Fencing is an essential part of responsible horse ownership, providing both security and safety for your animals. Historically, choices were limited to wooden rails or barbed wire — options that are still in use across many parts of Canada today.

Fifteen years ago, a friend asked if I’d house- and horse-sit for her at her farm in the Cowichan Valley. The property featured open turnout, natural forage, and the companionship of other horses. I accepted, unsure how it would affect my mare, Diva—who had been struggling. But the results were immediate and profound. We never left. Years later, we still live in the Cowichan Valley, and Diva continues to thrive.

At CF Fence in southern Okanagan, BC, owner Alan Cossentine recognizes the value and importance of safe, reliable fencing for livestock on farms and ranches.

There is a lot more to haymaking than “making hay while the sun shines,” though doing so is a necessary start. Sadly, each year horse barns and farmers’ storage barns burn down, and horses become sick from respiratory disease and colic, as well as myriad other diseases such as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID or Cushings disease). Many of these situations are avoidable so here are, in my opinion, the seven deadly sins of horse hay-making, in no particular order.