That's great to know. I'll keep the electrobraid wire in mind. The fencing around the property ended up being square wire -- which I still don't love, but at least it isn't barbed wire. In the end, I opted to pass on the house -- there was very little closet space, no barn, no run-in shed, no garage, and it wasn't going to shorten my commute at all. So, there were just too many negatives even though it was really cute. I would have needed to build the run-in shed and a storage

I'm considering moving and I looked at property today that might have barbed-wire enclosing the (small) pasture. I wasn't able to go out and get a good look (too muddy today). The realtor is going to find out from the owners what kind of fence encloses the back pasture (the front is wood). If it is barbed wire, I'm trying to figure out how much it will cost to make the property ok for horses if I do decide to buy it. I already know I'll have to build shelter of some sort (there isn't

that's kind of what I had in mind -- coming in about 3-6 ft from the barbed wire and putting posts in to hang the hot wire/tape from ... then eventually having the barbed wire removed. I wasn't sure if that would be safe enough. I'm really tempted to go for this place, but I think I'll have to talk them down several thousand (it's overpriced anyway) in order to be able to afford all of the changes I'd have to make.

Mine rubs -- under the jaw where the velcro closure is -- so I take it off at night. I use it mostly for sunburn protection, anyway, but I did try leaving it on all of the time. Like you, I don't have my horses at home and sometimes have a tough time getting out there frequently enough to take it off at night and put it on in the morning. I will sometimes leave it on for a couple of days, but make sure to take it off at least after 72 hrs. I would think that if it isn't causing any rubs,

Is she this controlling with everyone close to her? I'm sitting here wondering if she is trying to live vicariously through you (I think I remember you writing in a post a while back that her health isn't so great anymore?), or if she is just trying to control you. Either way, you need to set some limits. Easier said than done, but she is not in the position of power over you that she was once. You are in control of your life now. You're an adult, you're married, you have a job. My

Thank you to everyone for the feedback. He seems to be doing OK with the sheet on in this heat. I The biggest problem has been how bad he smells after a few days. I work at night so I can't always take it off in the evening and then home to wash and get it back on the next morning. (I stop at the barn on my way to and from work.) He doesn't seem to hate it nearly as much as he hates the fly masks.

has anyone had luck with mesh leg wraps (for flies)? I tried them this year in an attempt to keep the hoof stomping from flies down, and it seems to have cut down on the number of ticks they have. I was pulling 5-10 a day off before I put the leg wraps on, and now I'm down to an occasional one.

What do you think -- does it ever get too hot for a fly sheet? My paint gets sunburn. I've used a combination of fly mask/sunscreen on his (largely) white face for a few years now with pretty good success. Last summer, however, was so hot that he got burned (to the point of peeling) everwhere he was white. Sunscreen wasn't enough. This year, I bought a fly sheet in case the heat was misearable again this year. So far, it has been, even this early. I don't have a lot of experience with

[quote user="48northfarm"] Also, the first wound care article linked to said that gauze bandages are non-productive: they don't keep the bacteria way, and can debride the wound when changed frequently. A substitute for the Betadine was suggested, but no substitute was given for gauze bandages. Lauralite, do you have an alternative method?[/quote] Most wound-healing gurus today (at least in human medicine) advocate keeping the wound bed moist to encourage granulation tissue/healing.

It really depends on the horses that you get, how much you work with, and with the quality of the pasture. Some never need anything more than good pasture; Others need to be supplemented with grain. A friend of mine has 7 or 8 horses on her property, and the only one that gets grain is a 20+ year-old mare.The rest get only hay and grass. Some people will tell you that one of the biggest mistakes horse owners make is over-feeding grain. My two are on really good pasture in the summer and get good