Shetlands and electric fencing

Box_Of_Frogs

Box_Of_Frogs

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Anyone got any ideas for keeping a tiny, cute shettie mare in her fenced of bit of field? She's with her equally tiny friend but friend has more respect for electric fencing! Lady just limbos under the bottom strand and accepts she'll get a zap. It's not funny as their patch of field is scratty with poor (but tummy filling) grazing. The rest of the field is calf high in lush grass. Half an hour on that, never mind all night, and she'd be a laminitis candidate for sure. I'm seriously considering nailing her feet to the floor.
 
Shetlands and electric fencing = fail!

I had a little lovely one on loan as a companion for my 18m colt. First he limbos under the bottom strip. I put it down and he goes straight though it. I get a mains unit - again goes straight through it. Decided 4km might not cut it so got a 42km unit - went through it! Now this is a shock that is strong enough for me to feel it affecting my heart when I grabbed the fence by accident.

Conclusion - shetlands are shock proof...
 
The problem with electric fence and shetlands, is that in winter their coats are so thick they don't feel the shock and even in the summer, their manes are super thick and the summer coat is much thicker than a normal horse, that is why I think they don't respect the tape.
 
I have found the only way to keep my little lad in is four strands of electric fencing and company! Luckily my grass is quite poor atm, so he has the run of the field (with his muzzle on) and doesnt have to be seperated from my other horse.
I have just started bringing him in at night though, which he is not happy about. Hopefully I wont have to for long, but for weight maintenance I have too, as he's starting to look porkier than ever before :(
 
I used to have a little welsh pony who quickly learnt that she could limbo through electric tape and get away with a quick zap in order to fill her boots!

I now use electric chicken fencing - it comes on a roll already with stakes and is a mesh like fence so they cant get the heads through anything. The mesh is too small to get hooves through as well. I doubt that it would be the BHS thing to do because if they are really brave and test the fence too much it could be a mangle of mesh but I found that none of my horses never even tried to lean over and have really respected it.

An example of it is here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Chic...t=UK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item4837db8240
 
My Shetland walks through electric tape too, I was told to put a fine chain round his neck so that he got a 'better' shock. I couldn't do that to him, so muzzled him instead. He also walks through ordinary fencing, barbed wire no problem either. Shetlands just don't like to be contained, I think.
 
I have just had this probelm! The welshie was escaping by putting legs onerbottom strand and head under top strand and jumping through. I just got the remainder of the tape and a stapler and kinda braced the fence in sections that a pony could not fit through.

A side effect I have also found it that the fence has a bit more of a 'kick' to it! I went to touch it to check it was working (I dont have a checker and strangely I feel better after a shock!) and it blooming ARCED out and got me with a massive crack - bloondy hurt! So they are REALLY staying away from it now!
 
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A welsh A I have used to do this. I had a energiser that you could run 2 fences on seperately so if he ran under one he got a good shock from the other. Tried it a couple of times but in the end he got the message.
 
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