September 9, 2014
The first field is fully fenced! yea!
Its basically in the yard next to the house, and is big enough for them to run around in (which they do). There are some trees around it, and we realized one of the trees in the middle, was a weeping ornamental cherry tree. Rich cut it down right away, and we drug it off to the burn pile.
I did do some reading up on cherry trees, which we all know the classic black cherry tree is poisonous to horses (dogs, cattle, etc). Ornamental cherry trees can be much harder to spot. They are also poisonous but not quite as potent as black cherry. All types of cherry tree are also more poisonous when the leaves die.
I am picking up some more metal T-posts after work today so we can get the next field started. My current plan is to have three fields so we can rotate the ponies, which will help the ground and grass recover.
Our fencing is being done on a shoe string budget. Keeping in mind we are dealing with two medium ponies, who are not exactly wild, and have respect for electric, our fencing is nothing fancy. We put up two strands of high tinsel wire, with one strand of wide white electric tape as the top, third strand. We also put up neon pink and green marking tape on the less visible wire strands, to help the ponies, and us become accustomed to it. I joked that it looks like our ponies are throwing a party.
Blue Ridge Pony 