Electric fence thugs

I share your pain! Mine used to scratch his backside on the fence, with the rest of the herd lining up to follow him once he had trashed it. I used Heras fencing panels once to separate him from the herd because of mild injury - he backed into the panels until they started to rock, then sat down like a dog and did a backward roll across the panel and back into the herd. Amazes me how he can work out all this escape business in minutes, but schooling moves took a lot longer to learn!
 
Benji-used to pull posts out at the very top and lie them down so he could just walk over.

Gus-jumped, climbed, limboed his way through any type of fence.

Lady and Jinny-mainly just jumped it. Lady would hear my car coming and would jump back where she was supposed to be leaving Jinny to take the flack for escaping.

Flicka-battery stalker

Missy- knew the exact moment the battery died and would barge her way through.

Obe-fence climber and battery tester

Heidi-fence pusher

Common denominator, all NF ponies. Be warned and on your guard if you buy one.
 
I seem to be a magnet for them! Last one in particular was an expert, even worked out that he could use his tail flap to reverse through electric fencing without being shocked (this was after he was banned from wearing neck covers)- he would walk backwards in a very calm and deliberate way until the fence broke, and then turn around and walk off to eat. He would also jump even the tallest plastic posts wo had to had a double line of fencing.

I have one at the moment who initially seemed quite civilised... then he started to work it out. He now can't wear a neck cover as he uses it to lean over or hook under the fence (despite multiple strands), and can't have low posts as he will use the chest part of the rug to push through. He regularly walks along carefully checking out the entire length of fencing to see if the current is running through it; unfortunately the landowners bl00dy sheep keep charging through the fencing and stretching the tape which snaps the wires even if the tape isn't broken, and the horse has learnt that when this happens there will be a part of the fence that is not electrified. Fortunately he isn't in with the other horses so isn't causing a mass escape (I am clinging onto small victories...).

I am at my wits end with him as he needs his food restricting, but is clever enough to escape. The only saving grace is that he doesn't (yet) jump over the fencing. He is better when turned out naked, but he lives out and is clipped in the winter so needs some sort of rug, even if I deprive him of a neck cover. I think the only solution that would work 99% of the time would be lots of small paddocks with tall, strong post-and-rail fencing, but I don't own the land so that isn't an option. He'd probably start jumping it then though 😂

The good thing about the escapers I've owned has been at least none of them would get into trouble when they escaped (apart from over eating). They do it in a calm way, don't panic, just wander off to the nearest patch of lush grass. The current one is a horse-sized lapdog who has been known to escape when I'm at the yard just to come to see what I'm doing, he's a pest 😆

The first horse I owned (many years ago) would respect a slack length of baler twine hanging between a couple of stakes, I wish I'd realised how lucky I was then!
 
Peregrine Falcon said:
Common denominator, all NF ponies. Be warned and on your guard if you buy one.
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I have an Arab x what I believe is NF. At the age of 30, he is now free range, so he can choose whether to be in or out, but even though he has the choice of most of my grazing, he often seems to be in the wrong part in the morning. At least he stays on the premises, unlike the Sec A I used to own. It wasn't hard to work out where he was when he ducked through the electric fence and found a hole in the blackthorn hedge to escape - the other three were all standing looking at where he was in shock horror!! So that is why the perimeter fencing is now 4 strands of electric. ;)
 
My TB X studies the fences and knows the moment the battery isn't working. He then simply walks through the fence.
My native pony is terrified of electric fences and doesn't even need the electric on.
 
poiuytrewq said:
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Bubbles. He uses the head down and charge flat out method.
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Thats what Louis does or he gets hold of the top of the posts and just pulls then just walks over them, poor Arabi stands watching in horror and mainly stays in the bit they are meant to be in, his a bit scared of electric fencing so he tends to stay away from it and definitely wouldn't walk over it.
 
All of mine are fine with electric so long as it's on, EXCEPT one who is such a thug we had to build his new track system entirely with solid fencing.
Literally don't think he can even feel electric shocks. Never rugged. Will not stay in electric fence no matter how high or how strong the zap. Can open most gates too assuming he doesn't just pull the stakes out if it's temporary. Once came down to the paddock and he didn't run over with the others but called to me for rescue, he'd gotten the tape wrapped right around his hind feet and trapped in his shoes. He was stood there calm as anything so I assumed he'd yanked it off the power, but nope! Zapped myself badly when I touched it so he had to wait for me to go turn it all off before untangling him.
Real PITA honestly as I could never corral at events and always had to pay for stables. Once I did a 126km ride on him and foolishly assumed he'd stay in a sunny corral of knee deep grass, ~15 mins in he was witnessed undoing the gate by the handle and heading off to a nearby corralled mare, caught him just before he undid her gate too...
 
Mine uses her long mane to weight the tape low enough or snaps the base of the poles. She also has an uncanny knowledge of which bits of the fence work and if the power is low.
 
We have a mare who will walk straight over the electric fence whilst you are moving it, even if its trapped round her legs, she just keeps walking. I know this as its happened to me numerous times. A big one who used to like to pull the posts out by the tops with his teeth and a little one who will reach under the fence if its not on.

We used to have a mare that had a strand at back height so she could shimmy under it to get away from the others and eat her dinner in peace. No teeth so used to take her ages to suck up her slop and the single strand was the only way to let her eat without having to stand guard for an hour or so 3 times a day 🤣 She never touched it other than to go under to eat her dinner fortunately.
 
This is our fencing thug, Dude. 4 strands everywhere but he doesn't care, if the mood takes him he will just charge straight on through. Many hours are spent fixing the fence and retrieving the pony. Absolutely love him though :-) x
 

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