Almost Fencing Time

We finally did some Sanctuary work, although it wasn’t directly with the horses. Seems I don’t get to spend much time with the herd these days, always running from one activity to the next. I expect that’ll be how summer is.

But Mike is now into full swing construction season and putting out feelers for this and that. He found out that the state is replacing the fence line along an interstate so we said we were interested in buying some of the old fence posts. Sure they are 30-40 years old but the quality of the fence posts from back then (even being used) is better than some of the fence posts you buy at the store. We’ve bought some fence posts that were total junk so I know what we picked up last night are pretty good.

It’s a bit unnerving to be working so close to traffic but I guess you get used to it after a while.  Mike had an idea about what fencing we need to replace. Last year or the year before, the drylot fencing practically fell over so we put up some cattle panels and called it good. I thought it would last. Silly me. This spring Dude was STANDING on the fence, leaning over to get the tops of the grass blades. I am sure if I had seen it I would have come unglued. I wondered how the fencing was getting smashed into the ground. Thanks to Dude (and I expect some of the other geldings as well). Mike has an idea on how to rectify the “standing on fence” issue. Now that we have a tractor with a 3-point, we can put in fence posts (and not have to beg to borrow a tractor). Mike and I are both of the type that we want to be self-sufficient and hate to ask for help. I know as a Sanctuary we HAVE to ask for help but it is very satisfying to know that we can do much with just the two of us.

We picked up a number of posts to start fixing the fence in the dry lot. Some of that fence has been an issue since the day we moved in and brought the horses with us. It’ll be nice to see a brand new fence line. I just hope that we can get to it this year. Mike and I are both so busy that it’ll probably be fall before we can tackle any fencing (and to be honest, I hate fencing.  I’m not sure why. Although it IS satisfying to see a stretch of fence up and secure at the end of a long and hard project).

We picked up a bunch of steel fence posts that we’ll use (and cap the top) for out in the pasture when replace that fence line. The pasture fence is starting to tip as well so we need to get that fixed in the very near future. Not sure how “near” that’ll be but at least we have a start on replacing the fence posts that are no good. There’s a number of fence posts in the pasture that won’t hold an electric insulator or are hard to work with. They DO make perfect tarp holders and posts for the snow fence (always a bright side).

So now we have to unload the trailer and find a place to stash the posts until we can actually start fencing. If anyone wants to help, we could desperately use the help. I’m anxious to see some progress at the Sanctuary after such a long lapse in working to fix anything around the place. I’ll clear my schedule so we can put everyone to work!