Electric fence vS tank pony

[duckduckswan]

11 hand pony is destroying all our fences. We’ve got a mix of motorway rail/sheep wire and posts with sheep wire and top wire but he pushes them all over. He’s ruthless and incredibly strong. We’ve got to replace the fence between the small paddock used in the summer to stop him getting fat and the hay field, would a mains electric fence keep him in? He wasn’t bothered about the battery one when I’ve run it across the main fence 😬. Any recommendations? My old Arab is scared of the fences and I could put a twig down and he wouldn’t cross it!!

My tb would chew the battery operated electric fence. Don’t ask. Bloody weird. But he has a lot more respect for the mains powered fencing.

@Pasithea

Introducing electric fences in winter if your pony wears a rug are not as effective as in summer with no rug! The buggers can push with their chest and knock it down without even feeling it when rugged in winter.

I had a greedy cob who would just walk through fences from the starvation paddock into the other fields. His fat friends would follow him through the hole and we’d find the lot of them gorging on the lush stuff. Not good. I moved to a different yard and the fences were new and strong with more supports holding the fences up and that seemed to work thank goodness as it was rylock and he’d have had his feet stuck in it and his knows what all, the bugger.

@Elieza no he doesn’t wear a rug. Is the electric fence strung off wooden posts or the moveable electric post types? I’d like the flexibility of moveable if possible

Ours is very respectful of mains powered fence (and it does give a heck of a whack so I see why) but definitely not so respectful of battery powered ones.

Hi. Ours is both runs along permanent fences then I attach movable electric fencing where and as needed. You just put the temp fencing up and clip it to the mains fence.

My pony will barge through or jump a moveable electric fence, or get her head under it and wiggle under, she doesn't seem fussed about getting electrocuted, obviously the pay off of unlimited grazing is greater! I've given up trying to stop her now, she always finds a way.

My cob needed actual wood fence posts to stop him barging through.

The plastic poles were just a slight inconvenience and once one either side was dislodged it was easy for him to plough through (while only getting half a dozen zaps as he was fast) as the rest of the fence posts on either side were dislodged.

It could be that if you use wood poles and a mains powered unit you could give him enough of a scare that it may put him off trying in future?

Could you even borrow a mains unit? We bought a metal fence post banger in thing, can’t remember the name, a long cylindrical metal thing with a handle on either side that you slip over the post and two if you bang it up and down in the post to get it in the ground, the deeper the better. May be worth a try, for although it’s time consuming and harder to strip graze, if it keeps him in it might be worth it?

Putting in fence posts in a dry summer is horrific right enough. Easier after a few days of rain to soften the ground.

I've had shocks from an energiser and mains on the same bit of fencing when the farmer who owns my yard upgraded. There is no comparison. I admit that unlike my hose and ponies I was slightly blasé about the fencing and used to move my polyposis and electric tape a couple of feet further across the field each day with out switching it off first. Overly now an then I'd get a little shock of the tape sagged and the wind blew at the wrong moment but hey ho less agro than the hike to the switch. Then he switched to mains... It was like being kicked by a donkey, my heart jumped in my chest and my wrist tingled for ages. I don't go near it now, lol.

Get the highest powered mains one you can find. We had one who pushed through the fencing, we changed to mains and we'll, let's just say that she got a good zap and was massively offended, never went near it again. My DH touched it by accident with the tip of his finger and squealed like a pig.

We borrowed a pony for a while that absolutely destroyed my fences. Electric tape,sheep netting,hedges. Nothing stopped him. I spent the whole winter fencing where he'd knocked the wooden posts down. The final straw came when he went through mains electric fencing,a hedge AND sheep netting/ barbed wire,to get in with my neighbours ponies. Thankfully no one was hurt ( I don't know why he did it,they had no grass and he had more plus hay on our side). I sent him back as I knew it was only a matter of time that he got out and did some damage, either to himself or someone else,and I was fed up with spending all my spare time mending fencing.

Best advice I've ever had is to make sure the fence is properly grounded and in several different places. If the fence isn't properly grounded then it won't give a good shock.

Mains always give a better shock. But if using battery and energiser then buy a solar car battery charger to keep the battery topped up.

always make sure there is no vegetation touching the fence shorting it out. Keep fencing lines as short as possible and use proper connectors.

Mine is such a wuss we turn the battery on about once every 2 months to remind him what it does the he doesn't go near it for weeks. My old boy needed it wired up to the mains and would be through it in heartbeat if it went off however briefly but it worked when on and nothing else stopped him.

1. wire it to the mains
2. have at least 3 strands
3. have extra fence posts put in, no more than 1 metre apart
4. clip his chest if he barges through, hog his mane if he pushes the fence up with his neck

I have a Highland pony who is no respecter of fences and as PP found, I had to string my electric rope from big, solid fence posts and wind it tight. If he felt any give, the fecker would charge through and bring the fencing with him in case it got lonely.

The taller plastic fence posts work better, more strands to shock them! Use connectors or tie an extra bit of tape to the strands so they're all live. Soak the ground around the ground spike.
If you're going to get wooden posts, start the hole with a ground spike before using the post rammer.
If pony is rugged tie bits of electric tape on the chest of his rug, and around a field safe headcollar, I've seen horses with tape braided into their manes and forelocks!

Also if you use wooden posts, get the eye shaped insulators and alternate them to face up then down, makes it harder for the pony to lift them up or strong winds catching them.