There are 2 horses that roam free in my yard (not my horses) and they keep moving the dishes (one dish at G18 and one at AMC-4). I'm having to re-aim the dishes 2 to 3 times a week. The last time this happened (yesterday) a horse almost pulled the dish off the mount and bent the mount. This is getting to be a real pain in the ##$#$%#. Where I live I'm not allowed to have dogs in the yard to keep the horses away. I'm thinking of an electric fence or a regular fence but that's a big expense to keep the horses away. I could mount my two 3 footers on pallets on the roof but on a house trailer I'm afraid it might cause roof damage. Any ideas? I'm about to the point of shooting the horses which would send me to jail no doubt. I've had it with these horses. Help!
Horses keep moving my dishes
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I would contact the owner of the horses and have something done. I am sure there are laws that prohibit this. I mean if you can not have a dog, why can they have a horse roaming free?
If you are not allowed to have dogs in your yard where you live, but there are horses roaming around in it, that seems even worse than a dog! Have you talked to the owners of the horses?
I have built a few electric fences and they really aren't that hard to do. I don't think the supplies are very expensive (and you wouldn't need a whole lot for such a small fence) except for the charger. To scare a horse off you will need one that hits pretty hard. I would think just to keep them out of a small area, just a one or two wire fence should do the trick. Usually, once an animal gets shocked once, they tend to stay away from the fence. My dad's goats never try to escape and the electric fence isn't even plugged in anymore (charger went bad).
check out this website:
Farm Supply Store - Electric Fence Supplies
their prices should be about the same as a farm store around your area. Lowe's/Home Depot may even have some of the stuff.
The only other thing I can think of is a dog. I have heard horses don't like pigs either. They are generally as smart as a dog but more ornery and can make huge messes so you may not want to go that way...
I'll ask some of my friends who have horses and see what they think.
I have built a few electric fences and they really aren't that hard to do. I don't think the supplies are very expensive (and you wouldn't need a whole lot for such a small fence) except for the charger. To scare a horse off you will need one that hits pretty hard. I would think just to keep them out of a small area, just a one or two wire fence should do the trick. Usually, once an animal gets shocked once, they tend to stay away from the fence. My dad's goats never try to escape and the electric fence isn't even plugged in anymore (charger went bad).
check out this website:
Farm Supply Store - Electric Fence Supplies
their prices should be about the same as a farm store around your area. Lowe's/Home Depot may even have some of the stuff.
The only other thing I can think of is a dog. I have heard horses don't like pigs either. They are generally as smart as a dog but more ornery and can make huge messes so you may not want to go that way...
I'll ask some of my friends who have horses and see what they think.
What is it about the Dishes that the horses are attracted to them, and your yard?
Is it that they use the Dishes to rub their noses?
Maybe a little "Liquid Fence" or something to make them less desirable.
Is it that they use the Dishes to rub their noses?
Maybe a little "Liquid Fence" or something to make them less desirable.
Three things come to mind:
- electric fence charger
A buddy had trouble with his dog digging around the flower bed.
He put out tin foil connected to a small charger.
The dog got bit a few times, and associated the foil with pain.
Then, all he had to do, was lay an uncharged piece on his sofa, and was guaranteed the dog wouldn't climb on it while he was away.
- wolf piss
I understand urine of wolves is available to scent areas you don't want certain animals to enter.
(Perhaps I have the wrong predator , but ask around, I'm not far off)
- moving arms (scarecrow)
untamed animals are often afraid of things moving around on their own.
You might put out a scarecrow, with arms that move in the wind.
Could actually look like anything, but motorized or wind-moved parts, may frighten off the horses.
Pinwheels or wind chimes may work just as well.
- electric fence charger
A buddy had trouble with his dog digging around the flower bed.
He put out tin foil connected to a small charger.
The dog got bit a few times, and associated the foil with pain.
Then, all he had to do, was lay an uncharged piece on his sofa, and was guaranteed the dog wouldn't climb on it while he was away.
- wolf piss
I understand urine of wolves is available to scent areas you don't want certain animals to enter.
(Perhaps I have the wrong predator , but ask around, I'm not far off)
- moving arms (scarecrow)
untamed animals are often afraid of things moving around on their own.
You might put out a scarecrow, with arms that move in the wind.
Could actually look like anything, but motorized or wind-moved parts, may frighten off the horses.
Pinwheels or wind chimes may work just as well.
The dishes probably make ideal places for the horses to scratch on. We have horses and they will use ANYTHING that has a nice edge on it. If it itches, they scratches it! My biggest question as a horse owner is why, oh why do the owners not have their horses fenced in? I would not even dream of letting ours roam free.
Having said that, it does not take a great deal of work to erect a temporary or semi-permanent electric fence around your dishes. We do that around the vegetable garden to keep the deer out of it. Just some plastic fence posts and there is some nice nylon webbing you can get that has a bunch of small conductors woven in. The power pack we have was only about $45 I think.........you could probably do the whole job for less than $100 and still have leftover webbing if there are other areas you want to fence. If the horses have been exposed to electric fence before they will know to stay away from it (dogs learn quick too!
)and if not they will get the idea.
But again, I'm thinking the fencing should be done by the owner in their yard. I still can't believe that........if they are "bad horse parents" then call the SPCA.
Having said that, it does not take a great deal of work to erect a temporary or semi-permanent electric fence around your dishes. We do that around the vegetable garden to keep the deer out of it. Just some plastic fence posts and there is some nice nylon webbing you can get that has a bunch of small conductors woven in. The power pack we have was only about $45 I think.........you could probably do the whole job for less than $100 and still have leftover webbing if there are other areas you want to fence. If the horses have been exposed to electric fence before they will know to stay away from it (dogs learn quick too!
)and if not they will get the idea. But again, I'm thinking the fencing should be done by the owner in their yard. I still can't believe that........if they are "bad horse parents" then call the SPCA.
As said, most states have laws against allowing livestock to run at large. I'd contact the local law enforcement, file a report about it first. Then keep after them to take action, like possibly rounding up the stray horses, or making their owner take responsbility.
As a horse breeder for many years before retirement, I can tell you that an electric fence will not help unless the horses are properly educated in how it works, but the best thing i have ever found, is very simple. get a bunch of old plastic grocery bags, and tie them to a pieces of string or wire at various intevals, and as they move with the wind etc. it will spook the horses to the point that they will most likely avoid the dish which you would have located behind the line of fluttering plastic bags, it is also good to make sure that the bags do make some noise as they move.
I had trouble with horses and cattle using my dish for a rubbing (scratching) post. Also, it's not uncommon to get hurricane force winds around here. That's why I had to setup my dish as I did. See attached.
Bottom of the dish is 8' above the ground The footing has 2 yards of concrete and is high enough where the livestock can't use is as a step.
Horse, cattle and wind proof picture attached.
PS Gopher proof too. All the wiring is in schedule 90 conduit:up.
I don't know what your budget will allow but a solar powered electric fence will solve your problem
.
Regards
JAS
Bottom of the dish is 8' above the ground The footing has 2 yards of concrete and is high enough where the livestock can't use is as a step.
Horse, cattle and wind proof picture attached.
PS Gopher proof too. All the wiring is in schedule 90 conduit:up.
I don't know what your budget will allow but a solar powered electric fence will solve your problem
.Regards
JAS
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Or place a culvert near the dish........for some reason (think it has to do with lack of 3D vision) they hate culverts.
Try This
Not sure if this will work on Horses, Try Bitter Apple, it works for Dogs that like to chew, naw on things, maybe if the horses get close enough to smeel the order, it might send then off. My wife sprays this on her shoes and other places that our dogs like to chew on, after spraying this stuff, they stop chewing on those items.
You can find it at your local Walmart or pet stores. It comes in 8oz and larger.
Bitter Apple. Walmart.com: Bitter Apple Spray, 8 oz: Dogs
Not sure if this will work on Horses, Try Bitter Apple, it works for Dogs that like to chew, naw on things, maybe if the horses get close enough to smeel the order, it might send then off. My wife sprays this on her shoes and other places that our dogs like to chew on, after spraying this stuff, they stop chewing on those items.
You can find it at your local Walmart or pet stores. It comes in 8oz and larger.
Bitter Apple. Walmart.com: Bitter Apple Spray, 8 oz: Dogs
Thanks for the replies everybody. I'll try everything mentioned and see what works. I'll report back once I get the problem solved. Could take a while depending on how it goes. Thanks again!
* I tried LORETTAH's suggestion first since I have plenty of nylon line and trash bags. If it doesn't work I'll try the next thing, probably digging a culvert. Then the sour apples and digging a culvert plus the other things mentioned.
To Inno: They don't have an SPCA in my state (alabama). Oh well. And the horse owners own the land I live on and will not keep them fenced in during the day, only at night (sigh).
* I tried LORETTAH's suggestion first since I have plenty of nylon line and trash bags. If it doesn't work I'll try the next thing, probably digging a culvert. Then the sour apples and digging a culvert plus the other things mentioned.
To Inno: They don't have an SPCA in my state (alabama). Oh well. And the horse owners own the land I live on and will not keep them fenced in during the day, only at night (sigh).
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I've raised and trained horses for 25 years, and I agree that small dog sized chargers probably won't be effective. If you use a 30 or 50 mile charger running at 10,000V, though, the learning curve is real small. I bet they won't get into it more than once.
-LoTech
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Our girls pay attention to the small one we have.......the 15 year old mare has had her education and steers clear whether it's on or not, but even the 1.5 year old minds the electric pretty well. She is of course a little more curious and tends to try things out more often but for the most part, she stays away from it. We only have it at the top around the inside of the page wire fence to keep them from pushing on it and stretching it all to heck.
Why not 4 fence posts and 3 strands of barbed wire? It keeps the cows away from things we don't want them near on our property. It is cheap and only takes a few minutes to put up.
All kidding aside, since the horses belong to the land owner I would refrain from doing anything that could possibly harm the horses. Barb wire can put some heavy duty cuts on animals, and eating them... well lets just try not to do that. Horses are generally inquisitive, but not typically overly aggressive in their desire to investigate something that isn't edible. I agree that some type of permanent fence or barricade is probably the answer. Maybe some landscape timbers as posts and a plank about waist high. Maybe two planks. Make sure that they are far enough from the dish that they can't reach it with their noses.
-LoTech
-LoTech
How about a motion detector that blasts out a sound of some sort! Find a low power 12v motion detector and take the voltage off the cable
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