>>So, Tracey, what do you do with the smart ones who escape
out of boredom and curiosity.
Ah, you mean the
ones like Toc? :) He did that A LOT when he was younger. Keeping him
in a communal paddock helped, because he always had company, and I taught
him to tie at shows. I'm lucky because my disciplines don't require
that I camp overnight, if I have a two-day show I can either take
him home overnight or stable him overnight at the venue. Once he'd settled
down (at around ten years old!!) he would stand quite happily at shows in our
little "paddock" system. I do have to tie up the gates at the stable
and paddock that I put him into, but I haven't noticed him trying to escape for
ages : I now just do it out of
habit.
>> If you walk through a gate once,
both know its an escape route. They have taken my gates apart, popped out
fence rails - popped out bottom rails and crawled under the hot wire. One
of them used to lie down and shimmy under the bottom rail when I had the
stretchey fence and it would bend a little. Putting a lot of toys in the
paddock seems to be helping.
I had a pony like that
once.....I eventually gave up and let him roam the property. We never
competed him, and if we had, I'd have simply made my groom hold him the
entire time at the show. (Okay, so I *do* have that option - got any
friends looking for a quick buck who would act as Horse Holder, Alison
?)
The point
I'm making more than anything is that if it's true that "horses are horses" you
just don't let a situation get that out of control. Yes, sometimes it
happens no matter what you do, but nine times out of ten, these accidents are
caused because people don't take appropriate "evasive action" to prevent them
happening.
T
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