Night trouble someone please give me advise

[miniaturehorselover]

Hi so i have wired fencing all around my paddock and i was wondering my barn is to hot to leave my mini and my quarter horse in there so is it safe to leave them in the paddock over night? Both of them are really close friends but we did encounter hints that a black bear can be running around are property. Im really stuck in between a rock and a hard place as like i said its at least 38 degrees in the barn pretty hot for any thing to be in there please some one give me a answer on what i can do thanks

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Bears will rarely in my experience bother horses (even minis) but if you are concerned get an electric fencer and run power around the paddock. Bears do not like electric fence and once they know it is there will usually detour around where it was even after you remove it once its been there for a while.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

You don't put them in the same padock do you?

That is such a bad idea.

The electric fence works great, it is what many people do here.

Just make sure you get a realy stong charger

Not trying to be un kind, just read all the post recently about how

Minis have been killed when with bigger horses.

 

[REO]

Can you get them fans and mount them up high (out of horse reach) but angled downward for the horses at night?

I've heard several stories of bears killing minis.

Ditto, I hope they are not together as that could be dangerous for the mini.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

They where together since both of them are foals i cant ever separate them. My mini wont ever go anywhere with out my big horse so i cant ever go for a normal ride just me and her she gets really bad separation anxiety when ever she is left with out her friend and might hurt her self like she already did. (climb the fence and got stuck to it).

 

[MountainWoman]

Black bears won't usually be attracted to paddocks unless you have some source of food lying around such as grain. This time of year though there is usually lots for the bears to eat readily available in nature. We did have an instance last year in the early spring where a black bear actually killed two mini donkeys (not mine but close by) but it was the beginning of spring thaw and the bears were very hungry after hibernating and I imagine the donkeys got between him and a food source. I would be more worried that a bear wandering close to the paddock would spook the horses and hot fence or not they would panic. I agree with Robin about putting fans in the barn and bringing your horses in at night.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

we tough of that to but we dont have electricity in our barn.. and we cant put a cable to the house because its to far we wanted to put heaters last winter for the horses and we couldnt

 

[ruffian]

Healthy horses typically don't need heaters in the winter. (Off topic I know) , but putting heat in a barn can lead to all sorts of problems.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I have a very very long high dollar heavy duty cord, was just wondering how far you were from your house. You can buy really long cords. We do that in our dairy barn and run the cord up over the ceiling and run fans. Surprisingly how great a fan can cool off the place. We exaust them, (pointing out) and it sucks out the hot air and pulls air in the other windows. I have nice woven wire fencing. Wouldnt leave things out with just electical wire fencing keeping them in. I couldn't sleep. Hope you figure out something. Might pay to get some decent woven wire fencing and back it up with electrical tape. You can make separate paddocks to keep biggie from little guy and have safety but company too. Woven fencing not too expensive in compared to injury.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

i separated them before and my mini just kept climbing the fence and hurting her self so dont think separate paddocks is a option now are small paddock is being used for a goat and ducks. And it was -45 degrees here so 2 layers of blankets wasnt enough. there faces where completely frozen and we had to bring are horses to someone else`s barn

 

[MountainWoman]

-45 - Wow! I thought it was bad here at 20 to 30 below. My horses do okay with that kind of cold weather though. They turn into really hairy creatures in the winter but lots of hay and tucked into the barn after sunset does the trick in cold weather. I'm the one who is cold doing chores. I admire anyone who can do chores in 45 below.

 

[BSharpRanch]

We had a few days every winter that would get sub-zero and our horses did just fine without blankets and with three sided run in sheds.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

we had 2 layers of blankets (rain sheet and winter) and she was still shivering as we dont have a barn for my quarter horse just a lean to . They do get there winter fur but during this weather its pretty hard to keep warm ... change of water every 2 hours and make sure the horses dont get to cold and have plenty of hay

 

[Tab]

We have a small property and pastures are very close to the house. The horses get free access to the outdoors in the summer 24/7. They go to an fro at will, and at night. With horses and in life there are always risks. I think time and experience has taught me to let the horses be a little more free. But this is my experience, I cannot speak for anyone else. Free access works wonderfully for me because in the day when the barn is cooler they go in there to get away from the heat/flies, and they are outside all night as it's cool. Horses, especially minis, are very wise and instinctual about staying safe.

 

[Foxhaven]

RE: electric fencing, you can get a solar/battery unit that will not require running power out to your barn. Here is an example of my fencing which has worked quite well.

In my case a power cord is the source until I get that trench dug... then a 30A circuit to the barn. The county requires waterproof fittings INSIDE the barn as dustproof protection. It's a pain but it makes sense.

Bears can and do kill horses.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

i would put an electric fence but we also have a petting zoo kinda well we have kids every age coming to interact with are animals and dont think that would be safe..

 

[chandab]

i would put an electric fence but we also have a petting zoo kinda well we have kids every age coming to interact with are animals and dont think that would be safe..

You could back up your regular fence with electric, just turn off the electric when you have visitors on the property; and turn it on at night for the animals' safety.

 

[miniaturehorselover]

never tough of that

yeah i might just do that..

 

[miniaturehorselover]

My critters dont mind the coyotes just bears