Horses can sense electric - Really?!

[Clannad48]

Our pony could sense it - unlike me who is know locally for getting out of the car, having a hand on the door frame and then holding the electric fence - yipes

 

[Moomin1]

lol now that would have been amusing......... but naughty

Lol!!

 

[Dry Rot]

If you have a single strand of electric on offsets to a standard non-elecrified fence, you'll find there is a measurable voltage in the non-electrified fence wires due to induced electricity. Electric motors and generators work on a similar principle. Maybe animals can pick this up?

I can certainly hear an electric fence shorting by using a portable radio to amplify the sound or pick up the interference (not sure which) so I can think of no reason why animals shouldn't too.

 

[SnowandSunshine]

About 20yrs ago my mare did something that made me wonder about this. I was riding on a bridleway I hadn't been on before through a field and there was a metal gate that needed opening. My mare would not go near it and I couldn't work out why as she was usually brilliant with gates. She wouldn't go within about 6 feet of it and I was getting really cross with her.
Finally I got off, put the reins over her head and grabbed the gate to open it. I got a massive electric shock which went through the reins and she legged it to a safe distance - it was a cattle field and the electric was run off the mains so I don't think it ticked. She would have got nearer to a regular horse fence no problem.
I honestly don't know how she knew it was on, certainly didn't go anywhere near enough for her whiskers to touch it.

 

[fburton]

If you have a single strand of electric on offsets to a standard non-elecrified fence, you'll find there is a measurable voltage in the non-electrified fence wires due to induced electricity. Electric motors and generators work on a similar principle. Maybe animals can pick this up?

I can certainly hear an electric fence shorting by using a portable radio to amplify the sound or pick up the interference (not sure which) so I can think of no reason why animals shouldn't too.

If they have the sensory cells/organs in place to do so, sure.

 

[Marydoll]

Tell that to my horse who zapped his face of the leckie fence this morning

 

[EstherYoung]

I can tell when the battery is running down on our fence as the escape committee start circling.....

 

[MagicMelon]

I was told by a professional of sorts that horses along with many other animals can "sense" electric as evidenced by their behaviour with electric fences.

But if this were the case then no horse would ever go near an electric fence, but we all know that they usually have to get a zap off it to learn not to go near it again! After a zap, they've simply learnt its very unpleasant to touch the white tape so avoid it. They can probably hear it though if its touching something (and gives off that little crack).

 

[Dry Rot]

But if this were the case then no horse would ever go near an electric fence, but we all know that they usually have to get a zap off it to learn not to go near it again! After a zap, they've simply learnt its very unpleasant to touch the white tape so avoid it. They can probably hear it though if its touching something (and gives off that little crack).

Unless prompted by instinct, no animal can know what is outside its experience.

My Highland stallion, who is a sensitive type, obviously got a zap because one day he jumped about six feet in the air when I snapped a carrot in two to give him half! Thankfully, he is now back to normal but still doesn't like cracks and bangs (which is explained by reports I got of his breaking). So even if an animal can sense electricity, it is not going to associate that with a shock until it has experienced at least two. One is a learning experience, the second is confirmation.

 

[Woolly Hat n Wellies]

My aunt used to have a horse who would lift up the electric fence using his mane as a sort of shield, and nip underneath. He was 16.2hh so this was no mean feat. Luckily it came in handy as his fieldmate was a fatty on restricted grazing, who never learned this escape trick, and he was perpetually skinny and could have the whole field, popping in and out of the fatty section to socialise as he pleased! He definitely wasn't sensitive to electricity... but then he wasn't sensitive to much... including a rider :-/