getting really frustrated with my houdini pony who's meant to be strip grazing!!

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sophiebailey

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Some of you may know that my bailey pony had colic 3 weeks ago, suspected to have been caused by eating waaay too much sugary grass. So now he's out of the woods (for now) we've started strip grazing him on the fresh paddock every night, and putting him on the (bare) old paddock during the day.

But the irritating thing is, houdini keeps escaping through the electric fencing and letting himself into the entire fresh paddock! He's done it twice now and it doesn't appear to be upsetting his tummy but I'm despairing as he can't stay on the old paddock 24/7 because there's not enough grass and really the paddock needs resting.

But I'm worried about his total lack of respect for the electric fencing is going to lead to him gorging on the new grass every night and making himself ill :-(

The fencing is 4ft high and in the morning it never appears to have been pulled and isn't slack anywhere so I've no idea how he keeps getting out!!!

Arrrrrgh sooo stressed!

Bad pony :(
 
If it's not damaged in anyway he's jumping out so try another line of fencing four feet in from the first.
 
My 26 yo 13.3 normally goes under nowadays but if you make that impossible for him he still goes over the top!
 
My pony is a sod to keep in her field when she is in season. She literally has a 6 foot high fence, made with about 10 strips of electric fencing! She goes over, under or through. It looks quite funny when you see this mammoth fence and peer inside to see my 14.2 mare!
 
my daugters 11.2hh pony is the same, hes resricted in his grazing as hes too good a doer, but if he feels i havent given him enough i will often find him the other side of the fence.

i have discovered if theres even the slightest bit of give in the tape he'll push under it, hes also been seen to step between the two stands! or jump over the fence!!

some days i just stand and scratch my head in wonder as to how hes managed to get out!
:confused:
 
Just got a text from yard mate to say Bailey is lame on the right hind, willing to bet its because he's been playing silly buggers over/under/between the fencing. Could murder him, I really could!!
 
Why cant you use a muzzle? Then you dont have to make squares out of fiddly useless tape.
 
I tether mine, they keep the fence lines trimmed much better than I can do with the mower!

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No suggestions really about keeping houdinis in, I solved that by re-fencing with stock wire and electric tape, and the only paddocks left to re-fence are, of course, the ones I have just shown on here. Only one horse fence hopped, the little slapper, and we now have an extra foal.

Keep him in his old paddock at night and turn him out mid morning, and monitor him, then you can see what he is doing to escape and remedy it.
 
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I currently have two pieces of tape, one across the top of the 4ft stakes and one halfway down. Tried another row of fencing parallel to the existing tonight to deter him, let's see if it works!!

Bailey is luckily not lame, just a tad stiff!
 
Is the battery good enough on the elec fence? It sounds as though he is not getting enough of a buzz to deter him... The electric gets weaker when the battery is low I think.
 
That's next on my list :) my grandad is agreeing to give me a brand new unit for my birthday this weekend! Not sure Bails will appreciate that!
 
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