Please help me brainstorm a fencing solution.

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smiles24

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We have a lovely lady at our yard who has two horses. One is a lovely cob the other is my nightmare livery.

He walks through fencing as if it wasnt there, whether it be electric tape or post and rail.

The field has a parameter fence of post and rail and stock fencing. It is then divided into four with more post and rail. Each section is then subdivided into four again with electric tape.

All paddocks are three strands of 40mm tape always electrified. Her horses paddock also has an additional stand on the top of the posts on a separate energiser to stop the horse leaning on it and pushing to break it all.

Now said horse with walk through any fencing we have including the post and rail as if it isn't there, there doesn't seem to be any reason for it. He does it from a field of fresh grass into a muddy patch, away from other horses and I have even seen him walk through my school wooden fence and out the other side just like he felt like doing it.

We have tried different companions, different routines, different energisers, different paddocks etc with no effect.

We have tried adding an internal fence just inside the main ones and different heights. If he can get his head over it he pushes it over and walks over it and if not runs through it, imagine a bullet aiming for the middle of the fence leaving splintered wood in it's wake.

Now I'm really at a loss what to do next as we're running out of ideas. My next one was maybe some kind of round pen with the height and made of metal so less likely to break but not ideal. His poor owner is upset and it's costing us both a lot in time and money.

Any ideas welcome.......
 
Hi

The electric fencing is run of a solar and wind system for smallholdings so is the equivalent to mains and works well. I should also add all the electric tape was new last year as he broke so much I replaced the lot to ensure we had no shorts.

Imagine a horse walking along and then comes to the fence and doesn't pause he just keeps walking and pushing until the wood breaks and he can get through. I've never seen anything like it and I've had horses since a child. If he can't get his head ov it he puts his head between the rails and keeps walking.
 
Wow, pretty determined then.

I hope your billing the livery for all the expense.

Personally I'd ask her to leave.
 
The livery does pay and is a very good friend but it has crossed my mind, I have lots of names for her horse determined would be very polite.

Have you ever seen people using pens? Someone suggested galvanised wire too but I've seen some dreadful injuries with that, but then he's lucky not to have injured himself already.
 
High fencing is the way to go. Plus electric tape. If he can't get his head over, or through, then he can't push. Simple. Unfortunately also expensive to set up :(

Or, a round pen kind of set up, same thing though, it needs to be high.

This is the fencing around my stallion's paddock (he is 15h to give you an idea of scale) around everywhere in fact. 9 gauge page wire, it is a pain putting up tape as well, kilometres of the flipping stuff - the horses love to rub on the wire, so electric is essential to stop them using it as a very expensive bum scratcher. Not particularly pretty, but this isn't exclusively a horse farm, it keeps the horses, goats and cattle in and the coyotes out.

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He can just about get his head over but then he gets zapped on the throat and he doesn't care for that a great deal. Nowadays his fence is rarely switched on.
 
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My cob filly is like this.

She walks through anything and uses her weight to push through all types of fencing. This is when she is in season though and yet the rest of the times she is lovely, very easy.

Mains electric is the only thing I think will keep horses like this in.
 
Yes I have seen a round pen used to contain in this case a horse recovering from an injury, so could not be with the herd.
I think this was a proper purpose bought metal roundpen, but you could consider using the builders Heras panels to make an enclosure. The good thing is that they are of course movable. You could drag one with a 4 x 4 to fresher grazing etc.

He sounds really determined.
 
Enfys your horse is gorgeous :) I see what you mean about height.

Hi Yas, David knows this one well, not his favourite one to shoe either.
Did you see how they set the pen up? I keep looking and wondering how people are securing these down?
 
Definately mains electric, don't let it wear a rug until it's had a couple of blasts.

I touched it once by accident and i'm terrified of it too!
 
He does appear to be very determined. Just a thought...have his eyes been tested? When you say he just walks through everything, could it be a visual impairment?
 
smiles24 said:
Enfys your horse is gorgeous :) I see what you mean about height.

Hi Yas, David knows this one well, not his favourite one to shoe either.
Did you see how they set the pen up? I keep looking and wondering how people are securing these down?
Click to expand...

Ha ha you will have to tell me the name of said horsey so I can inform him!! Roundpen was at Donna Blinman's at Higham - give her a call or drop them an email re roundpen. Infact her partner Patrick is a behaviourist so he may be able to shed some light if he has come accross this before. :)

Tel 07932 474076 E mail donna@donnablinman.co.uk patrick@donnablinman.co.uk
 
Have you tried using the wire they use for cattle it's supposed to give a nastier shock and also clipping his chest so he gets a bigger shock.
 
I would agree with Enfys about the height. We had a colt that would do this and just couldn't keep him in, he is only 11hh so we used 4 strands of electric ROPE, it conducts far better than the tape, set at 1ft apart. If you can get it so the horse has to walk in nose first it will work, with bottom strand no higher that 1ft from the ground! Make sure the posts are closer together than normal, we used pencil posts about 10ft apart but you may need to go to 6ft for yours if he is so determined. Our mains energiser runs at 10000v and is checked daily to ensure it is always at it's best, he has never yet escaped it!
 
Thanks everyone. Yep he had his yearly MOT not that long ago so all fine in that respect including eyesight. Thanks yas with drop them an email. Goldenstar we have clipped and left him naked the git.
 
Was going to say mains and give him a zap..no solutions fort knox?

I know a horse who use to put his bum on it as he liked the sensation! Another that use to bite the tape!

Good luck the high metal fence sounds the solution and I know someone that puts their pony in a horsewalker to stop it escaping. What a pain for you.
 
Hi Amanda yep he has a companion. We have also tried him in with several other horses and tried each one separately to see if he might pair up with one but he really doesn't seem interested in other horses. He is currently in with my friends other horse so they have the same routine.
 
Be very wary when using the electric rope. We used 'Hot Wire' electric rope & yes it carries the charge well but when a horse gets caught in it the injuries are horrible. One of ours got caught in it, spooked & ran off pulling the rope behind him. Wife couldn't get out of the way & it caught her at the back of her legs. She had massive rope burns, was treated daily by a nurse for the burns & couldn't walk for a week or so. Fortunately horse only received minor injuries around back legs. Just be very careful on how you use it. :(
 
My friend has a houdini Shetland with the skin of a rhino.

Her solution was a small area fenced with stock wire and cattle wire which was electrified, this is about 4ft6ft high and pony is a Standard shetland, she puts it in this small area at night.

In the bigger field the pony is tethered using a chain and collar to a lorry tyre weighed down with concrete (she moves the tyre around with a 4x4)

She has tried every other way but this was the only solution which has worked, like yours there was no reason except total bloodymindedness for its destruction.

For my friend the situation was dangerous as one day the pony went through all the internal fencing and got out onto the main road taking its companion with it... tethering keeps the pony and everyone else safe
 
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