Conference noted::equitation

    our farm had four foot hog wire with 2 strands of bob wire on top.
    never lost a colt or horse.  but we did loose a lot of shues off
    a mare that figured out how to pull them off on the hog wire.

    As for the electric fence.....
    
    I had a pony that would do the same thing - I guess if
    he went through it fast enough the shock wouldn't bother
    him...
    
    So, everyone now and again we would back him into the fence
    and hold him there so he got a few good shocks (it wasn't
    much fun for us either) - but it gave him a better respect
    for the fence, and it would usually be a few months before
    he tried it again.
    
    No quarantee - but it's probably worth a try.
    
    RF

    I HAVE TWO SUGESTIONS WITH THE FENCE...
         FIRST I WOULD HANG STRIPS OF RAG OFF THE TOP WIRE SO THAT IT
         WOULD MOVE IN THE WIND THIS MAY JUST BE ENOUGH TO KEEP THEM
         AWAY FORM THE FENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
    
         OR 
    
         YOU COULD HOOK YOUR FENCE UP TO THE OUT PUT SIDE OF YOUR CARS
         COIL OR ONE OF THE SPARK PLUG WIRES. WHILE THE CAR IS TURNED
         ON LEAD THE HORSE TO THE FENCE AND MAKE SURE HE GETS A GOOD
         SHOCK.  THE CAR COIL SHOCK IS MUCH STRONGER THEN A FENCE HOT
         BOX BUT WILL NOT HARM THE HORSE.

    Re. .3
    
    I do have strips of rag as well as flourescent tape about every
    foot and a half.
    
    I have also zapped him many times - the problem is he knows if he
    walks up to it he'll get zapped, so he doesn't touch it then.  He's
    figured out that at a gallop it doesn't hurt.  Someone said with
    all four feet off the ground he doesn't even get zapped at all.
    
    Re. the car battery - I was saying that I wanted to do that, laughing,
    I didn't realize I really could.                                                                  
    
    
    He'll also run through the paddock which has two 1" boards and two
    strands of wire.
    
    As an update, though, I kept him in for several days, and now only
    let him out when I'm home (and therefore can go after him immedately)
    and he hasn't pulled this again (as compared to 4 times in a row).
    Maybe he's learned, though I won't trust him unless I'm there.
    
    Kathy                                
    

    
    
    One solution that I have heard/seen in the past is rather drastic
    so I don't know if you would want to try it.  It has the potential
    for causing injury.
    
    Some oldtime "horse breakers" would keep a nylon halter on the horse
    with about 25 feet of rope permanently attached to it.  The would
    have either a cement block, log, or other heavy object attached
    to the other end so that the horse had to drag it everywhere.  The
    horse was not able to get up enough speed to go through the fence
    or run away from anyone.  
    
    As you can imagine, the trailing rope could catch on anything and
    everything causing major injury to the horse.  I have also seen
    horses dragging chains of various sizes. 
    
    I don not advise this method if the colt is a fighter, but it is
    a possible solution.
    
    Pat

    Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think it'd be practical for
    me.  He is turned out with my 6 mos old colt, and the two of them
    play constantly.  I'd be afraid they'd get tangled, and as you
    mentioned, seriously hurt.
    
    Looks like I'm going to have to put up 2" thick boards.
    eventually.....  Until then I'm leaving him in during the day, and
    letting him out when I get home from work.  I have caught him charging
    towards the fence and, surprisingly, when I yelled he stopped and
    went back to eating.
    

    The finceing on the old farm that had from 50 to 100 at any given
    time seamed to be quite adaquate and I only recall one incident
    were a pony got tangled up in it.
    
    good solid posts. 4 feet of hog wire. with 2 strands of bob wire
    on top.  total of five feet of fence.  may have to make it a little
    higher in the north to account for snow.

I don't know of any distributors but I know for awhile there was fencing
available made out of rubber. I believe they made it from old car tires. The
stuff had give. It may have enough give that it wouldn't break if run into.
I think you'd need the electric wire still because they miight be able to
separate it enough to "walk through".

This type of "rail" should be relatively cheap if you can find a place to get it.


There's also plastic fencing available but I don't know about it's strength
and I think the cost may be prohibitive.

Dani

    There is a problem with rubber fencing...some of them chew it and there
    were a couple of horses die in the South....I guess they chewed some of
    the strands off (used to be made of old rubber tires), their bodies
    couldn't digest it or pass it and a blockage was formed over a period
    of time.
    
    Just something to be aware of.
    

    Re the rubber fencing....it is just as expensive as wooden fences,
    my neighbor has it.
    
    I think I've found a solution.  I know 2" planks would solve the
    problem, but money is a problem right now.  However, I've got a
    friend whose husband works at a place that makes welded wire.  He
    thinks he can get me seconds at 25% of normal cost.  This would
    be 4' high with 2x4" blocks.  I could do the entire field for only
    a couple hundred dollars.
    
    Re Hog fencing 
    
    What is this type of fence?  I picture it being like stock fencing
    with approx. 8" squares.  Is this what it is?
    
    Thanks,
    Kathy

    
    
    Hog fencing is made like normal 2 x 4 field fencing except that
    the bottom half of the fence has a mesh that is only 1 x 2.  This
    is to prevent the hogs from getting their noses through the fence
    and tearing it up.  It sometimes done in a heavier gauge than regular
    field fence.  It works great to keep rabbits, dogs and other critters
    out of your horse pasture.
    
    Pat (who grew up in Iowa where they have lots of hogs)
    

    A friend of mine told me that some wood mills sell the boards with
    the tree bark still on them. the side pieces of the trees. He told
    me he got them in 16 ft lengths for a dollar a piece. The price is
    right anyway.
    
    
    Gina
    

    Gina,
    
    Good idea, I hadn't thought of that.  There is a mill close to me
    also.
    
    Thanks for the suggestion.
    
    Kathy

I am thrilled to bits with my new nag.  He's a registered ANGLO/ARAB gelding,
15:3 (very stocky) and 4 years old. (I just gave my older mare away as she 
wasn't 100% sound for heavy competition).  It's been a loooong time 
since I've had a baby, I swore up and down, no, no, no, no time.  Anyway this 
guy is so level headed, that 3-4 times a week will do, it will just take 
longer. Fine says I.
BUT .....

1. He has jumped out of his pen (3'9") to visit others.  In spite of the fact
he has neighbours he can torment easily.

2. He is a little toothy, ie he's teething and will chew stuff. (No he is not 
a cribber yet!). I do not hand feed him at all.  He doesn't know what carrots
are anyway.  The little dear *&*&*&%$% was sniffing my hand, when he grabbed my
engagement ring, guess what, I went to smack him and noticed my stone missing
(sapphire).  Well discretion being the better part of valour, I stuck my hand
in his mouth and peered in, search around, no stone.  Now, he's worth even 
more!  So anyone want dog/cat food?!!!  Seriously, I have had horses for 20
years and nothing like this has ever happened.  Normally I don't wear jewllery
but I was going to pick someone up at the airport after I had checked him over.
I (and others) looked every where on the floor etc, and while the stone was
of sentimental value, I was not prepared to check his droppings for one VERY
small stone, the ring yes, stone no.  What I don't understand his that he 
looked so totally innocent and hurt when I tied him up with two inches of rope,
and I proceeded to discuss the merits of how I was going to fit his body parts
into my freeze, and how I wouldn't have to buy cat food for a year, etc.

Linda
    
    
P.S.Is anyone in Lowell next week (29/10/89)?  I am at the training
    session there - I'd like to see the faces behind the notes (maybe
    not eh?)    

    We all have the "your goingto Alpo !" days. :-) 
    
    Good luck with him! My mare jumps out of a 4.5 foot post and rail
    fence periodically, then turns around and jumps right back in again
    after she wanders about for 10 minutes or so. It is wierd. I am
    going to have to raise the fence, I guess. At least we know that
    horses that do this sort of thing have jumper potential!
    
    

    Try putting ELECTRIC fencing (wire) on the top of your fences. As
    a rule, horses may run in panic or play and crash in to and go through
    electric fence....but they do not usually try to jump it. I have
    had lots of horses all my life and our family...I have never seen
    any of them ever try to jump the wire to go visit or whatever.
    
    It's funny, some friends and I were just talking about this the
    other day and we all said the same thing. Three of us own stallions
    along with mares.
    
    I today have a young stallion in a pasture along my driveway, it
    is all wood with electric on the top and middle to stop the pushing
    or heads between the rails. One end is open with only Stock wire
    fencing which is the big squares...say 6" by 10". There is electric
    on the top and that stallion screams around and always stops and
    will not put his head over it. I can come and go with any of my
    mares or friends mares and work in the ring about 50 feet from his
    pasture.
    
    I would also try a good or seperate fence charger just for him so
    he gets a good jult to teach him right the first time.
    
    I am expecting to hear back from you know saying there is electric...
    and i guess that will blow our theary.
    
    Good luck.
    
    terry

    Unfortunately this is a boarding facility so ....... but so far
    it has only been once but unfortunately he knows he can do it. 
    My last mare did as well but ALWAYS returned to her stall.  We'll
    see.
    
    

    
    re>.2]
    
    be careful if you raise you fence.  I once took care of a Trekania (sp)
    he as 18 hans tall..he fence was 5 feet tall..he could jump it no
    problem!!  so the owners raised the fence..well he jump it and he was
    thinking it was 5 feet and he caught his shoulder on it..broke it
    and was sadley we had to put  him to sleep.  It was a shame he was
    the most beautiful hosre I've ever seen..and so gentil for so big!
    
    Louisa ;_0

    
    Your Stone:
    
    I too lost a ring to my horse, I was dumping his bucket of feed
    through the stall bars into his feed tub and I had on a high school
    ring (remember when you wore your boyfriend's when you were going
    steady?) and dropped the bucket and the ring flew off my finger
    into his feed bucket.  I flew into his stall and rifled through
    the grain but it was gone.  I went through his stall for weeks and
    even kept him in for a week and only rode him in the ring and checked
    everything for the ring.  I never found it.  Of course my friend
    was real happy, he had worn the ring for about the first week after
    he got it and then gave it to me.  That was about 10 years ago and
    we still get a good laugh over it.
    
    I even did a public demonstration when I was in 4-H on Leo's Digestive
    System.  I still remember Prehension, Mastication, etc. etc.
    
    KJ

    One brief note on the electric fencing: if a horse is jumping it and
    touches it while airborne, there is no shock.  The animal has to be
    grounded for it to work.  Our dogs learned that quickly - they jump
    through it and take the strand down.

    I IN NOTES NUMBER 2 DID (oops sorry) did not mean to raise the the
    fence.....just run a strand of electic on the top of your fence
    posts that are there now.
    
    Hopefully he will lean and touch the wire and get a good shock from
    it aand then will not want to try jumping it.
    
    The other thing I have done with horses in the past that are bad
    at respecting the fence is to make them touch it once or twice.
    
    I know it sounds bad but I would rather make sure they know it hot
    and that they respect it then have them get out and get killed on
    the street or hurt someone and I get suide.
    
    I will sometimes feed them some grass or grain and have them put
    their heads over the fence and let them touch it on their own.
    
    Good luck....
    
    terry

    
    I am wondering, (mine is the one that jumps out then back in again),
    if I raise the fence by adding a top rail (it is currently all planks,
    and is very sturdy), isn't that safer than a strand of wire at the
    top?? I worry that if she tries to jump the wire, she can catch
    a foot in it or something...is the wire usually used breakable if
    that happened? I would almost prefer to have her attempt a higher
    fence and break a board in half than hang herself on wire. I would
    use wood easily breakable until she realized she could not clear
    it.....
    

    I believe it's pretty impossible to hang 1k lbs with 16-18 AWG wire.
    He/she should go right through it...but as mentioned earlier, it's
    not going to zap 'em if there off the ground. You will have to zap
    him a few times while on the ground and he still may try it!

    
    
    Another solution for a fence jumper is to get electric fence insulators
    that extend out from the fence about 6 inches and run the electric wire
    through these.  Or get the electric fence posts that look like rebar
    and set them in the ground about 18 inches from the permanent fence and 
    then run the electric around the pasture.  With the inner fence being
    electric and set out that far the horses ususally think twice about
    trying to jump it.
    
    Pat

    I would never, never use electric fence. I had a horse that jumped
    the fences. The paddock fence was over five foot and at 6 foot there
    was an electric fence. He did not see the electric fence and aimed
    for the paddock fence. He cut his knees open and shaved his legs.
    He was out of commission for many moons and cost me many nights.
    Not because I was babying him, but I felt sorry for him. The lady
    who boarded him at that time, took all her electric fencing down.
    Her comments: If they want to jump the fence, let them! 
    
    Never, never would I use electric fencing again.
    Ruth
    

    
    Ruth,
    
    I agree with your stand on electric fencing. I know a million people
    use it with good results, but I do not like it much. My mare is
    a fence jumper (but no real problem since she jumps right back in
    again). I had considered raising the fence by running electric on
    the top, but decided to do it by adding a higher rail instead. It
    is now 5', and will go to 6' in the spring. The vision of my mare
    jumping over the top rail and into the wire is not  a pretty one.
    Perhaps it would merely break, and when that happens, what then?
    Does it wrap around a leg, or snag a shoe as she is on her way down??
    Ugh. I would rather not risk it.
    

    My 10 mos old colt got out yesterday, for the 2nd time since I fenced
    the 4 acre field with 2x4 welded wire, 4' high.  After walking the
    entire perimeter to see how he had gotten out, I can only come to one
    conclusion:  he jumped it (which is what I know he did the first time
    cuz he took part of the fence down the first time).
    
    I've never had a horse that jumped.  Any suggestions on how to
    discourage this?  I can't affort to refence the field, and I only used
    the rough cut cedar posts, so there really isn't room to add on at the
    top.
    
    Thanks for any suggestions.
    
    Kathy

    
    My 12 year old Standardbred mare jumped her paddock fence a lot,
    too. It was about 4.5 feet high, post and rail. Luckily, she tended
    just to turn around and jump right back in again. Just likes jumping,
    I suppose. I added a top rail, not it's about 5.5 feet, and she
    has stayed put so far. If she does it again this spring (I think
    the snow probably discourages her) I don't know what I'll do, either.
    The rails are not at the very top of the posts. I suppose you will
    get a lot of suggestions to add a strand of electric wire, and I
    know a lot of people have no problems with it. I personally don't
    like it, the idea of a foot catching in it scares me. I know, it
    would snap (no piece of wire is going to stop a ton of flying animal),
    but then there is loose wire dangling about the feet of a loose
    horse. But perhaps you could give it some thought....
    

    May I ask...is the colt alone?  The mare down the road was always
    running the neighborhood until they got her a companion.  What she was
    doing was visiting the boys.
    

    No, she's with my two year old - who was an escape artist himself until
    I put up this wire.  When he gets out he stays close, but the side he's
    jumping is into my neighbors backyard who has three little boys under
    the age of 5 ........
    
    Unfortunately, the posts only protrude above the top of the wire by a
    few inches, so there isn't room to nail anything onto.
    
    I wouldn't have believed he could jump it - he's only 9 1/2 months old!
    He loves to gallop, and with 4 acres really gets flying.  I suspect
    that he's jumping it during one of these "races".
    
    Kathy
    

    I've seen fences raised by nailing an upright board to the post (to
    make the post higher). The new, higher rail is nailed to the post
    extension. If you live or work near Stow, drive down Red Acre Rd. and
    see how this was done at Red Acre Farm.
    
    -Andrea-

    My horse Ginger finally moved to my house.. It's such a pleasure
    having my horse in my back yard again.
    
    My problem.  We have a gun range that is about 1/2 mile away
    and I have gotten to the point that I don't even here them.
    
    But, Ginger Can.  
    
    She has a very bad habit of jumping fences and I thought for 
    sure that I had nipped this habit in the bud by putting the
    fence 5 ft high.
    
    NO WAY.  She was fine all day on Sunday and then WAM she jumped
    the fence (almost at a stand still)... Was pretty amazing when
    I can't even get her to jump a three foot fence in the ring.
    
    So I called my Father and he said to borrow a pony from him 
    and that she would stay in with the pony.  Hopefully this
    will work.
    
    But, I don't want to always have a pony with her.. We go 
    away on long trips and she never does such stupid things.
    
    She is scaring my husband because she weights in at over 1500 pds
                                                           
                                              
    I havn't worked with her in about 3months because we had to get
    ready for a wedding and there just was'nt time.
    
    I don't want my husband to be scared of her, but most people are
    just because of her size.
    
    My question...?  Is she going to get over this jumping fence bit?
    When she finally figures out that this is her home.?
    
    When Can I get rid of the pony?
    
    How can I help my husband feel more at easy with her.?
    
    I have told my husband if she doesn't staighten out by spring 
    then I would sell her. and get a horse we both can ride.
                                                           

    Since horses are herd animals, you want to consider always keeping two. 
    They get very lonely, otherwise.

    My mare repeatedly jumped her fence as well, it's been going on for
    3 years now, and I've raised the fence to 5 feet, too. She still does
    it occasionally, but I'm lucky, she merely wanders around the yard
    nibbling grass for a while, then eventually jumps back in. Really, I've
    seen her do this several times. Only once has she left the yard, and
    my neighbor who also has a horse caught her and brought her back. She
    hasn't left the yard since. I can understand your reluctance to keep
    a pony, I realize that my mare gets lonely but finances prohibit
    getting her equine companionship at this point. We do plan to expand
    the barn and bring the other horse home sometime next year, but for
    now she will just have to rough it. I do ride with neighbors as much 
    as possible, and she has a cat that loves to sleep in her hay. What
    about running a strand of electric wire above the top rail? If she
    does attempt to jump it and doesnt' clear it would only snap, and
    it may deter her.
    
    

    One of my horses, does not respect fences, she frequently jumps
    out, and like yours from a stand still, quite amazing really, because
    she very small.
    
    When she goes through her phase of doing this we run electric fencing
    along the top of the post and rail, in fact we dont even turn it
    on, becuase she knows what it is, and never tries jumping.
    
    good luck