Thursday 12 November 2009

Don't Fence Me In


Ok - good gear, bad gear!


Before I left, you may have read on the website www.afinehorse.co.uk that I was trialling a corral kit from Electric Fencing Direct. Obviously, keeping the boys contained overnight was a major priority - not just in the wilds, but also when we camped near to roads or other hazards.


I would like to say (with absolutely no pressure from the manufacturers I should point out!) that this was a cracking piece of kit, which survived being put up every night (and sometimes at lunchtimes too) in wet and windy conditions and only weighed 2.5 kg. It took less than 5 mins to put up.


The posts fold down (a bit like tent poles) so the whole caboodle makes a neat little package for carrying. You use bungee cords to stabilise the posts, and they never fell down. I carried 200m of 10mm tape: normally I prefer the 20mm variety for visibility, but when travelling the 10mm tape packed down smaller and lighter. Sometimes I would use an existing fence for one side of the corral, to give them more grazing room - or if I was in a secure field anyway, I would use the corral to surround my campsite and fence the ponies out, to stop them eating my tea or trying to climb in my sleeping bag.


The whole thing is powered by a little 'Shrike' unit which, though powered with torch batteries which are easily available when you're travelling, still has a hearty sting. Doogs and Yeoman are very respectful of electric fencing, which meant I only actually switched it on when I was going to sleep to conserve power - but the batteries lasted for the whole trip anyway.


I couldn't have done the trip the way I did without this corral - it meant that we were completely free to stop wherever there was suitable grazing, and I never had to worry about them not being there in the morning or getting tangled in rubbish fences and pulling shoes off in the night.


Definitely good kit: more details from www.electricfencing.co.uk

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