OK peeps, advice for ponies who don't give a monkeys about electric fencing please!

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Ginge Crosby

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firstly, let me just say this...... bloooooooooody ponies!!!

Bought a sec a to keep my boy company after i moved from livery to land at my OH's parents. My boy had the utmost respect for electric fencing, on or off. You could lie a strand of it on the floor and he wouldnt even dare to leap 10ft high over it, let alone step over it.

Now, after having fenced off the land into paddocks to rotate and keep some by for winter, pretty much every other night i go over there/receive a phone call to find that they've broken out. thankfully when they do get out the only place they can go is either the private gated (and chained) area where we family park our cars, or the beer garden, (oh yes, my OH's parents own a pub), so there is no risk of them getting onto a road, even if there is the risk of some small child-munching or giving an old local a heart attack.

The fencing is electrified with a car battery, it has a solar charger, the fencing is double stranded and is most definitely electrified (i made the OH test it as being less than 2 weeks away from my due date i didnt think Bump would appreciate the zap). The pulse is also set to the highest frequency.

I don't know exactly how they are getting out, as no-one ever seems to be within sight when they do. My guess (or overactive imaginative scenario) is that the pony is doing some form of commando-crawl under the bottom strand, or a perfect scissor-jump in between the 2 strands, (or, of course, she's simply pushing through it) and dissappearing. Big boy then has a freak out at being separated, deliberates for half an hour as to what to do, before closing his eyes, holding his breath and bulldozing through it (or jumping over the broken strands depending on what pony has done to get out). I think this is the case because whenever they've got out, he's always covered in wet/dry sweat and extremely flinchy at the sight or slightest flutter of fencing, and she's as unfussed and happy as Larry (whoever he may be).

I don't know why they're getting out, its not like they don't have good grazing, water, shade etc. They're the best of friends, no scrapping, so i just don't understand the reason for it.

So my question is, what can i doooooooo? Short of hooking the fencing up to Wales' equivalent to Battersea power station, i'm at a loss! Suggestions anyone??

Here, have a Bourbon biscuit :)
 
First thing to consider is your energiser up to the job?

Buy a fence tester, a good one will not only tell you its live but tell you how strong the pulse it. I have a Hotline one and the more lights that light up the stronger the current.
For a car battery ditch the solar charger unless it cost several hundred pounds for a decent one, even then it probably doesn't keep the battery fully charged. Change the battery for a fully charged one once a week for maximum zapping. Or get a decent leisure battery which will work better with a solar charger.
Replace your tape, constant repairs mean lots of shorting.
Make sure your fencer is really well earthed, it doesn't matter how powerful your energiser is if it isn't earthed properly it will not work to its full potential.
If your energiser is a powerful one add another strand, better still add another 2.
Use 5ft poles and add a 5th strand.
For really determined fence crashers use 2 energisers with seperate car batteries, use one on 2 strands and use the other on the other 2 strands.
 
run it off the mains if you can so its a very big jolt for her, likewise run more than 2 strands. i used to have to have 5 strands, the lowest being 6" off the deck & the highest being 5ft (meant they could neither shimmy under or jump over) it did mean having to lawn mow the fenceline requally to keep the grass from shorting it out but was worth it.also try putting a small loop of the electric tape on her headcollar (noseband area) doesnt have to be a big bit, 4/6" long so that any charge goes via it.

good luck been there & didnt enjoy it one bit. im sure its a welshie thing!
 
Aoibhin said:
run it off the mains if you can so its a very big jolt for her, likewise run more than 2 strands. i used to have to have 5 strands, the lowest being 6" off the deck & the highest being 5ft (meant they could neither shimmy under or jump over) it did mean having to lawn mow the fenceline requally to keep the grass from shorting it out but was worth it.also try putting a small loop of the electric tape on her headcollar (noseband area) doesnt have to be a big bit, 4/6" long so that any charge goes via it.

good luck been there & didnt enjoy it one bit. im sure its a welshie thing!
Click to expand...

This.
 
i feel your pain !! my horse did it all the time ! even got kicked off a yard for it ! ever since i hooked up to mains.........(fingers crossed)..........he hasnt done it !!!
i think the battery powered electric is useless !
 
My shetland used to take a deep breath and then just charge through it!!! I ended up having to use wooden fencing posts and and using four strands of thicker electric wire. Make sure the battery is up to the task and the electric is running through the bottom strands of wire. They soon learn if the top one is electric they can push through the bottom!!! As above you must make sure there is no grass etc. shorting it out.
 
lol, OMG do you have my old pony??!!:D:D I tried 4 strands of tape with a 5th strand gong diagonally, fencing looked more like some demented crocheting:rolleyes: little sod just used to eye it up, take a run up and run straight through it!! As far as he was concerned the moments pain was worth it just to get to the other side of the fence,:rolleyes: I resorted to tethering him a one point because he kept disappearing into a neighbouring field. then when we moved fields there were 2 paddocks already set up with sheep fencing with electric tape to the inside which had been used for some minis, houdini pony was put in there and apart from climbing over the sheep fencing one night when i'd forgotten to turn the electric on it worked a treat. He really was a monkey tho, we liveried next door to camilla's place many years ago and the little houdini escaped and went for a walk down the lane to her house, the armed police brought him home:eek::o told them they should have tazed the little sod!!;)
 
It may well be coming under the fence commando style, I watch a Shetland pony do something similar with normal 3 strand fencing, lay down next the the fence as if it was going to roll and then basically shimmied under the bottom strand. It was actually quite impressive to watch
 
My chunk of an ID never respected electric either and still reguarly tests it! What I did was run it from the mains, add a few more strands, heighten it and then I took great pleasure in enticing him with an apple up to it and letting him bite it whilst it was wet! Bit harsh you may think but it worked! I couldn't cope with him constantly barging through it and it became dangerous as he'd break up the posts and I was worried he's skewer himself on the spike! A few weeks ago we had a power cut and it was off for about an hour, I went outside to see him ripping the tape with his teeth!!! Little bu**ar!

Forgot to add, he's my companion horse for my TB, why is it the companions are always the ones which seem to end up costing the most to keep!!?
 
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Wooden posts on each corner, one eitherside of the gate and in the middle if needed, then three strands of the wide electric tape to make it look like a true fence, then run a thin plain wire inside the upper and lower wide strands which you can electrify - gives off a more powerful zap! Just remember to have breaking points every 4 metres (or there abouts) in case they do charge through - otherwise there could be a nasty injury :(
 
Arrrgh, bloody bargain pony is going to end up costing me a fortune!! thanks for all the replies, so glad its not just me with the nightmare pony.

will get the battery topped up properly once a week until i can sort out some kind of mains job. And get triple/quadruple strands going on too. I have no problem with underground tactics like bumblelion mentioned - i'd rather they learn to respect it than escape and get injured/cause injury. Whenever my ginger big boy sniffs near the fencing, i make a 'ssttt' noise and he jumps away from it (such is his respect for it). Will definitely try the tape on the headcollar bit too - i'm sure its the pony that's the problem, and not the big ginger pansy.

Also the wooden posts will be going in - it was mentioned the other day actually as i wanted to put some semi permenant fencelines in anyway, so will put some wooden posts in and use in conjunction with a few of strands of tape.

As for broken strands, i've been re-attaching them using the metal sliders you can buy, as i knew that just tying it makes it pretty ineffectual. The tape ive got is the inch-and-a-half thick stuff, with about 8-10 wires inside. My fencer is an eddie palin one - thought they were a fairly decent make??

thanks again for the replies!
 
Get the battery sorted out then walked the pony up to it with the power turned right up and give the pony a good zap! Might rethink his ideas then!!!
Q
 
You can also try a double line of fence if you have enough posts/tape - set it a foot or two away from the first one. If you're tape/wire needs replacing buy one that is more conductive ie more strands of wire with some copper in it and it will make the zap just that bit more noticeable. I know how infuriating it is when ponies do not respect the fence so you really need to make sure they get a good zap from it, which will put them off going near it for a while.
 
Same as said above really, our houdini Section A stallion is kept safe behind 4 strands of rope on a mains energiser, along with his brothers. He was impossible to keep behind anything, just used to crawl through it, but the mains fencer and the extra strands have done the job. We have them on wooden posts and he has now been confined for over a year without 1 breach!!
 
Mine was just walking through the fence & trashing it a while back; and someone on here suggested that if they wear a rug/flymask etc (and hence can't feel the current) that you get some of the tape and sew it on around the mask & rug so that it touches the horse's skin plus will conduct the electricity.

Just a suggestion.

My old boy was good at trashing leccy fences; one day I fenced him in and (stupidly!) left the gate open while I sorted out his tea. Obviously he'd heard me, coz when I went to bring him in I met him coming down the road at the trot, trailing fencing, poles, the lot!!! Bless him.
 
Oh I feel your pain... Thought I had it cracked for 2 days then went to bring them in this even and hugely fat section A had escaped into 4 acre field through 3 strands electrified tape. Mains no an option as field in middle of nowhere but am going to have to rethink fence AGAIN tomorrow.

As you said, arrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhh ponies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!
 
I use to buy halfords batteries and took one off a car that was being scrapped its more powerful/lasts longer and sounds cracking (blipping). I would either try mains but if not new stronger battery. The selection I have are variable. Some very weak despite me charging them. Others last well for 3 weeks.

I reckon yours is not strong enough for a good zap!

I had a naughty pony that would puff his chest out and just charge it! Especially if his coat was in winter thickness.

But ensure they get zapped.

Good luck blooming annoying.
 
My little s**t will walk up and down looking for the weekest point to duck under. I have tried rope and wooden posts, broke the posts and ended up with a pony with 3 broken post and rope running round the paddock, would never use rope again.
Its not the size of the battery but the amount of joules it can discharge, I would ring up Rutland and get them to explain as I can not. I water my earth if its dry and the way I eventually stopped was I got an energiser with a lot of zap that you could run two fences independantly from, so when he ran through the first and earthed it out he still got zapped by the second.
If this hadn't have worked I was going to put up builders plastic orange fencing and run strands of the fence through that.
 
My welshie will go under it or through it (depending on his mood) and my ISH will jump it (regardless of height ie 5ft plus). However hooking it to the mains has definately cut down the occurances.

Both drive me to distraction at times but thankfully mine have only got out of my field once, into a garden. And that time they jumped a hedge because the neighbours had been feeding them apples arghhhhh..........Although it was a mighty fine jump for both of them :D
 
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