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Working electric fence - with no ground rod!
Last week Shirley gave us suggestions on how to keep our ground rod areas moist enough to allow the fence to ground properly.
This week I'll share with you a method my partner, Dan, used when we first moved into this place - in the dead of winter!
Rather than relying on a ground rod, which we had been having troubles with on our last property (no more thanks to last week's Equipment column!), Dan uses the fence itself to act as the ground. He places a hot wire around the top of the fence, then places a second wire just a few inches below it.
The second wire is wired to the ground wire off the fencer, and if the horse pushes up against the top wire, he will very likely be against the lower wire as well. Then ZAAAPP! He will get a full shock he will be unlikely to try again.
Dan did say that you can use the next wire down as a ground wire, even if it is more than a few inches below the top strand, but your horse may not get zapped as quickly or as often (because he may not hit both wires each time he tests the fence).
Another suggestion is to use the bottom wire as the ground, if it will be at least partially buried in the snow, which is also a good circuit closer.
Hopefully with all these suggestions for grounding your electric fencer, you will have a better operating system to keep your equine companions safe at home where they belong this winter.
If you have tips or questions on equipment care, purchases, fit, or anything else to do with equestrian equipment, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
If you are new to Northern B.C. Horse, check out all the previous issues on the Archive page.
Kristi is building a great knowledge base about horses, with the emphasis on our area of the world.
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Supplements
As I mentioned in a small note on the page last week, I plan on doing a series on supplements. I contact Dr. Britt Mills, DVM, for more info and she will be compiling some current info for me.
Several years ago, she did a lecture series which included a talk on supplements, but a lot of the supplements have changed since then, both amongst their own formuals, and in the addition of other products on the market.
Some of the supplements I'd like to look at are the conventional mineral preparations, such as Dr. Reed's mineral mix, Colony mix, and so on.
Some of the salt licks carry trace minerals that people use to round out their horses diets. Others test their hay and grain content and supplement accordingly.
I'd also like to look into some of the newer, alternative type supplements. These would include MSM, glucosamine, yucca, Devil's Claw, and others (most of these being used for arthritis and inflammation types of problems).
If you have information on the supplements you are using, and are willing to lend the material to me, as well as telling me why you are using them, I'd really appreciate it.
I can then share the info with other Northern BC Horse readers, and hopefully all of our horses will benefit from the information exchange - goodness knows we are always learning new things about our equine companions aren't we?! Thanks, and hope to hear from you soon
If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
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Western, English, Penning or Trail riding, all equine sports have a voice on Northern B.C. Horse
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Clicker training - Adding cues and different types of horses
Another trick to clicker training is that you first shape the behaviour, then you add a cue to it when the behaviour is established.
You wouldn't say SIT to your dog repeatedly if it didn't know what it meant. However, if you only clicked it when it sat (and you can help it by holding the food just above it's head) you would quickly have a dog that sat every time it thought it might get a click, and then you can add the cue (verbal or a hand signal, whatever cue you choose).
In no time, the dog would be sitting on cue. Sometimes a cue can also be fairly subtle, such as leaning towards your horse to become the cue for backing up. However, some horses may need more than a subtle cue.
There are different types of horses that you may come across, and they all learn differently. Kate found, with two of her mares, that the one is extremely anxious to learn the right response and tries very hard to find the right answer to get the click.
Her other mare quits quite quickly, she gives up if she can't find the right answer and will just walk away. There is no need to punish that horse, as it will only confirm that it isn't worth trying, but you do withhold the clicks and treats... it knows where those came from and will probably come back!
I wondered about that the other day when my filly left the area where we were working, but Kate had waited for Lacey to return so I waited for Lena, and sure enough, she came back and went back to *work* with me.
All in all, my filly's learning experiences are being enriched by all this process - and I'm certainly learning more patience!
If you have tips or questions you'd like to share with other local equestrians, please mail them to kristi@hiway16.com |
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