Thick skinned ponios - any tips

[jill]

One of my local livery ponies is completely oblivious to electric fencing - I have spent all afternoon making sure it had current going through it (mains) and okay, there are a few joins so it maybe has lost a bit on the way, but he walks through it as though it isn't there, it took about 3 minutes for him to get out of a small corral we had made for him just to see what he does.
Any ideas - has anyone succesfully taught respect for it?
He is in the round pen tonight, while we try making him a corral near the fencer itself tomorrow so that he feels the real power and maybe won't try again? All the others don't touch it, whether it is on or off, but him, he must have a hide like a rhinocerous!

[wabuska]

How about a bib clip and rugs off to get down to more sensitive hide!

[laura]

well some of them just seem oblivious ........ we have a mare thats is like that ......... either she pushes it down or jumps it. If the motivation is high enough ( prob if they just greedy enough for the grass on the other side in Bonneys case ) whats a little transient pain

[l17]

Good Luck. I have the same prob with my pony. I found that really tall posts and three strands help a lot as it is more of a visual deterent.

[ladynowak]

Is he rugged?

I have to admit that I have one just like that, bit of a no sense no feeling horse really. He was breaking through the electric that was keeping him away from the barbed wire. I had to replace the tape as it had a couple of mended breaks so that it had a bit more of a kick to it and I made sure he got a good shock off of it. Stopped him from going near it again. I'd rather be an evil witch to prevent them from getting tangled.

[jill]

Fortunately this morning one of my young helpers brought her dad along, and he set to with the tester to help sort it out. He got it to two bars on the tester to make a corral and said pony just ran tthrough it, so I guess he is one of those who needs a physical fence.
"Dad" is coming to do a bit more next week (bless) so I'll get some good quality turbo rope to base it all on - he did discover this morning lots of places where the wire had almost burned through.
He did say afterwards he has electrical qualifications - how's that for a bit of luck?

[cobalmighty]

second the clip and naked option!

My cob was a little 'disrespectful' of leccy tape fencing, so I wired up a stronger unit (mains fencer rather than battery), clipped his chest and turned him out wet - the zap travelled through his wet coat and made the experience much stonger!

Might sound a little harsh, but I feel still better than risking getting caught up in the fence / guzzling himself sick on the grass / getting out onto the road / any other horror scenario you can imagine!

He is wise to fences now and will stay politely behind whatever electric fence you offer!




If yours needs to wear a rug, you can put a loop of leccy tape round the front section of the rug, against his chest and round the outside, then when he leans on the fence the shock is carried in to his skin.

[graymare]

Have seen electric tape sewn inside the neck lining of a rug so it's in contact with the horse, around half the neck if you see what I mean. Three strands of tape were then sewn onto that but hanging outside the rug, and dangling down (no further than the depth of rug).

Obstinate (aka very clever) pony marched up to fence intending to bulldozer through, and got a short sharp shock. Owner only needed to use this a few times before clever clogs learnt his lesson; had to careful though, he knew when the electric had failed, so it had to be checked daily.

[forestgirl]

I used to have a coloured cob who would just put his head down and run , the top strand of electric tape passing over his neck and him stepping over the bottom strands. He had a very thick mane so wouldn't have felt the first shock and would be completely through the fencing before the next pulse of electricity reached him. That fencing was on the mains and he never did respect electric fencing.
I read on another forum about someone with a similar problem , their pony also runs under with his head down. Someone suggested tying strands of electric tape into his mane. That would cause him to feel the shock as the fencing made contact with the top of his neck and the fencing tape in his mane .

[jill]

Now he has broken a piece of rail of a post and rail fence where we put him to contain him, so it's sorted - he has his marching orders!
He let all the horses into the wrong fields, upset old Sabria who suddenly was sharing her grass patch with four other horses, and ensured I spent an hour in the dark tonight moving horses and fixing fences. He has to go and find somewhere else to live!

[cobalmighty]

s'pose that is the easiest solution for you!!!

sounds like he needs a fort knox style containment facility!

[jill]

Barbed wire and hawthorn hedges would be a start!!