Rant, Rave and a question

Rant's not really a rant. This morning something chased all the horses out of the pasture.
And they were GONE

Rave.

we are right by the 126 highway and this happened around 7 AM today.
the horses ran farther into our road!
There are two different sets of horses right by us across the right way and two ponys just across us on the road we are on.
But they did not go to either. they high tailed it back our road and ON the road.

One neighbor stopped in and woke us up. one called short after to say they just saw the horses a mile down the road.
so we jumped in the van and drove after the herd.
Luckly it was still early and they only met one car and one person walking (poor person. she was probably scared to death.) We were able to herd them off the road. but Sandy was still very scared and would not let us near her and that put all the others the same way. we tried to halter her but she spooked off back to the road. They ran out just in time to just about meet a 1/2 ton truck. but my mom was still right there with the van and got him to slow down in time for Princess to run to his bumper.
Finally got Sandy haltered on the road. With no other halters we had to deside either to try to keep them there and sent the van home to get halters or try to herd them home before the morning work rush started.
We desided to herd them home before the morning rush.
Knowing they would follow Sandy as she is the lead mare.
They did great. a couple times I would jog sandy to make them think they were getting left behind and they would quickly get caught up to us again.
We used the van in behind to block cars untill they had slowed down and the herd moved over so the cars could pass.
And just about all the people were very smart and went by very slowly and would take their time driving though the herd.

And just as we got into the yard we spotted the school bus coming up the road. got in just in time. old school bus with kids could have been very bad.

So Rave on the horses to NOT run toward the 126 highway! and Rave on the neighbors for either calling, stopping in or coming out to see if they could help in any way.

And question
We are now in the market for a great fencer.
not so much for the horses. but to keep animals and people OUT.
Somthing that really really really packs and really good punch.
the one we have is not too good for bigger pastures.

we don't know what spooked the horses.
But only a week or two ago there was a cougar sighting in a town near by. And that is the only thing that makes sence.
as we always had dogs around and harold hates them. (almost took off after one on the walk home.)
It could have been a person but they would have woke our dogs up or neighbors inorder to get the horses THAT spooked.


And on another note. my bunny is now outside in a cage. yesterday part of the cage was pulled back. and it would have taken some force to pull it back. AND the cage is surrounded partly by our house and a tall fence. a dog would not have made it over the fence without hitting it and would not have came that close. as our outside dog is unfix male and close by.

I'm going to spend the day (with both dogs and a knife or six) walking around looking for tracks.
I have a bad feeling that I'll probably find some large cat tracks.
if I do I'll be first calling a forest ranger or such then going around to anyone who has horses and tell them them to keep an eye out.

we are also going to be putting up a camera by the rabbit.

And tonight I'll be sleeping out side.

COUGAR????? Where the blazes do you live???

Biggest critter over here to worry about is a coyote.. and they don't seem to bother hanging around my place. We have a ton of rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks this year so there can't be anything preying on them.

If it is a cougar, sleeping alone outside might not be the wisest idea... :cat001.gif:


I can't recommend any fences.. but good luck. Must have been very scary trying to round up your herd today. Glad everything went well.

Glad you got them in safe and sound, Cougar not likely but the bobcats around here are quite a good size, we had one last year and this spring that hangs around, paw prints are the size of my palm and he makes our boston terrier look tiny. As for fencers we had one that is a continuous buzz and when we came home from the show Kid had gone under/through the bottom strand and was hanging out with the mares/colts (no one in season there :) which is a good thing)
Put him back in and he went through again, switched fencers around this morning with one that "Zapps" iin a regular pulse and it's rated higher and for longer distances, The Zap you can see the electricity bright flash if it touches anything and it sure hurts if you hit it, the other one hurts but is bearable. If it's one that zapps through weeds you'll have less to worry about too, but those ones can melt the thinner wire/poly string types.

You should count your lucky stars that no one was killed. The 126 is a BAD stretch of highway, fast traffic. You live in a bad spot as far as fast moving vehicles go. I had something similar happen years ago but my horses outcome wasn't so good.

How many strands of fencing do you have? I know some people poopoo on electrobraid due to serious injury, but in the 4 years I've lived here we've had horses out only 3-4 times and it was usually when we were working at the gate with the bottom 2 strands open and the buggers would dart out. One time the neighbours let all the horses out by accident. Anyways, 3 strands of electrobraid with a good fencer will solve your problems. I've read good reviews on Gallagher fencers.

we are really blessed to have found them so quickly and unharmed.
And that they did not go toward the 126. one of my biggest fears!
They are normaly really easy to fence in so we have two strands of wire. in some places it a very heavy duty wire. in the newer pastures its a smaller horse fence wire.

we set up a camera outside. when something goes in front of it a light turns on and it takes a photo and emails it to me.

as for tonight. Our travel trailer is by the horse trailer.

It could have just been a one time thing. But I'm not going to take any changes. tonight I plan on staying up all night and if it is a bigger animal that needs to be removed then as soon as I see it I'll be calling offical who is able to remove animals.

We also plan to now put up one more stand of fencing.

all halters and leads are in easy to get to places and ready to go.

All the neighbors close by are nice so if something out of the norm happens we'll get notice.

What an awefull thing to happen,ust as well you have good neighbours.Glad everything ended on a good note. :good_luck_grap with the fencing.

Yikes!! Scary stuff! Thank goodness everyone's ok!

What a horrible thing to have happened. Thankfully nobody was hurt. I'd be very curious to know what spooked them so much. Was Harold out with them? I'm only asking because I thought that donkeys made great herd protectors. It'd be pretty hard to get fencing up that would keep a large cat out. I have absolutely no ideas to give you, but I wish you luck. And keep us updated.

Wowzers one of my worst fears! Glad to hear no horses or humans were hurt!

Maybe you should check for camel hoofprints? Maybe the people who stole the truck and trailer with the camels and tiger realized what they had in the trailer and set them loose?? (only half kidding - but I can guarantee my horses would spook at camels, they have not been THAT well desensitized I think! lol)

Now that my foolishness is out of my head, seriously happy no one is worse for wear. And on topic, Gallaghers are likely the route you want to go - make sure your grounding rods are set in properly and I don't think three strands will make a difference? And if you don't have liability insurance on your horses, you may want to look into that!

Nothing happened last night
But my brother had a big party in a pit close by. so that probably scared everything within 6 miles.
I checked out where the horses broke out.
There are lots of sliding marks. lots of them.
Harold was with them. And he does protect them good. on the walk home he almost took after a dog that was barking at us. So that makes me think it could not have been a dog. it could have been a large pack of dogs but I think they would have left at least one track...

I've got my NBEA and this year got more insurance with it.

It was probably a raccoon at the rabbit cage. Those buggers are smart and strong.
We have alot of trouble with them and have to keep our chickens well forted up. My husband wants me to put a sign saying he did not build the hen yard. Granted it isn't pretty, but I'm trying. I have discovered in my old age that I never learned how to properly use a measuring tape. 8" and a couple little lines is not an exact measure!

Hope things quiet down. We had a moose walk through the hay field next to the horse pasture the other evening. The horses just kept a close eye on it. We even had a bear for a few evenings, those nights I brought the horses into the paddock near the run in and closed them out of the big pasture that leads up along the woods.

I have a good friend who is a biologist with DNR and we've chatted about cougars and although not impossible, highly, highly unlikely. Chances are someone saw a bobcat, they can look fairly big so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Pretty does not matter as long and it does the job haha

We have moose around and once and a while, bears. that are not too afraid of people...

we had a family supper here last night and got talking about it.
where no one saw what spooked the horses we can only guess to what it was.

things have been quiet since. the horses stay more together now and stay pretty close to the house.