Foals and fencing

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no_no_nanette

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Advice please! My mare is going to be foaling at our current livery; her field is about 1 1/4 acres, and currently has single wire electric fencing all the way round it ... not ideal for a foal! Does anyone have advice/experience of fencing that would be safe and appropriate for a foal, but doesn't cost a fortune? (We are having to pay for the "upgrade" ourselves, as the farmer is not interested in improving his fencing!!)
 
How about adding more strands of electric? Get the wide tape stuff so foalie can see it, and space them more closely so the little one can't get through. I wouldn't think it'd have to be live.
 
Prehaps just put another strand of electric fencing up, once the foal has touched it it won't touch it again especially with its mother knowing what it is.

When is your mare due? Breeding, etc?
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Many thanks for that - very reassured, thought I'd have to spend a fortune!
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I think I got very freaked 'cos someone whose mare foaled here a couple of years ago was very careless about the pen that they were in in the barn, and foalie got its leg caught under a metal gate, and was permanently damaged as a result .... so I'm really paranaoid about providing a safe environment!
Beth is ISH - King of Diamonds line, half-sister to Advance Party, and she's in foal to Caretino Glory (Holstein, Glorieux/Cor de la Bryere, standing at Brendon Stud, and was used for The Tourmaline Rose last year). She's due to foal at the beginning of May - this is our first one (us and Beth!) so we are VERY excited and a bit nervous. I've had doubts about the ISH/WB choice, but, hey, we'll see what we get!
 
I know that electric is the cheapest and quickest way of putting up fencing, however if I was you I would look into alternatives. Electric fencing and foals really aren't safe. Foals have a habit of rolling, running into and getting tangled in fencing and just this year 2 that I know of over here have died from becoming caught in electric fencing.

I don't want to scare you and you may be perfectly alright - but I personally wouldn't put foals in with electric fencing. Post and rail is the very best fencing for youngsters.
 
Ours have had some nasty run ins with single tape electric, they panic and run through it not away at times. Can you run square sheep netting quite high up along it on the same posts? provided it isn't low enough for the other horses to paw at and get their shoes caught it will deter a foal from attempting to go through it. If you are unsure what I mean, imagine the electric fence on the top and the netting almost the same height but quite a distance off the floor attached to the same posts.
We have all manner of fencing here from post and rail to single tape to sheep netting and barbed wire.
The only problems we have had I have to say are with single tape...The other fences look more substantial and they respect them. We use grants to rebuild fences and they don't cover fencing that isn't sheep proof, so we have had to find ways round that to safeguard the horses.
Other than that run four strands of tape on temporary posts right round the fence, the more visible it is the better chance you have of avoiding accidents.
 
post and rail.with four rails so it cant go under when it rolls.
turnout in the school with posta and rail and hay is better than electric for when the foal is very young
electric is good but i would rather find somewhere else if thats the only option.
foals arent insured until they are a month old so any accidents they do have comes out of YOUR pocket and it can get mega expensive!and cause life long damage and mean it couldnt be ridden.best to spend more on livery than that to happen!
is there a stud nearby that could take her?
i introduced my filly to 4 strand electric when she was about 2 months old and she was ok-it was only in front of the wooden fence or hedging though at first and then i used it to section off the field(mum was getting far too fat!)
 
Thanks everyone, much food for thought, and I'll really take on board the warnings about foals and electric fences. I wonder if 4 strands of 40mm tape run along wooden posts, but not electrified would be robust enough?
 
Do you have an school or stoutly enclosed area where you can let the foal get used to barriers that it can see through? What I mean is, when you first turn your foal out, it will have only had experience of the stable walls and then suddenly being able to see through fencing, it may not understand that it can't go through it! It will need to learn about fencing! God I'm rabling here - sorry. Case in point: I bred MY first foal last year. Now I have many years experience of working on and running studs blah blah and, like you, I keep my horses on livery. That yard had fencing that was predominantly mains electric and when I enquired (friends etc..) about using 4 strands of electric tape for fencing I was blythely told that it would be fine (bear in mind that all the studs I have ever worked on were geared up for foaling and had nursey paddocks etc....) Well yes, it was eventually, but the first time I turned him and his mother out, he had a little bounce around and promptly attempted to go straight through the fence!! Fortunately, he did this right next to me and I was able to get hold of him and keep hold of him in a cradle hold, whilst my Mum disentagled us - believe me, that fence was working fine!!! At the time the weather was intermittently hideous (late March last year), so their turn out times were going to be short anyways - SO, I let them wander round the yard (partially fenced with 3 metal gateways, post and rail with 4 rails and the stable block itself) whilst I mucked out and my Mum kept guard so to speak. After a few days of this, we tried them in the field again, and they were absolutely fine and they've never looked back! I used 4ft mobile electric posts with a combination of 40mm and 10 mm tape at 4 different heights. When he was just over 4 months old, I moved yards, and one fence was post and rail, with 2 rails, seperating my 2 from 2 other mares. I added a lower strand of electrified tape to this, just incase he tried to go under!

In an ideal world then yes, there is nothing like post and rail, but the world is not ideal and we have to adapt as best we can! I would not use unelectrified fencing for any horse, much less a youngster.

I hope my ramblings have been of some help to you. Your foal should be fab - I was looking at Carentino Glroy a couple of days ago- LOVELY!!!!!
 
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