Grazing Problem, thoughts please

[dwi]

Having had a really horrible weekend I wanted nothing more this morning than to take D out for a hack and block out all the rubbishness of things. I set my alarm, got to the yard by 6.50 and found my electric fencing missing on three sides of the field. My first thought was that someone had stolen it but on closer inspection Daisy had pulled it down. I have no idea what happened, possibly something got in and panicked her, my thought at the moment is that she rolled right next to it in her mud wallow, got her leg caught underneath and panicked. She seems unhurt although clearly shocked. She was very quiet and withdrawn when I brought her in this morning but after a full day in the stable and a good nap she has come out of herself again and seems inquisitive. There are no obvious injuries on her although she did have marks on her back legs where the rope had caught around them. I hosed her off thoroughly and there doesn't seem to be any damage there, just ruffled hair when I first brought her in.

Ideally i would put what is left of the fencing back up because she has a digestive problem that flairs up when she eats grass but I'm worried about it happening again. I'm tempted to put it back with just a top wire rather than a top and bottom so that she would be much less likely to catch herself.

What do you reckon? Would just a top wire be safe? It doesn't need to keep her contained, just away from the juicier grass, she has a full fence around the outside of the field.

 

[nelliefinellie]

When you say wire do you actually mean wire or tape? I wouldn't use wire unless on top of a wooden fence as not very visible. If using plasic posts I would use tape. Also, does your fence have a current through it? What size posts? If they are the short posts I would only have a top strand, if the taller poasts, then two strands with the howest one at least 2'6" off the ground. Make sure the tape is as tight as possible and not sagging at all. Hope this helps

 

[dwi]

Sorry, no it isn't wire its polyrope. She can definitely see it because until now she has always snorted at it and refused to go anywhere near it. When I led her back out of the field today we had to cross some lying on the ground before I could go and turn it off and she jumped over it so again, I'm confident that she can see it. We bought poly rope because I've seen too many horses snap tape and she is known to be abit bargy. There is a mains current going through the fence. I hate to think how much it must have hurt her when she had it against her back legs, I'm just hoping it was all over and done with very quickly

The posts are 4ft. There was a little bit of sag in the rope but not a huge amount. Why would this make a difference?

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

My horse tangled himself up in temp elec fencing 5 years ago and got a haematoma on the leg and cuts etc. He was really tangled up, and very upset.

But he's never repeated anything like this.

The prob with sag is that they tend to think they can push it further until sag becomes sitting on floor. Also if they do put a leg through when they try to pull it out it tends to get tangled round them rather than them being able to pull straught back the way it came.

I prefer tape because it does break.....

I would be tempted to go for more strands not less, to make the fence look more substantial, and check the voltage going through the fence at that point with a checker. I would use tape for any additional strand.