horse containment in camp

[Darolyn Butler <darolyn@swbell.net>]

Oh my gosh.... U shud C our circus.... we have as many as 16  horses
sometimes in our electric enclosures.  We usually try to build a huge pen &
divide it where there are no more than 3-4 horses per smaller pen.  HOrses
are penned according to their personalities.  Occasionally the really hot
horses can't be penned until after they race... problem #2... easily
intimidated horses can't be penned either... if a bully just looks at them
they will run thru the fence.  Knowing the horses personalities be4 U pen
them helps keep down the problems.

After we turn a large group out, we always watch the "pecking order" sort
out for a few minutes.  sometimes we have to make changes.....  sometimes
(if the personality thing is not to much of a problem) we separate by
mileage... all the 100's n 1 pen, 50's in another & so on.  That way when
the 100's leave at 5:00 AM, the other mileages still have buddies living
with them.

We also turn the horses back int he pens during the vet checks.  (if
location is close enuf).... I find that they pee, eat & relax a lot more
during the vet check if they can roam around in their little "home away from
home".

NEGATIVE:  Worse wreck of the decade:  Bighorn in 1995 or 96... someones
horse got loose, ran thru the Kanavy's pen & Danielle's good horse ran off &
went off a cliff or something , broke his leg & had to be destroyed.  It is
ur responsibility to know those horses are "electric fence broke" when U put
them in.   Make the pen as large as U can & not appear "ground hoggish" ...
reduces chances of bumping it, etc.  I prefer  1 strand simply due to the
chance of a horse rolling and catching his foot in the lower strands.  If
they respect the fence,... they won't even try a single strand.
djbd
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