DECEMBER 2021 THE RIDER /27 ^Between The Ears^


longer. Now a horse wan- dered over for a drink and the same behaviour the cows exhibited was repeated by her. She seemed far more dramatic but clearly got shocked as well. I was stumped. I tried 3 heaters, 3 heavy duty cords, replaced the GFI outlet, had an elec- trician out twice, inspected the panel, sub-panel and he measured voltage confirm- ing the animals were indeed getting shocked. I was told we had a stray voltage prob- lem. So I relocated the trough. Once again I


By Ellie Ross. Winter brings some


added work to prepare for but this year I found myself spending far more time and money than I had previous years. It all started with the water. I tested the heater and it was clearly working very well so I proceeded with set- ting it up in the trough and my bag of cable ties to se- cure the cord etc. I have the trough set on the fence line so my cows can access it on one side and the horses on the other so that I only have to heat one trough. Hydro is expensive! I put stall mats down as the ground was so wet from the all the rain we had and I wanted to avoid them standing in mud while drinking. I filled the trough, plugged in the heater, put my hand in and all appeared to be just fine. The next day I noticed the trough was still completely full, which is odd because normally the transition from pasture to hay leads to increased thirst. I stuck my hand in the trough and the water was slightly warm and I didn’t sense any shocks whatso- ever. Later that day I ob- served my cows at the trough. They were hesitant and they were darting their tongues in and out of the water, a behaviour I had not


Reluctance to Drink led to discovery of stray voltage


did the GFI flip off on either the original outlet or the newly replaced one. I grounded my water


trough in hopes this would resolve the entire issue. I have since learned that any trough with a heater in it should be grounded. This process involved pounding a grounding rod into the ground next to the trough at least 4 feet, but we went 6, clamping a copper wire to it and making a small coil for surface area then tying it to a stone. I placed the coiled copper and stone into the


so I turned it off and meas- ured again. The trough no longer had a reading on it. OMAFRA advised to


put grounding rods for the fenced a minimum of 75 feet from the trough so that is what we did. Unfortu- nately this had no impact on reducing the stray voltage in the trough when the fence zapper was plugged in. I was not willing to risk the cows pushing through the fence so turning the electric fence off was not an option. We changed the electric fence zapper to a weaker


seen them do before. Then one of them placed his mouth into the trough to drink and immediately tossed his head up. He ap- peared to have been shocked by the water. I put my hand in and all was fine so what was the problem? Then I wondered if another cow had touched the fence and him at the same time. I de- cided to observe a little


checked the voltage and it still had a current but it was down to .5 volts. I should note that one tester was able to get the reading and an- other volt tester was not. Could .5 volts be enough to cause a problem I won- dered. Only way for me to know was to wait and see. The cows volunteered and the same reaction occurred. I should note that at no time


trough and measured again. We were down to .2 volts but still the cows wouldn’t drink. This really does sur- prise me because we have seen them occasionally take a shock on the fence to get grass on the other side, where it reads 6 ! I tested the trough without the heater plugged in and still had volt- age. This had me wondering now about our electric fence


Equestrian Canada Releases Selection Criteria For FEI World Championships 2022 Herning (Den) – Dressage


tion for Canada as we build towards Paris 2024 for both our Olympic and Paralympic programs” said EC’s High Performance Director James Hood. “Both the dressage and para-dressage teams had qualified for Tokyo 2020 and we know that in order for the programs to continue to build they need increased competition and exposure in the Eu-


onships 2022 for the disciplines of dressage, para-dres- sage, jumping and vaulting. The 2022 Worlds will also be the first qualifier of the triennial for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games for the disciplines of dressage, para-dressage and jumping. The Danish city has a history of hosting FEI, running a qualifier for FEI Dres- sage World Cup annually, and in 2013 hosted a multi-dis- cipline equestrian event in with the staging of the FEI European Championships for jumping, dressage and para- dressage. “The 2022 World Championships is a critical competi-


Ottawa, ON, Dec. 3, 2021 — Equestrian Canada (EC) is pleased to announce the selection criteria that will be used to select the Canadian dressage team for the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Championships that will take place in Herning, Denmark from Aug. 6 – 14, 2022. Herning (DEN) plays host to the FEI World Champi-


ropean system. The worlds will be the first key test that continues on the road to Paris” says Hood.


Christine Peters Senior Manager, Dressage Olympic / Paralympic Program cpeters@equestrian.ca 343-308-5034


Celine Hutchison Majerus Program Coordinator, Dressage chmajerus@equestrian.ca 343-308-5038


For more information on the FEI World Championships 2022, please visit https://herning2022.com/


must be submitted on or before Friday, December 31st, 2021. Failure to submit the required information and doc- uments by this deadline will make the declaration incom- plete and invalid. Athletes not declared on or before December 31st, 2021, will not be eligible. For any questions, please contact


Selection Criteria Declarations for the FEI World Championships 2022


one and I’ll take my chances that my cows won’t push on it in the winter as the grass is covered by snow. In my research on this


problem I have discovered many farms are encounter- ing stray voltage this year. In my case there was a build up of static from the fence and with so much moisture in the ground it made it worse. I have made a check-


list based on what we learned. • Changed the water heater and measure the water for voltage • Check that your cord is a heavy duty outdoor cord as we all know the cords on the heaters are never long enough • Be sure you have a GFI outlet but know it won’t flip off when its stray voltage • Make certain your plugs don’t get wet. I tied plastic bags over my plug connec- tions. • Test different scenarios - fence on , fence off, differ- ent heaters etc • Ground your water trough if it has a heater in it. • Adding rubber mats can help but only if all 4 feet are on the rubber. • If it is a waterer like a Ritchie waterer etc, test the voltage on the water. Your hand won’t feel it. • Add more grounding rods for your electric fence and be sure they are 75 feet away from the trough


• Have an electrician check the bonding on your panel/sub-panel. Have him measure to see if there is a difference in voltage on the property as this could indi- cate the problem is with Hydro. It took a bit of time for


our horses and cows to trust the water trough again but eventually they did.


Author Bio: Ellie Ross studied Agriculture and Equine Science at Virginia Tech, Pscychology at Uni- versity of Guelph and a va- riety of programs


in


Animals Science and Be- haviour. Ellie was the ‘An- imal Expert’ on CTV for 10 years and actively competes internationally with her Quarter Horses and trains in Classical Dressage in Spain. Circle 8 Ranch is home for her along with her Black Angus cattle, Quarter Horse Breeding program and her 7 dogs.


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