Being cruel to your horse - and enjoying it!!!

siennamum

siennamum

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My horse is too clever for his own good. He is quite smart looking but essentially an overgrown Connemara. Generally I am WAAY too forgiving of him and he spends considerable amounts of time doing things to flummox and exhaust/embarass me.

He worked out before any of us that the electric fence was broken & yesterday led his herd of 5 boys on a merry adventure into the field adjoining theirs which hasnt been grazed on for a year.

This morning I repaired the fence & reconnected the 2,000 volt, off the mains electric.

I turned him out.

I turned round.
He was in the wrong fecking field.

I fetched him back & then watched as he wriggled his lardy 16.3hh frame through the fence, (2 strands) & trotted off to eat the lush grass & chat over the fence with the girls, leaving hysterical boys behind.

I fetched him back, turned off the mains (which was clearly useless) & connected a car battery.

I stood & watched as he ambled innocently up to the fence looking back over his shoulder at me as if to say "what this fence?" and then he rested his muzzle on the cord.

There was a loud snap, he went vertically 15 feet in the air, turned tail and bolted down the field waving his head in the air going aaagggghhhh.

I laughed.
 
Been there, done that! OH's horse is very clever about knowing when the electric is on or off, and tries to pull the tape off with his teeth. Until one morning we caught him in the act and did the same as you, with a similar reaction!
 
Haha! Ned's been got before :P Not while sailing over the fence, but while trying to reach just one last blade of grass...he was in a big, lush field, but he just HAD to have that bit!..

Snap! Crack! I've never seen him move so fast.
 
My sister used to have a naughty little cob who wouldn't even register the shock as he walked straight through electric fencing. Dad stood and waited to pull the same trick as you, as Henry ambled through, he gave him the biggest shock of his life! 0-60 in a millisecond! He didn't try it again, but would still grab the fencing when Al was leading him through the gate, and give them both a massive shock...
 
When I was leading my 2 back across the field, they decided to have a nose at the new livery and of course it had to be cob who respects every bit of fencing, who touched the electric tape that was attached to a motorbike battery. Well I felt the zap through the leadrope and he was off bronking across the field, leaving me standing there with brat pony who climbs through every bit of fencing thinking 'WTF?'

I followed that experience and got a motorbike battery and charging just 200m of tape, means brat pony now legs it AWAY if tape comes near him when I'm moving it after one hell of a zap..SUCCESS.:D
 
Ha! I went out to the field the other evening and couldn't find my mare - thoughts of oh god dead horse/stolen horse went through my head - searching ditches frantically. Eventually called YO and he said - "oh I expect she is in the sheep field again" .... again?!! No one told me! Seems like the grass is much greener over there (plenty of grass in her own field) - currently still trying to figure out how she does it! There is a hunt jump down in the corner but no hoof prints! Solid fence all the way along with hedge!
 
Ours actually know without touching it. So in the spring, when the grass on the other side really was greener, my fella hopped the fence (it was a two strand, 1 metre high on wooden posts). Brought him back to his pals, and three hours later, he was over it again. At this point (not before, sadly) it occurred to me to check the battery, which was flat.

Brought the new battery up to the field, and did a bit of fencing repairs with OH, then connected it to the new battery. All the while, horse was hanging around with us, doing the "me? No, of course not, I wouldn't THINK of jumping the fence, I'm just being sociable, not waiting until you leave..." thing. He was standing beside me when OH, out of sight up the top of the field switched the electric current back on. Without touching it, or doing anything, horse did a huge sigh, and walked off to the other side of the field to his friends and resumed grazing the horrible short nasty grass. He only jumps it when the current is off :D Given that he clears it perfectly every time he jumps it, it is a bit surprising that he's not willing to try when it's on, but it suits me ;)

I think he learned his fence testing technique from the old lead mare in his previous herd, who would test the fence by putting her whiskers really really close but not quite touching...

ETA - this horse also knows that when I am touching or handling the tape, it is harmless. So he helps me do fencing by getting the end of the tape in his teeth and running off...
 
My new cobblet toys with my electric fence and hes crafty,knows he not to play with it,yesterday I put it back up,went to have a cuppa,came back and there he was standing there with electric tape between his legs,acting like butter wouldnt melt in his mouth. lol
just ordered a earth stake as cant find my other one.
 
the 2 mares we have now both stand with their noses very close to the fence, if its on they walk away if not they walk through

the old pony was the best though she used to go and stand next to the box and if it was ticking would go and graze if it was not she used to push through it
 
These have made me chuckle!
I remember at a riding school one summer the horses lived out overnight and to avoid costly "mounting injuries" as they were all shod we had girls in one field and boys in the other. They had a thick hedge between the two and electirc fencing running down either side of the fence. There was the tiniest shetland sized gap in the hedge right at the bottom where there was a bit of a bog that most of them avoided anyway!
We got there one morning to find one of the boys stood innocently in with the girls waiting by the gate to come in like usual. We chuckled, checked all the fencing and nothing was wrong. Tested the electric, all working fine. We did the classic riding school task of nominating the youngest 'volunteer' to touch the fence to test it! Yep it worked. Couldn't work out how he had done it so just left it at that thinking it was a fluke.
Cheeky beggar did it every night for the rest of the season!! :D He obviously realised he was on to a good thing getting in with the girlies! None of the boys ever followed him though! :rolleyes:
 
Haha - think only solid brick walls stop them. My old cob used to do an army commando style tummy wiggle under the fencing and new boy just jumps it! Meanwhile precious ex-racer just whinnies pathetically as always left behind as too much of a wuss to see whether it's zapping.
 
I have decided to winter my mare out this winter, big field, high hedges, big shelter, she hasn't quite got the run of the whole field yet as grass is still a bit long and strip grazing. She was a right dragon last night rearing at the fence and knowing it wasn't on grabbing it with her teeth, she knows full well when it's not on, she will lean on it as much to say * look it's not working* she wasn't a happy bunny last night, PS I have a fencer for sale :-) if anyone is in need lol PM me
 
I think the worst incident was with our little shetland companion, she instantly knows when the batteries dead and as she's little pokes her whole head between the lower 2 strands of electric wire. Me and OH waited for this when the battery was on charge and ran to put it back on.....i've never seen the old girl move so quick when her face got tazered! Necessary evil i think - she's fat enough without eating what she's not supposed to!
 
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