Shocking Information - this could save your life.

[SarahW]

Following a couple of incidents on visits to horses, I asked my husband to help me write a blog. I hope the information will be useful to anyone who keeps their horse at a yard with electricity!


www.sarahweston.org.uk/

[portiabuzz]

Thanks Sarah

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[jill]

Timely reminder Sarah. I have a real thing about electricity cables around horses - if I do need to run one I do it overhead, through the roof purlins, there is always a way. And my system does trip out, I know because I am often re-setting it lol

[specialized]

All useful info, we have all our outbuildings through an rcd protected consumer unit - they are cheap enough to buy and not expensive to get fitted and the electrician will give the place an mot at the same time as he can't leave unsafe wiring connected to the new unit.
I don't know why people still use mains clippers, the battery pack ones are so much easier and safer.

[janwilky]

We did the same thing when we had our shed/workshop built, so it means if we do need to use any electric devices around the horses we're protected.

Had a new professional clipper lady a few weeks ago and she only uses battery pack clippers, they did a brilliant and nicely quiet job on my two hairy beasties, I was well impressed

[SarahW]

It's fine for those people who have their own yards and make their own decisions. The only way you can guarantee your own safety on a livery yard is to have an RCD of your own or yes, use battery driven clippers. Sheila Reed did an excellent job of clipping mine yesterday and she runs on batteries! The trouble with getting an electrician out, and what puts people off, is the fact that if they are sorting one problem out but notice that the electrics are faulty or not up to date elsewhere, they have to do the whole job which can be very costly. Needed but costly!

I have a whole different set of worries about most livery yards where accelerants such as fuel (or just vehicles), flammables such as hay and straw, are all stored in the same building in which horses are kept at night. Easy for an arsonist or an electrical fault to set the whole lot alight and horses are only viable for four minutes once a fire starts. Stuff of nightmares.

[mags]

Excellent post! I think I'll go and get myself one of those RCD adaptors to protect myself, pony and my new set of clippers!
BTW, I like the mains clippers because you can clip as few or as many horses at a time as you like without having to plan for battery life, and battery life can suffer pretty quickly if they are not treated "right". Occasional use with letting the batteries sit for a long time with the wrong charge (full/half full/empty, depending on type) can really shorten their life.

[lisap]

And, speaking as a person who now has a 12 inch nail in their lower leg with matching screws at ankle and knee resulting from an accident with a horse and an electric fence in 2013, please can I caution people to consider turning OFF the electric fence when leading horses in and out of fields. The horse I was leading out of the field just touched the fence as I was closing the paddock, and he leaped away from it (obviously!) and crashed into my right leg with one of his front feet as he came over me, leaving me with a very nasty compound break of the Tibia.

[portiabuzz]

Ouch that sounds horrible Lisa x

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[l17]

I agree about the dangers of flammables in stable blocks. Where I used to keep my horse at a small private yard. A few months after I moved him the stables burnt down. It happened very quickly and there was nothing left. The building was full of hay and straw plus gas canisters and petrol cans. Luckily the horses living there were out in the field.

[portiabuzz]

Goodness that could have been so much worse !!

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