TheresaW
Well-Known Member
I have posted before about Mac my Suffolk Punch cross who has a habit of escaping. He has arthritis so needs to be out as much as possible and lived out all last summer happily, but then as autumn came, he escaped. He is the type of horse that will do things "because he can", and once he knew he could escape, kept on doing it. The only thing he has any respect for, is electric fencing.
For the winter, the YO allocated me a little bit of wasteland on the yard that my OH and I cleared and fenced off. He was out in it all day and could stretch his legs and have a roll. It wasn't a huge area and it had no shade, so wasn't really ideal for all year round. We have spent a small fortune on wooden posts and electric tape etc, and have spent most weekends trying to secure the big grass livery field. He went back out at the beginning of May 24/7 and has been fine. Last week however, he managed to get through dense hedge and barbed wire, in one of the few places we hadn't yet put the electric. OH spent all day saturday fencing that part and he went back out. Have had a call this morning and he has gotten out again! No-one can see anywhere obvious he has got out, so OH and I will have a good look tonight. We have been incredibly lucky that he is pretty smart, because wherever he got out this morning, from where he was found, he could easily have gotten onto the road. He went to the back gate of the school next door though and waited for someone to bring him in.
Anyway, I have given this lots of thought, even before today in the event that he did escape again, and I feel that I have no real choice other than to find yard that does grass livery, but with total electric fencing. I think that whatever we do, we are never going to be able to completely electrify the field we have where we are because of the shape of the field etc, and it also has a public right of way, and people have been know to pull down parts of the fencing in the past if they can't be bothered to walk to the gates.
Does anyone know of any yards in the Epping area that can offer anything like this? Or have any ideas what I can do? Some where with a field shelter would be ideal, but isn't a necessity. He can't live in as he stiffens up so much and is quite unhappy when he is in too long anyway.
I really don't know what to do anymore, and I know OH is getting to the end of his patience now.
My poor Mare Dolly, who I have had for 6 years has never given me any grief. She came out of the box cripple lame yesterday and at the moment, all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep forever with her.
For the winter, the YO allocated me a little bit of wasteland on the yard that my OH and I cleared and fenced off. He was out in it all day and could stretch his legs and have a roll. It wasn't a huge area and it had no shade, so wasn't really ideal for all year round. We have spent a small fortune on wooden posts and electric tape etc, and have spent most weekends trying to secure the big grass livery field. He went back out at the beginning of May 24/7 and has been fine. Last week however, he managed to get through dense hedge and barbed wire, in one of the few places we hadn't yet put the electric. OH spent all day saturday fencing that part and he went back out. Have had a call this morning and he has gotten out again! No-one can see anywhere obvious he has got out, so OH and I will have a good look tonight. We have been incredibly lucky that he is pretty smart, because wherever he got out this morning, from where he was found, he could easily have gotten onto the road. He went to the back gate of the school next door though and waited for someone to bring him in.
Anyway, I have given this lots of thought, even before today in the event that he did escape again, and I feel that I have no real choice other than to find yard that does grass livery, but with total electric fencing. I think that whatever we do, we are never going to be able to completely electrify the field we have where we are because of the shape of the field etc, and it also has a public right of way, and people have been know to pull down parts of the fencing in the past if they can't be bothered to walk to the gates.
Does anyone know of any yards in the Epping area that can offer anything like this? Or have any ideas what I can do? Some where with a field shelter would be ideal, but isn't a necessity. He can't live in as he stiffens up so much and is quite unhappy when he is in too long anyway.
I really don't know what to do anymore, and I know OH is getting to the end of his patience now.
My poor Mare Dolly, who I have had for 6 years has never given me any grief. She came out of the box cripple lame yesterday and at the moment, all I want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep forever with her.
