We had been having a pretty good year so far rain-wise. Last year was desert-like in east Tennessee but this year through July was almost normal, yielding a few cuttings of hay for most fields. Someone must have bragged about it because from August 1 through August 24, we had absolutely no measurable precipitation. And everything died. Our grass died, the hay fields look bad and even some trees seem to be shedding their leaves early. Today marks a break in that dry spell. We’ve had a decent steady rain and more is predicted for the next few days. I’ve never loved rain so much as when I became a horse owner. So much of the horse life depends on rain.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that one of our frisky horses broke through the fence…AGAIN. This is the third time this has happened at this spot and the second time the break resulted in an escaped horse. Apparently horses can’t read signs. Not an exit…NOT AN EXIT! Fortunately I work from home and my office is close enough to this section of fence for me to have heard a loud noise. I went to investigate and found Cash eating grass in our backyard. The other horses were chasing each other no where near the fence. It’s cooler today and raining and it seems to have made them frisky. Our backyard has some yummy grass so it was hard to incent Cash into leaving it. Oats did the trick, along with a lead rope but given our last escapee incident with Cash, I expected him to bolt at any second.
This time Cash broke through a double fence board. I image he must have kicked it because he has no marks on him. That section of fence is a little low so perhaps it was tempting to him. When we get an electric fence, we’re going to bypass this peninsula. In the meantime, I replaced the broken boards with a 2×6 and added a riser to make it seem higher. It’s not the most attractive fence section but hopefully it will do the trick until the electric fence is installed.
So I wonder what ” This is not an Exit” in horse language would be? hehe
Electric fence seems to be the only answer for your tricky escape artist. Crazy Cash.
Sorry about having to do yet another fence repair.
Congrats on the rain.
~Lisa
Perhaps he had a little olympic fever? We did win the gold in hunter jumper…
Good luck with the shock approach!
If he’s jumping (or breaking) fence to get to good grass, that begs the question, is he getting enough quality feed in his paddock/pasture? The photo makes it look like barren ground. An average horse needs about 30 pounds (dry) of feed per day. If your enclosure permits (or you can build to suit), create separate paddocks for grazing only a couple hours per day and a “sacrifice area” where they are kept the rest of the time. Can still be a paddock so they can move around; it just won’t grow anything much. That way, you can manage your pasture for grass a little better