A YO's rant.

Enfys

Enfys

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This is a rant, that's all, not a dig at anyone, I am just spitting feathers and need to blow off steam.

I frequently read about bad YO's and yards, and how little YO's do, how they just take the money and run, should do more etc, etc

Well, this YO is thoroughly FED UP! and Yes, I am shouting, well snarling actually. It really hacks me off when flaming horses do this to it :mad: (Well, only one actually)

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The horse in question has been wormed, had his teeth done, has ad-lib hay, mineral/salt licks, is on supplements and having feeds, and has logs, old fence posts, cut branches in the field and he still does this!

I accept fair wear and tear to fencing is normal, but now I am going to have to spend an entire morning refencing an entire field with T posts, purchasing more tape and insulators to save what posts I have left, never mind that I had plans to actually have some me time for a change (whoa, silly me, fancy planning to go into town to buy some new clothes eh?)

Honestly, if the owners weren't such sweet people I'd give them their marching orders, it isn't their fault that their horse is a bloody beaver masquerading as a 16.2 Tb so I won't. I am beginning to realise why the horse was in a taped off paddock before and why his previous owner was happy to give him away! I counted the posts in that field today, 107 to be precise. Painting them with noxious substances is out of the question, tried that, it is like adding ketchup to chips, what I'd like to do is run something sharp and pointy (like nails - joke;)) up each one but that is out of the question.

OK then, coffee, then fencing - yippee.
 
Now why would you want to go clothes shopping when you can spend the afternoon in the fresh air without any crowds?? ;) I'd offer to come and lend a hand but I think you're too far from me.

On the flip side I think the returnee on our yard will be going in the field where Fat Lad is. I was told this morning that the returnee likes to eat other horses rugs :eek: - I am not happy about that potential event. Watch this space...........
 
You are good, why isn't the owner helping you or paying for replacement posts?
My TB also does this and prefers NEW wood!!
I have just put him on pink powder as have heard that can help.
He also licks soil around the roots of a tree. I wonder if there is a link there.
You sound like a very good YO!
 
Now here's a thought - has the tb got ulcers?

I had a little DIY yard a few years ago and had a similar problem which was solved when it was discovered the horse (a retired racehorse) had ulcers and after treatment all but stopped eating wood and became a more relaxed boy all round.

Boring stats : 90% of racehorses or ex racehorses probably have ulcers
60% or more of competition horses -do-
35% of purely leisure horses (happy hacks) -do-

A bit scary!
 
Oh ho, my day gets even better.:) I have my happy 'at least it isn't raining/snowing/minus 15C' head back on. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and it warming up, there are worse things than beavering tb's.

The hunters are out so my dogs are trying to eat their way in to the house because they are wimps (what is it about this place that things want to eat the wood?:rolleyes:)

It's still only 2C, 10 am and I haven't even started on stables yet, oh, and the hosepipes I forgot to bring in last night are still frozen...

and I have 2 sets of people coming to see horses as well now - bet they both turn up at the same time.

More coffee to take out with me I think...

Have a good day everyone, I am going to ;) What doesn't get done today will still be there tomorrow :D
 
sorry Enfys but your beaver comment had me chuckling:D my daughters pony is a beaver, :rolleyes: luckily he can only get to the top of the wooden posts in one paddock and they are just the right size to get the tub of cribbox over the top, so i go round twisting the pot on top of each post just to pee him off;)
 
To be fair Enfys, I think the owners should pay and help with the work. IF an animal has special needs, it shouldn't be the YO who is out of pocket. I don;t know a single livery yard around here that would put up with that and pay for all the damage out of their own pockets.
 
Oh dear! Could be worse, I mean .... I got to the yard yesterday to find all the horses together in the smallest paddock on the yard. :confused: When I started walking down the fields I saw why. First up there was trail of destruction #1, with a rather large gaping hole in the fence line and post, rails and wire everywhere. Then came trail of destruction #2, same thing again and then finally there was trail of destruction #3, yup you've guessed it more broken posts, rails, wire and gaps in the fence. :eek::eek::eek: The destruction was so bad that only one paddock remained in tact, well sort of, even that had a broken post right at the gate!

Thought they'd must have destroyed in during the night, had a fight or something .... actually it turned out to be the yard owners own horse, who took a dislike to his new hood and proceeded to run threw the fence as it went over his eyes! WHOOPS! :rolleyes:
 
i used to have a pony that ate trees. the yard owner helped me to get a grazing muzzle (i was 13 + 2 non-horsey parents) which meant he couldnt do it. a few months of muzzle wearing broke the habit & he never did it again. my point being i was helped to find a solution that stopped my horse causing that particular problem, i was not blamed or made to feel responsible & the problem was quickly resolved. could you do something similar?
 
If mine has destroyed something (last year he broke a stable door, including the frame, and a bit of fence) I offer to either repair it myself or pay the costs of having it repaired. I don't pay livery that includes any sort of extra repairs, so if he causes an issue then I expect to pay. Hope you get your fences sorted OP!
 
One of mine used to do that if she felt at all short on feed. She has a very sensitive digestive system and prefers more fibre (so will choose to eat straw over hay etc). WE bought electric fencing and fenced her off from the wooden post and rail ourselves.
 
I must admit that I would not have waited till 107 :eek: :eek: :eek: fence posts needed replacing till summat had been done ;). Next door neighbours horses did it to a few of our posts when they did not put their leccy fencing back up after yet another breakthrough to chat over the fence with ours ( they really do lurve our pones ;) ) .......... a friendly chat to let them know what was happening soon had the situation sorted :D
 
I had a new livery arrive the other week, and as she unloaded it the owner said "oh, did I tell you he's a crib-biter?" I said no you didn't, but don't worry we'll put him in the barn where the stables have metal bars between them and there is metal on top of the door, at which point she looked very worried and said "Oh dear, I hope he doesn't damage his teeth!" :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Get the owner to put some leccy fencing 3 foot from boundary. Wonder why he's doing it and if its sympomatic of anxiety or boredom. Either way, things sound like they need to change for him. Mine used to do it on diy livery when others either side or with her left with their owners. Stopped when she went full livery and her environment was kept more consistent.
 
I like to call it eqine art :D
It does look to me like he is trying to make a totem pole Enfys, maybe you could cash in! :D
 
Our mare wind sucks, we were told to put her in a collar so we did, you sound like a nice YO to replace stuff and put up fencing
 
The idea of a 16.2 beaver made me smile. Mind you it's not as bad as the time when my daughter had to go and tell our YO that our 17.2 dumbblood was wearing a large portion of stable yard fence around her neck (two uprights and six planks). Luckily he saw the funny side of it.
 
I think the owners should pay for the damage as it clearly is not fair wear and tear.Fencing costs time and money.One of the owners horses did that at our place,mainly because she did not feed them and they were basically eating dirt.She did not even apologise.By the way i would love it if you can scan and email your old photo's of Bankara Enfys,now that i have a computer up and running.(old one died)
 
I feel your pain. I have one horse that has broken four post and rail fences. Another that frequently smashes through electric fencing and eats next doors ornamental trees, and several that have eaten my post and rails down to matchsticks! Oh and that isn't to mention the one that decided to scratch his bum on my car and flooded the stable block by sitting on his automatic water dispenser. He is now working on knocking the whole of another stable block down by throwing himself at the sides of his stable in order to scratch. I can see it moving!
 
Enfys, Wouldn't cladding the chewed area of the posts with half round stakes over the wire be simpler, cheaper and more effective?
 
Maybe in future add something to the contract and inform possible liveries that if their horses eat wood or start, they will have to pay AND their horses will be fenced off...

I won't have horses that eat wood! OR are known to crash though leccy fencing! Learnt the hard way and now do my homework!

:D
 
I have post and rail fencint. I have high tensile wire on the top of each rail to stop[ them chewing it and I have just asked a livery to leave whose horse systematically barges through the post and rail fencing. It also has mites and is very itchy but she refuses to remove its featehrs and treat it correctly so it has ripped out the rails and posts surrounding my tree saplings by rubbing its backside on them daily. I have repaired and replaced the rails daily for weeks and not once have they volunteered to help. i don;t want electric fencing as I have seen too many injuries from it, I have very secure well constructed post and rail. No other horses cause the damage this horse does. I would never have asked them to leave if they had once thought of helping repair or replace. I don;t even mind the cost of the rails/posts. But an offer of physical help would have made the difference between them being responsible and welcome liveries and me deciding the £30 a week I was getting from them was just not worth the hassle and the complete lack of courtesy. I know horses can destroy fences, I have no problems with that, but systematic destruction with no responsibility accepted by the horse owner is not acceptable.
 
I understand that it must be very frustrating! :mad:

A gelding (that has now left) has chewed EVERY single piece of post and rail fencing in one paddock that my mare was in. I put some tape up because I didn't want the YM blaming me and charging me a huge great bill for something my horse hasn't done!
 
Apart from electric off sets or an inner leccy fence away from the main fence I would try providing some trees for it to strip ( get the owner to do it ) mine love willow and apple bark.
 
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