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Houdini Horse - Help!



My 6 year old gelding has decided that electric fences are overrated and
should be walked through whenever the urge strikes him.  As background,
he has always been skilled at leaving a place that has become boring to
him; gates taken off hinges or unlatched, door frames removed from stalls,
halters slipped, safety knots untied - the list goes on.  All done in a calm
and calculating manner.
 
At endurance rides he would walk "under" his metal fence panels and go
visiting unless I staked the panels down in a zillion places.  I switched to
three strands of 1 inch tape electric fence and that has worked.  But with
this latest routine I'm especially worried about containing him at rides next
year.
 
He is less creative with his "free time" when in hard training but being in
fire swept Western Montana the only riding we're doing is in the arena and
he's bored.  Our property (15 acres) is perimeter fenced with post and rails
and an electric fence separates dry pasture (trees) from pasture (green grass). 
The horses are fed hay in the morning in "the trees" and let into the pasture for
2-3 hours to graze in the evening.
 
Part of the problem with the fence is the dry, dry ground.  We were down to
about 3 kv with the old charger and ground rod.  He would just put his head
under the 1 inch wide electric tape and walk under.  For the past four days
we have (1) gotten a new fencer and 7 foot ground rod driven in all 7 feet
about a foot back from the creek (2) added a strand of electric braided wire
(3) watered the ground where he's been going through (4) watered the horse
before putting him back across and fixing the !@#**! fence.
 
This morning he got into the pasture and for some bizarre reason pulled the
plug on the automatic water trough.  Thank goodness we found it before it
drained the well and burned up the pump.
 
He's back in "the trees" again tonight.  We know the voltage is up to 6 kv and
he now has to break the braided strand with his legs when trying to slip under the
electric tape with his head.
 
If he's back in the pasture tomorrow morning I think my husband will shoot
him - if I don't first.  He's been in this set-up for 3 summers now (they have
free run of the entire place in the winter) but this is the first year its been so
dry and the first summer he's not been working hard 3-4 days a week.
 
Any suggestions?  Sell him to the circus?
 
Adrienne - "Why did I buy a Morgan?"
 
Yeti - "What's a glue factory, Mom?"
Harley - "How does he do that?"
Splash - "Man, doesn't that hurt?"
Rock - "Cool, show me how!"
 
 
 


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