Years ago, I remember taking my first pony Mystie to a local show. We hadn't done much together
or in general and from the point of view of going to shows we were all very much novices. The
grass at the venue was lush and green and Mystie must have thought she'd been taken to the best all
you can eat buffet! But it got even better for her as mum whipped out our electric fence and
proceeded to make a corral for her around the lorry. We were next to a very nice couple with a pair
of beautiful Exmoors, if I remember correctly, who were complimentary about the corral but also
(politely) a bit shell shocked. It's not really the done thing at a show or competition and although it
was completely fine and Mystie had a great time, I can't think of another time that the ponies had
this luxury at a show. We learnt quickly it was a bit frowned upon, much to Mysties disgust! That
was until I started very recently doing Endurance! Corrals are very very much the norm at
endurance events. If it's an overnight stay, horses are rarely stabled but instead stay in their corals
overnight. There's rules and regulations as to the size of the corrals, all horses have to have a
headcollar with contact details on etc, all common sense rules to keep everyone safe and happy of
course. But it's done so well and is such a good idea, as well as (in my opinion) being better for the
horses.
Now I am at the very bottom end of the endurance distances and so I've not actually had a stay
away as of yet, but we've used an electric fence corral patch a few times. These weren't “official”
events so we simply used what we had as a trial run with good success. BUT going forward,
hopefully we'll be doing more and staying over at events so I've been looking at alternatives that
will be quick and easy to put up. The last thing you want after a potentially long journey is faffing
with tape or wire that you can almost guarantee has managed to get itself in the biggest birds nest
imaginable, no matter how well you stored it. There are so many different ways of doing this but I
really like the all in one mobile fencing units. Is it possibly a bit overkill for a corral? Absolutely.
But how convenient and easy would that be to just have everything attached right from the start and
all you have to do is put the posts in where you want them. I'm a sucker for anything that saves time
and can make something more efficient (I hate “wasting” time) and this is absolutely one of those
things. I've never been more excited to one day go to an event that requires a corral so I can utilise
one of these kits. Stay tuned !
Check out more of my blog posts:
Struggling with 12v battery energisers? Go for solar panel energises!
Tracking – The Electric Fence Way
Classical Dressage Trainer, Bit and Bridle Fitter & Horse Track System Enthusiast!
Tash has undertaken many different paths of training to ensure that the horses she works with have their welfare and comfort as the top priority. Horses having species appropriate turn out is something Tash is also very passionate about and over the last few years she has incorporated a track system into her own land, which has been a huge benefit to her horses both mentally and physically.
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