Arrrrrrgh - Rant - my first! -

[minerva]

Please feel free to ignor me as i am in need of venting - BIG TIME

went to get ken today and he is calling from the field, when got to him he had a big barbed wire cut across his chest from leaning over to get o fresh grass - my poor boy i thought the electric fence was on and now feel so guilty, its not so bad as stiches but looks horrible.
went to tell yard owner and got " well if he is so stupid not to realize its barbed wire there isnt a lot i can do" arghhhhhhhh and then she stormed off in a huff when i asked about the electric fence - aparently its been off for weeks - WTF wont all horses lean over for lovely long fresh grass when there is none in their bloody field - there shouldnt be [****] barb wire in the first [****] place - i am a paying customer and i dont expect my horse to be called stupid for hurting himself due to their laissez-faire and penny pinching!! and if the fence is off how about telling us - i had forgotten how annoying big yard can be and the YO is really lovley most of the time i just dont get it, Ken is going back in a different field when his cut has healed, one with grass in!

 

[Sparklet]

If your horse is willing to injure himself by leaning over to reach grass then I would be far more concerned about the quality of the grazing....he must be starving.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

The last yard I was at the fencing was unbelievable - sagging barbed wire, some of it only a foot or so off the ground. So my bright cob worked out that he could just step over the so-called fence round his winter mud square and enjoy the grass in the next door field. He got banned from ANY turnout, even though I said I would go halves with the YO to put in new fencing or electric. She wasn't interested. After watching poor Sunny get thinner and thinner with stress and depression, standing in his stable 24/7 except for 20 mins in the indoor school once or twice a week while all his mates went out and left him, I changed yards. I'd strongly advise you to do the same. Barbed wire fences and hungry horses are not a good mix. I know of terrible injuries that have resulted from this.

 

[ladyt25]

Hmm, well I can partly see YO opinion here.we have 12 acres of good horse grazing (generally we only have the horse - 4 of them - on 6 acres at a time). Still, it is good grass. However, all (esp mine) have and will climb up on to the old, mostly tumbled down wall, so now just like a grassed 'hump' really in order to lean over the barbed wire fence separating our field from the neighbouring stock fields. The grass is not ANY better than ours but horses will be horses won't they.

Mine has had scrapes across his chest before, only skin scratches really but I just think he's an idiot. He can surely feel if it's hurting!

However, I guess you are paying for your fields/livery and if there's electric fence there then it should be on as, once horses notice it's not then they have no respect for it at all.

 

[Ebbo]

It's a toughy - the rent is cheap for liveries - so making next to nothing to plough back into new fences/school surface/stables etc - if the rent went up, people would move - so still making next to nothing!

I can understand minerva's anger -- shoddy fencing isn't acceptable, but the weather hasn't helped us and the grass in her field just hasn't grown at all since the horses have been in there - they aren't starved, it's that the grass that normally should be there isn't!!! Most of the horses are hungry when they come in (except mine, she stuffs herself all night!) but no one is looking skinny (in nearly all cases, quite the opposite!).

I think that if the grass was there, there wouldn't be a problem - but it's all year turnout, so if horseys are hungry but fat, there's not much a YO can do - no excuse for the fencing, but I won't go into that....

 

[niagaraduval]

[ QUOTE ]
If your horse is willing to injure himself by leaning over to reach grass then I would be far more concerned about the quality of the grazing....he must be starving.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have to agree I'm afraid.

 

[minerva]

most definitely not starving

, quite a fatty really, but maybe he is not the brightest button in the box

and temptation to go for the nicer grass next door is too much for him, he is unfortunately one of the greedy ones, to his detriment and my angst - i have calmed down now anyway and he is ok, but i can see that the grazing at our yard is going to become more of an issue for me with him, than it has been with the other horses! - bum

 

[Fruddy]

Quote:
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If your horse is willing to injure himself by leaning over to reach grass then I would be far more concerned about the quality of the grazing....he must be starving.


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Have to agree I'm afraid.




Rubbish. Some horses are just inherently greedy - mine included.

The grazing at my yard is fantastic, but my horse still broke through the fence (which was not electrified a the time) to get at much longer, lush grass than was in his field. You cannot make a sweeping statement such as this on the information that has been provided by the OP!

One more example of the lengths that greedy horses will go to, mine managed to undo the bolt on his stable door one night, escaped onto the yard and ate seven breakfasts and four nets and ended up with colic.

 

[minerva]

Thank you Fruddy, I personally havnt had a greedy one before, the last one, an ex-racer, had to be mollycoddled beyond belief just to eat his feed!

 

[LauraBR]

[ QUOTE ]
Quote:
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If your horse is willing to injure himself by leaning over to reach grass then I would be far more concerned about the quality of the grazing....he must be starving.


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Have to agree I'm afraid.




Rubbish. Some horses are just inherently greedy - mine included.


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't agree that the horse is likely to be starving either.

A past horse of mine would get colic on rich spring grass so was strip grazed with electric fencing, we shifted it slightly each day or so and fed ad lib hay in the field to supplement the grass. So, plenty of food available but he jumped the live electric fence to get to the other side. He was a clever sod too- would jump back into his own field when he saw me coming.