Some things just don't work . . .

Well, I THOUGHT it would be good to keep Arthur inside the paddocks until Shadow was out of heat.   But he was not happy about that AT ALL.

 

Arthur was furious when he got locked away from Shadow



So he eventually just kicked one of the fence wires down and climbed out through the opening in the fence!
(There they ALL are, there in the back in this picture.)

Well, it's good we're planning to set up a new round pen along the back of those paddocks -- there will no longer be any non-electrified wire for Arthur to destroy!  Instead the panels on the paddock side of the round pen will be those red iron panels in the two photos above.  They are completely indestructible!  And I'm going to like having those in the round pen so that I can get down off of Shadow without having to line her up at the mounting block.  I usually used the iron fence over at Al's to get off over there, too.  MUCH easier.  Anyway, here's the way it's going to be set up --  that back fence won't be straight across the paddocks but instead will be part of the round fence panels.  Looking forward to having that! 



When I first discovered them all back together, Duke was there in the middle --
possibly keeping Arthur and Shadow separated.

But later on when I checked again, Duke had left them both alone again
and Arthur was no longer trying to mount her.  Sure hope that lasts!

Well, the reason I was out there and discovered the broken fence was because a third guy had come by to give us another bid on taking down those giant trees next to the fence (see below).  That one laying on the ground on the left side of that picture went down during that last huge Baton Rouge hurricane a couple years back.  That tree was so tall that it took down fencing and gates all the way over to the dog yard!  And those trees next to where that one was are just as tall so I will feel a LOT better when they're on the ground.
 

 

And in addition to those 3+ giant trees there just a bit behind the barn, the guy who came by today is also going to take down the ones along the fence in front of the barn as well - 10 giant trees plus a few others that are smaller and just in the way of getting the big ones down.

 

Those giant trees behind the hay storage building will be coming down, as well.

You can see in this picture just HOW tall those trees are! . . . If they were to come down in a storm, they would take down the fences on both sides of Shadow's paddock. (During huge storms, we DO close the horses inside the barn and I don't think any tree would be heavy enough to break into the barn -- but they COULD make it impossible for us to let them out.  If their fences went down they could leave the property and get over to the railroad and the highway.  NOT a good thing!

 Anyway, this guy gave us a better price than what the other two guys gave us, so he will be coming by on Thursday after Mark comes home and spending the entire day taking down trees over there as well as several inside the pastures. 

 

Can't WAIT to have them gone!  And since they're going to be laying on the ground for a while, if trees further over were to come down this hurricane season, they would fall on top of those giant trees that will be taken down, so even if they're long enough to reach the fence, those cut-down-trees will probably hold them up high enough not to break the fence!  I hope so, anyway!