i need some help with my horses....

[heathersboers]

I have had the same horses for a while.... a palomino colt who is now 14 months and a retired barrel racing mare..she was first..palominos colt second.they have had no problems staying in the fence until recently..I adopted a pony who was severely underweight. He is 20 years old And pretty much acts like Eeyore,until he figured out How to get out of the pen. He stuck his head under tbe 6 strands of poly wire ...got zapped amd kept at it till he got out. Came home to 2 horses down the road from our house.We have a 50 mile electric fence box on 1/2 acre.for these horses. Once the pony got out...the colt got out,so we hooked up a 300 mile box which can kill small animals.we hoped it would teach them a lesson. Well.....I went outside this morning and all.3 were out..thankfully still enclosed in our yard by the perimeter fence.even the mare who stays in haystring if she thinks its hot...then she ran from me!!!! She has never ran from me.The colt charged the fence last night and destroyed it. I don't know what to do. I can't afford a board fence all the way around...and I hate to get rid of them.this getting out thing is going to cause a problem.....tips or tricks anyone?

 

[geebs]

Well I would build a pen and keep the most dominant one in it... and then I would teach them all to hobble... New Zealand type wire is a killer. I have seen horses die in it... Sorry... I hope you get it worked out.

 

[fried green eggs]

Electic Fence is great when it's strong but, it sounds like you need to walk your fence lines and cut any weeds that touch the fence and make sure there is no shorts anywhere. Check for anything that could be shorting out your fence and make it weak ie bad or broken wires in the poly fence, bad insulators, not enough ground rods on ground wires, rust at connections or steel post touching electric line, even wood touching can drain power.

Also does this pony have a big thick forlock/mane? If so, cut it. It will then feel the hot fence and same with your other horses. Good Luck

 

[welsummerchicks]

Be sure to walk around the entire fence line using a tester to determine where and how the fence is not working. Companies like Electro Braid have directions on their websites on how to test your fence. Your ground may be at fault (especially when the soil around the ground is dry, the ground may not wor), or your connections. Sometimes it is a more basic design issue.

Ponies often use their thick manes as insulation so they can go under an electric fence. Once your fence is fixed you may want to roach the pony's mane (trim his mane off) so he gets a shock when he tries to go under.

But horses are smart. If the wire is loose most are smart enough to step on it and walk over it - and let the others out too.

 

[heathersboers]

Thanks all. The fence is at full strength. One of my goats hit it and they fell down. The horses are getting a running start and busting through.

 

[danischi24]

Hobble them for awhile, then they wont be able to get a running start.

 

[patandchickens]

The "charges X miles of fence" rating on the box means nothing whatsoever, what matters is the actual voltage you have running on your fence. As someone else said, the first thing to do is go use a decent fence tester (preferably a good digital one, as those five-neon-lights jobbies can be extremely inaccurate). You want to have at least 3,000v (higher is better) on the fence for a 'problem' horse. Poor connections, poor grounding or accidental grounds/shorts can easily give you low voltage on the fence even if a whopper of a charger is hooked up to it.

However, it is possible that what you have is a horse (or horses) who have learned that electric wire is fragile and only hurts for a moment if you charge thru it from a running start.

Horses like that cannot be confined in electric fences. Period.

You have three choices. One is to build a safe strong physical fence (wood, no-climb wire mesh, stud rail, etc) and just put a hotwire or two on it to prevent leaning. That is what I would highly recommend. I know it's expensive, but that's what happens sometimes when you gamble on flimsy electric fences with nothing physical backing them up -- sometimes horses learn expensive habits

The other option, which I am not recommending but *is* technically an option, is to build a less-easily-breakable electric fence (electrobraid, electric rope, or even a correctly-installed tightly-tensioned 8-wire electrified high tensile wire fence) and then buy a buncha rabbits feet and cross your fingers that they don't try their "charge thru it" trick and get severely or fatally injured, which is not terribly uncommon in that circumstance. This can be cheaper (with rope or braid) than building a real physical fence, but also has a whole lot more potential to backfire quite gruesomely.

Or, get rid of whichever horse(s) are going thru the fence.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[babyblue]

I agree with really testing your fence everywhere, roaching or braiding everyones manes and forelocks out of the way and soaking them with a hose so they really feel the zap.


A few years ago my horses pulled this when they still had winter blankets on, the fence just wont zap threw thick blankets. I locked them in the wooden paddock until the first nice warm day. Made sure the fence was good and set the volts as high as it would go. Soaked the horses down with a hose then using dh's rubber electrical work gloves shoved them both face first into the fence. Standing off to the side and obviously letting go of the horse just before they got zapped. Little brats never tested the fence again. In fact when drunk snowmobiling rednecks wrecked threw the fence the horses refuse to walk over the ground where the fence should be.

 

[heathersboers]

I have 8 strand poly wire...and 6 strands about 5 inches apart. They did not get out today...thank God!!! I tested it with the tester And it runs it all the way out past 5,000 volts.....so the fence is super hot....I guess the only thing to do now is just wait and see. They will not touch the fence with me looking.I even tried the old put the feed under the bottom wire trick. Oh well...we will see if they stay in now. If not, I may be putting up a new fence...

 

[patandchickens]

I've not seen anyone do this with the problem you're describing, but it might be worth a try... I wonder if just putting ONE fenceboard on the fence, all the way around, would be enough to keep them from charging thru and thus "encourage" them to experience the full voltage of the fence in all its glory. You might try it before building a whole new fence anyhow. Even if you've just got t-posts, you can still attach a 2x4 to them with baler twine run around the board and thru one of the holes on the back of the T-post. I'd suggest putting it at about chest height to whoever the biggest troublemaker is.

Good luck,

Pat