Ken, I'd also bet that the incident spoiled that horse on apples for life!
Terry, W0FM -----Original Message----- From: Bill W5WVO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:36 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Even more OT: Electric fences Ken Kopp wrote: > I've heard that most critters ... once bit ... never approach > the fence again. Maybe that would work in your case, or > maybe intermittent operation would fool 'em. A few years ago I was living down in Albuquerque in the North Valley area. This is horse country, and my property adjoined a small rancho where riding horses were stabled. One of the horses struck up a friendship with my border collie Meg, and would come over to the fence to hang out with her. One day I decided to go out and give him an apple, to see if I could make friends with him, too. I knew there was an electric fence wire there, but when I touched it gingerly, nothing happened. I assumed it was dead and had been abandoned, like so many other old electric fences I had seen as a kid growing up in the countryside of upstate New York. Anyway, I had to reach my arm well through the fence to reach the horse. He liked the apple and whickered softly, coming a little closer. I got a left-handed grip on the wire fencing to steady myself and reached out to pet him on his nose with the other. ZAAAPPP!!! Both the horse and I jumped backwards reflexively. I yelped, he whinnied. What had happened? The fence wasn't dead; in fact, it was thoroughly functional. I felt nothing when touching it because I was wearing rubber-soled sneakers; the horse, however, was wearing iron horseshoes. The current went from the wire through my left arm, my chest, and my right arm to the horse's nose, down through the horse to his horseshoes and into the damp ground. He never came around again to hang out with Meg. I felt awful about it, but there was not much I could do. :-( He had learned his lesson, to my sorrow, and I had learned mine: Don't ever assume an electric fence is dead! This fence, BTW, produced no noise on 6 meters that I could detect. Bill W5WVO _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
