Invisible fencing for mini?

[Weezer]

My mini lives in a pen of electric netting and the rest of the fencing is electric rope and electric tape. Mini is let out into the main pasture with a grazing muzzle for a few hours per day. During the spring and fall she’ll often blast through the rope/tape fencing to eat the grass on the lawn. Her thick fur insulates her from the shock and she knows the lawn grass is lusher than the paddock during the shoulder seasons.

On several occasions, I have found her heading toward the road, and once even found her poop in the middle of the road when I was not paying close attention. As a result, she doesn’t get much time outside of her pen during this time of year. The fencing for her pen is about 300 linear feet, so it’s not a small area, but it’s nice to let her roam a bit.

So I’m wondering if an invisible fence for dogs would work well for her for those times when I want to let her graze while I’m home, but not have to watch her constantly. Anyone ever try this for a horse?

[islgrl]

Invisible fences barely work for dogs. I HIGHLY doubt that would work…

[Simkie]

If she’s blasting through the electric fence, why do you think she’ll respect an electric collar, that’s got a lot less ooopmh?

Clipping her so she can feel the fence seems like a much more prudent option.

[Weezer]

Clipping her won’t work for a variety of reasons. Also, the current in my charger is deliberately weak (for other reasons). I’m mostly wondering if anyone has tried this type of deterrent on horses? Logic tells me it should be fine, but my gut tells me it might be traumatizing for a horse to have a zapping device attached to it. The perspective of a prey animal can be very different from the perspective of a predator. When in doubt, I go with my gut but I’d like to hear if others have experience with this.

[candyappy]

Just put up a proper fence?? Field fence would work fine for a mini and runs around $ 200 for 330 feet.

[Weezer]

I’m looking for a solution for when she’s out in the main pasture, which is not in the budget for proper fencing.

[candyappy]

@Weezer

I’m looking for a solution for when she’s out in the main pasture, which is not in the budget for proper fencing.

Then I wouldn’t put her out? Electric only is never a good option for perimeter fencing for just this reason. If you can’t reliably keep her in then it is off limits to her. especially since she has access to the road if she goes through.

[WildGooseChase]

Can you put another line or two of electric fencing in? 3 strand is just not enough to keep the little guys and gals in. I’ve had a few minis over the years. Personally, her safety is priority, so I wouldn’t be putting her out there without fencing you know will keep her secure. Invisible fencing doesn’t work for dogs, so I’m going to say its not going to work for a horse, even a mini. Do some googling on barrel racers and other speed riders who use shock devices on their horses with alley issues, jumpers who put shock devices on their spurs, jockey’s have been known to do it too. It doesn’t work, and it just creates more of an issue with behavior, not to mention ethics.

I would put another line or two up on the bottom, turn the fence up and see how she does, or just refuse to let her into that area. The risk of her being hit and killed by a vehicle, picked up/stolen, or lost is just not worth the extra roaming room. She could also cause a lot of damage to neighboring properties if she ends up going that far, which you can be sued for. If you really want her to have some time outside her paddock, hand walk her, or hand graze for half an hour even.

[sherian]

actually did know someone who used invisible fencing for her minis, it did work but they had no motivation to leave/weren’t the type to test fencing anyways so suspect they would have stayed behind pretty much anything. I’d run groundlines with the hot lines to up the ante on the existing fence and see if that works

[Simkie]

@Weezer

Logic tells me it should be fine

Man, logic tells me it’s a terrible idea. Horses and dogs are such different animals. There are so many solutions to this problem that aren’t the huge risk of this.

[SusanO]

If you don’t want to spend much money get some step in posts and electric WIRE. And a POWERFUL charger. I can’t remember whether stainless steel or aluminum conducts a shock better but use the hotter one. Set two strands along the fence she blasts through so she has to crawl through the two strands and hopefully touch something. Or one strand and put molasses on it so she touches it and gets shocked. Maybe she will start respecting the fence. Better to be mean that find her out on the road hit. This is why I only use electric to divide pastures, never as a perimeter fence. My horses can be smarty pants too.

[ChocoMare]

Keeping the mini in is not the only problem with invisible fence… keeping dogs, coyote, etc OUT is the bigger issue.

Plus, if the mini blows thru the invisible fence running away from something, the shock of coming back in may deter said mini’s attempts at coming home.

Step-in-posts, a bigger charger and 2-inch electric tape can be done at a reasonable price for a mini.

[FjordBCRF]

@Simkie

@Weezer

Logic tells me it should be fine

Man, logic tells me it’s a terrible idea. Horses and dogs are such different animals. There are so many solutions to this problem that aren’t the huge risk of this.

Agreed.

Growing up we had a couple acres of invisible fencing around the house for the dogs at my parents place. For our dogs now we have collars for when we go for walks that get triggered by barking. I don’t think even on the highest setting it would have the desired outcome on a horse mini or not.

There is a HUGE training component that goes into invisibles fences for dogs. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of a lead with a horse that ignores the audible warning then gets zapped…assuming the zap would do anything to the horse anyways.

Collars for dogs have to be TIGHT for it to work as well, the prongs pretty much dig into the necks on the dogs if you do it how its reccomended. Where do you even put it on the horse for it to be tight enough, comfortable/safe enough, and for them to hear and connect with a warning signal? If the shock IS substantial enough, the horse MUST be trained to retreat to inside the fencing not just bolt which I see far more likely.

I wouldn’t waste the time and the money for something like this. Take that money and put it into a safer solution for everyone.

[Weezer]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. My neighbour has had good success with invisible fencing for their goats, so that’s what got me thinking about it.

[JB]

@Weezer

he current in my charger is deliberately weak (for other reasons).

well now i’m really curious! I can’t imagine purposefully keeping a weak charge on something meant to contain horses.

@Weezer

my gut tells me it might be traumatizing for a horse to have a zapping device attached to it.

the device isn’t the problem, horses have halters and mare collars and muzzles on all the time. I’m curious if you’ve ever trained (or tried to) a dog to an I-fence? It’s a WHOLE process with the ultimate goal that 1) the dog learns the boundary, and 2) the dog learns that they get a warning beep that they’re too close, without getting zapped unless they move closer still.

AND, if/when a dog does blow through it because of adrenaline and the huge desire to chase that deer, the odds of them choosing to come back through the zap is pretty much a big fat zero. BTDT.

[Texarkana]

This thread taught me that invisible fences have REALLY come down in price… because my first reaction was “OMG that sounds so expensive.”

[FjordBCRF]

@Texarkana

This thread taught me that invisible fences have REALLY come down in price… because my first reaction was “OMG that sounds so expensive.”

If you do it yourself (which isn’t hard), it’s a few hundred bucks for the supplies. Installed by a pro prob jacks it up a lot. We’ve always done it ourselves.

[Texarkana]

@FjordBCRF

@Texarkana

This thread taught me that invisible fences have REALLY come down in price… because my first reaction was “OMG that sounds so expensive.”

If you do it yourself (which isn’t hard), it’s a few hundred bucks for the supplies. Installed by a pro prob jacks it up a lot. We’ve always done it ourselves.

I was surprised when I googled and saw you can buy a number of DIY kits for under $200. Now, reviews are all over the place on them. I just hadn’t realized prices had come down that much.