Fence photos

Here are photos taken during and after the construction of the new fence. The girls were having a blast running and playing this morning!

We have a fence!

Tom, Henry, and Cam all pitched in and worked like crazy in the blazing sun today. It was the first truly hot day of the year (OK, hot for spring in MT!) and they all got sunburned and were exhausted but the end result is that I have a gorgeous split rail fence across the front of the pasture and they have the experience now so the remaining sides will be much easier. It’s going to be an all summer project though. We saved a ton by doing it ourselves but it’s still expensive so we have to do one section at a time.

We still have to do the gates and take down the old fence but Tom is going to work on that tomorrow and I can rest easier knowing that there is no way Alex can push down the new rails! I think she realized it too, she was giving me (and the fence) dirty looks tonight.

With the way the new fence is run, the front of the pasture is now square and the girls got a little patch of nice, lush grass to munch on. By running the fence the way they did we lost a strip that is about 3′ wide by 80′ long, not big enough to affect their grazing, especially since it was all dirt there anyway, and aesthetically the pasture looks much better. The gate is also a little closer to the barn now which will make hauling hay a little easier. My only concern is that the water spigot is now inside the fence-line instead of right outside it. That in itself isn’t a problem but during the winter when I have heat tape and a tank heater plugged in I may have to figure out a way to cover it so Alex doesn’t chew on the cords!

I’ll post pictures once the old fence is removed, right now it’s blocking the view of the new fence.

A quick video

Here’s a quick video of me working with Alex the other day. This was right after her second escape and we were having some issues with her listing to me at all. For a little bit she wouldn’t even lead so I decided to lunge her some. It started out with her fighting it and actually trying to attack the plastic tied to the end of the whip but within a few minutes (about the time mom got the camera) she had settled down and was working nicely. I use a lot of voice commands with her and she is slowly learning them. Sally was quite curious about the whole thing but was keeping her distance from the scary blue snake with a white head.

On a fencing note, I just talked to mom and they have the new fenceline all marked off and all of the new posts and rails are picked up and ready to be put up tomorrow.