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Post by mollymckee on Mar 15, 2016 1:27:50 GMT
Happening with the horses at your house? Surely someone has done something with their horses in the past month? Aoconner, how is that pretty mare you rescued doing? How is the colt you saved?
My mare has decided that she will not stay in the pasture. She is lonely since her buddy died(buddy was 36) and was not kept in a good fence before I got her. She is very good at finding any way to get out! It is a good thing she comes up to the house and waits for someone to come out. We are a long way off the road and it is open range here, not that I like her getting out. My DH has been doing chores since I had knee surgery and he often forgets to tie the gate--she knows how to open the latch. She gets to the house just after he comes in. I will be glad when the second surgery is done and I can ride her again and find another horse. I have never had just one horse that i can remember, DH doesn't want me to get another one or maybe two until I'm back on my feet. I understand, I really can't go looking at horses on uneven ground or try a horse right now but I'm not too good at waiting.....
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 15, 2016 14:47:29 GMT
Glad to hear she can't/doesn't want to go far! My mare would be gone! And we unfortunately live on a busy road. I also have to caribiner the gates shut, as she has proven she can open latches. She was on stall rest from surgery and we came out at 0'dark-thirty for her bandage change and all I see is a shadowy streak running past me. Brat. Our something in the past month- does it count that we got our 3 outta their pasture and tacked them up and rode for about 30 minutes our front? They hadn't been ridden since September-October-ish, and in that time, I haven't done squat for any work with them- just a few pasture transfers and the farrier's trimming visits. It was wonderfully uneventful, other than all 3 wanting to go off the property for a real trail ride. I love horses that I can pull off 6ish months of winter nothings that act like they rode yesterday when you go out, no lunging, nada.
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Post by mollymckee on Mar 15, 2016 15:38:37 GMT
I like that kind of horse too, gracielagata! My mare would love to go for a ride, but it will be about 8weeks until I can ride again. DH has been having back problems so he won't ride her now. She's like your horses, she will just walk off when asked to. She's fun to ride, it hasn't been her fault she is just sitting. I thought I'd found a girl that would ride her once in awhile, but she got the lead in her school musical so no time. I won't let many people ride my horses, but she is a good horsewoman and her parents and grand parents are all good friends so we've know her forever.
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 15, 2016 15:45:04 GMT
I meant to add earlier that I hoped all your surgical-ness came through well so you could get back on soon! We on occasion let others ride our horses. Most of the time they go out with me and are non-horse people/owners at all. They ride my husband's and daughter's geldings... no one rides my mare lol. She is quite well trained and safe (esp. considering she is only 7 and I got her when I was green and she was a just freshly broke barely 3 year old lol), but she prefers me or other knowledgeable riders over someone just pulling and flopping around up top. Geldings seem so much more forgiving. I always wonder what makes a horse not walk-out-able... A great friend of mine has a running quarter horse/arab cross that she has to lunge every ride, and then she still has to get off at times because the mare might spook obnoxiously over something my young one doesn't bat an eye at... and she is way more horse woman than I... Just different mentalities in the lovely beasts, I suppose. Too bad you couldn't get that girl to toodle around on your mare a bit... but at least she is a great one to sit and wait for her momma to get back in the saddle.
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 15, 2016 21:26:59 GMT
Ah, interesting question:-) So, to start off, my Bella girl is doing so well that she is going to be under saddle next week! Her EPM and founder have resolved incredibly well, she is ready to go. Banner the young gelding is doing fantastic as well, he is a cutie boy and a love. So the big event the past month (plus a couple days) is that one of my QH mares was badly gored by a huge wild boar. He hit her while she was taking a nap in our bottom pasture right before dinner feed time. She is always first in, but after putting everyone else in that evening she still wasn't at the barn. I walked out past our feed room, and there she was down a ways in the pasture. She saw me and started hollering, totally unusual, and when she tried walking she was going sideways in an odd gait. I immediately thought EPM, but then I saw her body and took off at a run to her. Her whole left shoulder from her withers down was ripped open and peeled back, and I was on the phone with my vet by the time I reached my mare. I immediately loaded her up and hauled her to the clinic. It took 3 hours and 20 minutes to clean and close the wound, and she stayed at the vets until yesterday! She looks great, will see how it heals up from here. The wound initially.. And now...
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 15, 2016 22:00:57 GMT
aoconnor, OH MY GOSH!!! Your poor girl! That is healing beautifully though. Will she be ride-able after it heals, or is she old enough that she is already retired? Are wild boars known for this kind of thing? I never would have thought they would go after such a big animal, napping or not.
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 16, 2016 1:56:52 GMT
aoconnor , OH MY GOSH!!! Your poor girl! That is healing beautifully though. Will she be ride-able after it heals, or is she old enough that she is already retired? Are wild boars known for this kind of thing? I never would have thought they would go after such a big animal, napping or not. Shar is a rescued broodmare, she came to me last year in January in horrible condition, it about killed me when she got hurt so bad when she was doing so well physically otherwise. She is coming 20 in May, she is such a lovely girl. She will recover, and today when I turned her out,she ran right back out to that pasture with the herd and was ok being out there.
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Post by mollymckee on Mar 16, 2016 1:59:47 GMT
That looks terrible, aoconnor! I bet your heart dropped when you saw that. It looks like it is healing well, thank goodness. Those wild pigs are really a serious problem in Texas now aren't they? One of our DD's friends put a feeder near his deck and shoots them from there. Our16year old grandson was thrilled to shoot one when they were in TX. but nothing he wants at home. I don't think there is any way to get rid of them except shoot them one by one is there? I better stop complaining about the turkey's?
I'm glad Bella is doing so well! She just looks like a sweetheart. It is great the gelding is good save as well.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Mar 16, 2016 5:40:15 GMT
aoconnor, wow - I've heard about how bad the wild boar problem is, but never even considered that they might attack a napping horse. So thankful we don't have them here. Shar looks good, all things considered. Good to hear how well Bella and Banner are doing. Nothing much happening here, other than Winnie being totally freaked by the windstorms we've had here. Something about having huge trees blowing down in the woods in her pasture...for some reason, she didn't like that. She's decided she like jumping the downed trees, though...unfortunately, she's also decided to jump her fence a couple times! She doesn't go far, though, now that she has buddies right across the fence from her. At least she isn't trotting down the road a half mile to the mules anymore, and she comes when Abby whistles for her, if she's not already standing by the house waiting for her beet pulp and grain, lol.
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 16, 2016 13:24:16 GMT
aoconnor, how good she doesn't care and went right back out. mollymckee, hehe- reminds me of when we first moved here to WA from SC. My horse (came with us from SC) to my knowledge had never seen turkeys before. She was an 'only child' when we 1st got here, so all internal gates were latched open and she went as she pleased, frequently napping in the yard. I was working, and hear her thundering around the house. I go out to see what got her upset and she walks me over to one pasture, but being sure to keep me between her and the unknown offending creatures.... It was a flock of turkeys!! She didn't quite know what to do with them. Now she doesn't bat an eye. But she was quite relieved when I assured her they wouldn't do anything lol. manygoatsnmore, We keep waiting to lose trees in a bad wind!! I hope they don't take down any fences in the process, or that it's inside ones only. Jumping them though! I bet 2 of our horses would, the 3rd... he is so darn lazy he would likely stand inside his new cage and wait for us to clear them for him lol.
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Post by here to stay on Mar 16, 2016 13:39:11 GMT
Wow, aoconnor, that is one ugly wound. It's lucky that horses are so loose skinned that drawing it together works well in locations not subject to a lot of stress. I have zero experience with wiod boars. How did you knoe that is what happened to her?
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Post by shellymay on Mar 16, 2016 14:33:43 GMT
aoconnor, Just now seeing this and I am in tears and happy all at the same time, Soooooo happy that you check your animals and care for them so well that you knew that something was wrong right away and went out to find her, and able to get her to vet ASAP for surgery, I am happy that she will recover and that your her caretaker! We don't have wild boars here in my area and after seeing that I am glad of it, also glad to here the other two are doing great
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 16, 2016 17:04:59 GMT
Wow, aoconnor , that is one ugly wound. It's lucky that horses are so loose skinned that drawing it together works well in locations not subject to a lot of stress. I have zero experience with wiod boars. How did you knoe that is what happened to her? I found her almost immediately after the injury. Found the place it happened, hog tracks, hogs running in another pasture away from the area, as well as game warden confirmation and the vets concurring. We are lucky she is able to walk normally and move around. She is one tough old gal I can tell you!
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Post by mollymckee on Mar 16, 2016 19:58:08 GMT
From what I've heard there is open season on the wild pigs. manygoatsnmore, gracielagata, I have see information that includes WA as being one of the states with wild pigs, but. I have never talked to anyone that has seen one. They are a real problem in parts of TX, our DD's friends are almost suburan Austin now and they are over run. They have a large herd of cattle, I don't know if they have lost any to the pigs, but they sure could. We have a very large cougar running around this side of our mountain. There are Cougars around here all the time but people have been seeing this one. Usually you don't see them or just a glimpse. Our DSIL saw one today on his way to work. He said it didn't appear to be afraid of the truck, just cautious. Of course you have no way of knowing if this was one cougar or several. gracielagata, I bet your mare was surprised by the turkeys! There were very few here until a dog club planted them about 15years ago. They have done very well to say the least, and have become a pest in many places. aoconnor, it is a very good thing you are so good with your horses. I'm sure the boar would have finished your mare off had he had a chance. Is there any help to get rid of him?
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Post by Maura on Mar 16, 2016 21:11:24 GMT
Ugly, ugly, and so scary. The Frankenstein sewing job looks good. I’m sure she will want to stay close to the herd, I would not even try to separate her as long as she isn’t doing anything not suggested (steeple chasing, for instance). You can use frankincense on horses.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Mar 16, 2016 23:05:33 GMT
gracielagata, we've had 3 windstorms in the last couple weeks, and I have probably 10-12 trees down and more that are leaning into others that I wish had just fallen down, as they are going to be dangerous to take down the way they are. The first storm took out about 8-9 alone. During that storm, Winnie was just racing around the pasture, snorting and blowing (she's an Arabian, and a little hotblooded to start with), and I was talking to her from the dining room window to calm her down (pasture is just across the lawn) when all of a sudden there was a huge crraaack-crash!, and a couple huge trees came down right in the middle of the woods in her pasture. No where near her, but I sure could understand why she was freaked. I'd happily have put her in a stall in the barn, but she prefers to be outside, even in the worst of weather. I think she just feels better if she can run instead of feeling trapped in a stall. I got a good chuckle over your horse and the turkeys, lol. Wild turkeys have really multiplied in a lot of spots around here, too, but so far, not in my immediate area. Winnie's taken the chickens and ducks in her stride, but I have no idea what she would think of a flock of turkeys! mollymckee, I've never seen a wild hog around here, thankfully, but from what I've heard, it doesn't take long for them to go from a pair to overrunning an area. I know if I do see one, it's "Annie, git'cher gun"! They can do an incredible amount of damage to land, much less animals. I've always wondered if a wild boar would taste okay or if the meat would be tainted by the testosterone. Wild sow I bet would be pretty tasty, and piglets? Can you say suckling pig on the spit? I know we have cougars and bears in the forests around here, but so far, they seem to be pretty shy of people. Hoping it stays that way.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2016 1:56:57 GMT
Ah, interesting question:-) So, to start off, my Bella girl is doing so well that she is going to be under saddle next week! Her EPM and founder have resolved incredibly well, she is ready to go. Banner the young gelding is doing fantastic as well, he is a cutie boy and a love. So the big event the past month (plus a couple days) is that one of my QH mares was badly gored by a huge wild boar. He hit her while she was taking a nap in our bottom pasture right before dinner feed time. She is always first in, but after putting everyone else in that evening she still wasn't at the barn. I walked out past our feed room, and there she was down a ways in the pasture. She saw me and started hollering, totally unusual, and when she tried walking she was going sideways in an odd gait. I immediately thought EPM, but then I saw her body and took off at a run to her. Her whole left shoulder from her withers down was ripped open and peeled back, and I was on the phone with my vet by the time I reached my mare. I immediately loaded her up and hauled her to the clinic. It took 3 hours and 20 minutes to clean and close the wound, and she stayed at the vets until yesterday! She looks great, will see how it heals up from here. The wound initially.. And now... WOW! Poor girl, poor you! I cannot imagine going out and finding one of my animals like thay, your heart had to have dropped big time. Great job getting her fixed up right away! I saw this last night and I am still in shock. If a wild hog had no fear and did to a horse, I'd be afraid of what it may do to a human. Scary. We have wild hogs here but thankfully I haven't seen one. Last year a 700+ lb male was shot when it was trying to charge a human not very far from here. Hope your girl continues to improve! You are a great horse momma, but you already knew that
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 17, 2016 2:18:02 GMT
mollymckee, gracielagata, aoconnor, manygoatsnmore, here to stay, shellymay, Maura,@goatlady, Thank you to all of you! Ok, so the mare is doing very well, no steeple chasing:-) She is attached to one of my coming 3 year old fillies, and that filly belongs to my second lead mare, so while the dam doesn't particularly like my injured mare, as long as the injured mare is around the filly, who is almost always grazing near her mom, then I know my injured mare is safe. That big dam of the 3 year old is a fierce protector of her baby:-) no hog will come near her if she has anything to say about it:-) The hog problem here is substantial. We have trapped and shot hogs, but we need help. There are lots of hog hunters out there, but with our ranch having cattle and horses as well as our daughter and son in law and their small children living on the ranch, I don't want a bunch of jacks in a truck with guns hauling around chasing hogs like wild men and shooting something they shouldn't be shooting. So my hubby and sil, as well as a friend of ours and his buddy, do the hunting when they have the time. We also have a coyote problem here, and it sometimes happens that they get a good shot off at a coyote but don't get any hogs. But a predator is a predator, and dead ones are best, so whatever they can kill is fine with me. Hogs will kill anything, including very small children. My grand daughters are 3 and almost 8, and my daughter is due with our grand son in a couple of weeks now. I watch them like a hawk when we are out moving around the property, I never let my little grand kids out of the side by side when we go for a drive around the ranch. They stay in the vehicle and inside the nets at all times, no way I would let them get out and get hurt. We are so overly cautious since this attack on my horse happened, it has become really tense lately.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Mar 17, 2016 2:24:42 GMT
aoconnor, I watched that show on hog hunters that was on a few years ago, so I totally understand the concern with any old yahoo out there trying to catch hogs on your property. Some of those guys didn't seem to have much sense. I have a question, if you might know the answer? One that show (American Hoggers, maybe?) they were showing hogs being caught rather than killed, and I always wondered why they didn't just shoot them. Seems like if they shot them and field dressed them quickly, they'd still be able to make use of the meat, if that was the reason for a live catch. Seems like shooting would be a lot safer, too, plus the gut piles from field dressing would draw in even more hogs to shoot.
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Post by comfortablynumb on Mar 17, 2016 2:30:03 GMT
I would exterminate anything that oinked that I could put crosshairs on.
Dead pigs attract other pigs so you just keep adding to the heap as they come in.
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 17, 2016 2:59:34 GMT
aoconnor , I watched that show on hog hunters that was on a few years ago, so I totally understand the concern with any old yahoo out there trying to catch hogs on your property. Some of those guys didn't seem to have much sense. I have a question, if you might know the answer? One that show (American Hoggers, maybe?) they were showing hogs being caught rather than killed, and I always wondered why they didn't just shoot them. Seems like if they shot them and field dressed them quickly, they'd still be able to make use of the meat, if that was the reason for a live catch. Seems like shooting would be a lot safer, too, plus the gut piles from field dressing would draw in even more hogs to shoot. Lots of hunters here will live trap them then take them to be processed for the meat. Usually they will donate the meat to local families in need, but some of them will use the meat themselves. One of our guys that hunts always keeps the meat for his family, but the rest of us donate it. Yes, that show was ridiculous. It was SO fabricated and unreal, seriously was a joke. We watched it once. Couldn't stand to watch it again:-)
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Post by aoconnor on Mar 17, 2016 3:01:59 GMT
I would exterminate anything that oinked that I could put crosshairs on. Dead pigs attract other pigs so you just keep adding to the heap as they come in. I would love to exterminate them all! Dead pigs attract lots of other predators too, so when we have to leave one laying, we try to make sure we shoot it near a fence line...we gut shoot it so it is able to run to the next pasture over on an unimproved property and then the hog dies there, and it draws hogs off our ranch as well as other predators around. Works for us:-)
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 17, 2016 13:52:23 GMT
manygoatsnmore, Geez on those storms!! Aren't you in WA as well? We do have a few questionable trees in the pasture, ones we need to get down, but aside from paying someone, have no clue how to do so without taking out fencing. Every wind storm we've had, we put the horses in the attached pastures that have the least amount of trees and pray they don't forget there is a fence dead center if they decide to run for it when scared. Mostly they are so happy to be in the eating pasture that they forget to be scared. (The 3 live on a couple acres that isn't so edible, as it is dry here lol). Your chickens and ducks reminds me- we used to let the chickens go slightly free when we had just a few- the horses would slowly herd them bc the chickens wouldn't hold still to be snuffled or nibbled. IN SC she hated the geese and was all too happy to chase them out of the arena when allowed- the southern version of cow work, I suppose! And no thank you to wild hogs!!! I have a feeling at least our one gelding would try to kill it, though not sure how he would fare, but he is quite fearless and defends well. I would most certainly kill it and eat it myself, or feed to dogs, cats and chickens. We have cougars nearby, but knock on wood, haven't had any bother us. Coyotes abound for us. An occasional wolf. Oh, and the evil turkeys and some quail.
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 17, 2016 15:47:39 GMT
aoconnor, again, I knew wild hogs were mean, but not that bad! Makes total sense to be so protective of the little grands and such.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2016 1:43:46 GMT
Wow!! What a terrible and shocking injury. Looks like you have her on the right path to recovery and I pray she continues. My mini, Gilli, is continuing to be a sweetheart. Usually that is. He definitely has a stubborn streak and typically shows it when I'm taking him to the round pen for a little work. What he has yet to realize is I'm far more stubborn than he, so he's not going to win. He's responding pretty well to voice commands when lunging and has always been easy to tie and work feet. Planning on getting him gelded next month. His belly is decreasing but still bigger than I would like but the vet keeps saying it will go away in time, so we will see.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Mar 18, 2016 3:53:21 GMT
gracielagata , yup, I'm in WA, too, near Mt St Helens. Yeah, 3 windstorms in about 2 weeks is about 3 too many - I sincerely hope we are done with the whole "March coming in like a lion" thing. I'm ready for the "going out like a lamb" portion of the program! That's so funny about your horses "herding" the chickens! Winnie just ignores them unless one tries to fly up to her feed bucket before she's done eating. They hang around hoping she'll drop some grain on the ground. She usually obliges at some point. I think she does it on purpose. We have plenty of coyotes in the area, but Muttley does a great job of keeping them barked off in the night. Occasionally I'll have to fire off a few shots of the .22 when they get too close. Muttley's smart enough not to go out in the clearcut to confront the pack...that's a great way for a dog to get dead.
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 18, 2016 13:48:36 GMT
gracielagata , yup, I'm in WA, too, near Mt St Helens. Yeah, 3 windstorms in about 2 weeks is about 3 too many - I sincerely hope we are done with the whole "March coming in like a lion" thing. I'm ready for the "going out like a lamb" portion of the program! That's so funny about your horses "herding" the chickens! Winnie just ignores them unless one tries to fly up to her feed bucket before she's done eating. They hang around hoping she'll drop some grain on the ground. She usually obliges at some point. I think she does it on purpose. We have plenty of coyotes in the area, but Muttley does a great job of keeping them barked off in the night. Occasionally I'll have to fire off a few shots of the .22 when they get too close. Muttley's smart enough not to go out in the clearcut to confront the pack...that's a great way for a dog to get dead. manygoatsnmore, I am a bit west of Spokane, out in farm country. So nice that Whinnie obliges- my daughter's horse now tolerates the one dog being right at his head during pellet feeding. The dog darts in and grabs what he drops, then darts back out. The horse just looks at him like he's crazy, since he isn't giving any body language to make the dog nervous lol. He won't go near the other 2 horses as they eat head to head/together, and get pushy with each other and he evidently isn't stupid and knows he could get stepped on lol. Our barn cats used to hang out more with the horses as well, getting snuffled and rubbed a bit... until my mare sucked in one's tail and lightly bit it... the cat was not impressed lol. They do still meander around them while I feed for whatever reason. I want to have totally loose chickens (esp over with the horses for poop patrol), but fear our dogs might make an accidental snack of them. The coyotes are likely not an issue, since my chickens aren't kept 'safe' like that anyhow- they are in a large pen of chicken-wire covered goat fencing that goes up about 3-4 feet, no top covering. They have a huge pine that seems to help prevent issues from the air. As for the coyotes, our 2 dogs getting to be roaming pets seems to help... except that our previous male- I looked out once and he was playing in the yard with a coyote. My mare also has played chase with them when we first moved her here. They don't really come around much anymore between the horses and dogs and shotguns lol. Knock on wood, the worst the coyotes have done to us was steal my hat and scarf off of our snowmen our first winter here, oh and the horses' jolly ball too! I found that up the hill chewed, with the scarf and hat!!
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Post by mollymckee on Mar 18, 2016 15:58:24 GMT
That's funny that the coyotes stole things from your yard, gracielagata! It would have been fun to watch them with it. This seems to be a low coyote year up here too. We started last spring hearing several packs, then they disappeared or went silent. There have been quite a few wolf sightings and old wives tales say they don't coexist so if that is true they may have moved out. We haven't had too many coyote problems. They used to come closer to the house when they were hunting. DH would shoot a tree trunk and several shots seem to be enough to to keep them away. Not only do they make a lots of noise, but our dogs are house dogs and no one is going to sleep if the coyotes are running near the house! We did have one that hung around one spring. We thought she had a den down the hill from us but never found it. She wasn't a problem, but every morning I'd see her in the pasture . If I got too close she would stick too the horses like glue. She seemed to know that no one would shoot at her when she had the horses to protect her, the horses didn't mind her, which was kind of odd so we left her alone.
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Post by Maura on Mar 18, 2016 16:38:40 GMT
Would a couple of LGDs be useful? I don’t know if hogs are scared of big barking dogs. You don’t need them to run out and kill the pigs, just keep them out of the pasture.
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Post by gracielagata on Mar 18, 2016 19:19:55 GMT
mollymckee, They are smart aren't they! Too funny that she figured out how to stay near the horses for protection! I wish the shot at a tree or the ground was enough from afar. We have no trees, so shoot the air/hillside. But if the shot isn't fairly close to them, they just stand up the hill and stare at us. They seem to understand that they have a swathe of the hill that if they come no further, we will let them be. I just hope my barn cats never get eaten! Maura, There are dog breeds which were developed for hog hunting, but I wonder how they would work for guarding... Can a LGD defend against a hog who comes in and still survive?
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