts and blow thew the fence the horses wont cross the line where they know the fence should be. hahaha.

Ive found that when deer are running and panicked if they cant see it or see it quickly enough that they just run right threw it. every hunting season we do a quick scan to make sure the fence is still up and repair it if it isn't before the beastys get turned out. if you want deer proof either two very visible fences or one fence strong enough to get slammed into by 100+ pounds of deer is the only thing that you can 100% know will stay up.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Quote:
That's just telling you that your hotwires are too far apart (*possibly* also not hot enough). Evidently you've solved the problem for yourself, but in the situation of the original poster, it would be real easy to prevent this from happening just by correctly spacing the wires and making sure they're kept zippily charged.

Pat

Actually we are not trying to keep the deer out. Now that they know where the fences are, they don't knock them down and that is all I care about. My stallion, on the other hand, knows exactly where the wires are too and they are plenty hot enough that he won't go closer than 5 feet to any of them, even with mares in the next paddock. The fences themselves are not close--there is a 10' alley between them because I do not want either the mares or the stallion close to one another. The fences are not about the deer, just the horses, and I was actually pleased to see the deer figure them out. Perhaps I misunderstood the OP. I thought she wasn't trying to keep the deer out either, just keep them from tearing down her hot wires, which is why I posted.

However, if you want to keep deer out, all the garden books say to use 2 fences of 2 different heights and they only need to be about 3-4 feet apart--just enough that the deer THINK they can't clear them. I've never tried that, though. For some reason, the deer don't bother my garden. Maybe because it is so close to the house and the dogs? They will, however, eat the leaves off the 2 young apple trees that are the farthest away from the house.

Rusty

 

[EweSheep]

I had one farmer said he puts a couple of empty pop cans on the wire to "make noises" so the deer dont run it over. Not sure if it is fool proof but you have to figure out how to keep the can from moving on either side of the post.