I am at my wits end!

[05jackd]

As title really. I have a lovely young 4 year old who we bred. Real poppet in every way but I just cant keep him in the damn field!

We have a sold boundary fence round the property and then 3 strand electric on wooden posts splitting it into smaller paddocks. Top strand is about 130cm/ middle about 9cm and bottom about 30cm from the ground. It is mains electric.

All the other horses respect the electric but this horse just puts his head under and ploughs through. He is a really sweet guy and he often does it to come and see me if I'm working in a different paddock but its infuriating and dangerous as I'm worried one day he will wrap himself in it. Thankfully he is so skilled that he rarely wrecks the fence but it really must stop.

Any words of wisdom? Has anyone fixed this issue?

 

[Hallo2012]

no neck cover
bib clip
electric tape fixed to front of rug, touching skin
double fence with 4 strands

 

[VRIN]

Put a strand lower?? If he's wearing a rug he might not feel the fence??

 

[05jackd]

Sorry should have said - he's not wearing a rug.

 

[sassandbells]

I’m sure you already have, but have you checked the current running through each of the strands of electric? My filly figure out the bottom one wasn’t as strong as the others and used to push under and dash through. We now have an energiser on each strand of tape which stopped the worst of it although occasionally she’d get through.

the thing that totally stopped it was adding a second line of electric fencing, with with it set 2-3’ away. It’s a faff to do but both these helped stop her plowing through.

The rug suggestions as above are great, I try to give as much time without rugs anyway.

 

[05jackd]

I’m sure you already have, but have you checked the current running through each of the strands of electric? My filly figure out the bottom one wasn’t as strong as the others and used to push under and dash through. We now have an energiser on each strand of tape which stopped the worst of it although occasionally she’d get through.

the thing that totally stopped it was adding a second line of electric fencing, with with it set 2-3’ away. It’s a faff to do but both these helped stop her plowing through.

The rug suggestions as above are great, I try to give as much time without rugs anyway.

Thanks - I could certainly add a second line of fencing with plastic posts as a temporary measure to see if it works. Its mains electric and gives out a fair belt (about 4000 at this point) although we are going to improve the earthing to see if we can get this stronger.

 

[Polos Mum]

My lovely older event horse went through everything, sorry no words of wisdom as I had to move him to 130 horse netting and even then he'd just pop the five bar gate and let himself in if (in his opinion) the weather was bad.

I had 4 strands of electric x 2 - far enough apart they weren't a nice oxer and not so far apart they were a bounce ! Made no difference.
The devil thing was he taught all the others that a few short zaps were well worth the hour or so where you shouldn't be before you were discovered - so none of them will stay in electric now !!

 

[FitzyFitz]

I have one who absolutely will not stay in electric no matter what I do. Barges through, wiggles between lines, pulls out posts with his teeth, opens the gates...
Only electric fence I haven't tried is permanent posts with rope or mustang wire tensioned well enough it also provides a physical barrier, I just use permanent physical fencing instead. Inconvenient as I want to put this pony on a track system and i'm going to have to post and rail it!

We moved recently and the fields are stock netting and barbed wire so i've lined all the fencelines with electric on temporary posts to stop the horses killing themselves before I can replace it. Works fine, except for the 20+ posts I have to pick up and replace every day cause the little wotsit is playing with them. If I cant afford fencing soon and/or cant get his track system set up i'm going to have to buy a billion screw in standoffs to save my sanity.

 

[maya2008]

What tape are you using? Does it snap? We use the Fieldguard stuff and it's the only electric fencing we've ever had complete success with. Strong, doesn't wrap around them to deglove legs etc if they get stuck and carries an almighty punch.

 

[catembi]

No help, but sympathy. Before I got my permanent fencing, I had round wooden posts & electric tape and I just could NOT keep my wretched Shetland in no matter what I did. The problem was permanently fixed by horse safe stock fencing. Thank goodness that Shetlands can't jump 1 m 20 or we'd all be in trouble!

 

[05jackd]

What tape are you using? Does it snap? We use the Fieldguard stuff and it's the only electric fencing we've ever had complete success with. Strong, doesn't wrap around them to deglove legs etc if they get stuck and carries an almighty punch.

It’s the rope we use. 6 strand rope with isolators on wooden posts. The other 6 wouldn’t dare touch it but he’s just a menace.

 

[Polos Mum]

I think once they have learned the prize is worth the pain it's really hard to undo.

We had ours on a mains energiser set to 'pig' high voltage (we did keep pigs then too)

You could see him wince when he was zapped by it a couple of times as he was climbing through or shimming under - it was definitely working and it certain hurt.
He just put up with it for 2-3 zaps and then was clear and free to help himself to whatever he felt was more interesting.

 

[SantaVera]

Post and rail fencing then fix the electric fencing on top so it's seven foot high at least. Or deer fencing. Or bigger paddocks.

 

[rowan666]

Have you tried Heras fencing? I know it makes the place look like a building site but it's movable if it needs be and they can't get under or over it. Its the only thing that kept my old shire in place when he walked through mains electric fencing.. although my very clever mini cob did discover that she could back into it with enough force over time to ping it open and use as a cat flap! Baffled us for months how she was getting out as the fencing still looked intact, we were convinced we had ghosts till we caught her in the act, anyway, bailing string fixed that, it looks lovely

 

[Boulty]

Is it tape at the moment? If so would swap to rope or wire to give a better shock (& include some of the safety breakage points so if he does get tangled it should give). Also up his work & make it more varied if you can, tired ponies get up to less mischief!

My Highland has zero respect for tape unless there’s a solid barrier immediately behind it but will respect wire & rope if fence is working properly! (You may need to be militant about no vegetation or anything else touching the fence… have also heard watering your earths in dry weather can help)