Re: [RC] Re: [RC]?? securing horses - Barbara McCrary
This discussion leads me to comment on our
system of confining horses at rides. We have four 12' heavy duty
galvanized livestock panels, made to confine cattle. We set them up
using the wall of our trailer as one side of a 12' X 24' corral. We
have kept two horses in this routinely at ride, sometimes even three. We
have had some near disasters in the way of external influences, but our horses
have never, at least not yet, gotten out. The panels are quite high (4' or
slightly over) and the bars close enough together that they haven't been hurt
yet. The worst experience we've had, and the one that proved to us we
would never use another system, happened when several wild burros came off the
desert at Panamint Springs to clean up the leftover hay. We and one other
rig were the only ones left. Our horses positively freaked and threw
themselves against the wall of the trailer and against the panels,
repeatedly. The panels held, but we finally had to move to Valley Wells to
get some peace, quiet, and a (very) little sleep. Hooray for livestock
panels made of steel. Heavy rascals, a two-man job to put up and take
down, but very secure.
I have tried paddocks and electric fences at rides
and know that sooner or later your horses are going to go through them and run
free through camp...whether of their own accord or because something spooked
them. So I tie to the trailer now and they are tied short and there is
no way they can lie down. It is ideal, ccertainly not. But if you have
ever seen a horse tied to a trailer with too long a lead rope who lay down to
roll and then in rising, managed to get his foot and leg caught between the
tire and the wheel well, you will make sure your horse is tied short.
You try to make up to the horse for the lack of mobility by walking him as
frequently as possible. Or you get some sort of plywood barrier between
the horse's feet and the wheel well. Please make sure that if your horse can
lie down, he can also get up without getting caught in the rope or under the
trailer. Julie Suhr
