Looking for horse stake out with flat top

[Karen]

Some of you may have heard about the tragedy at the ABC NGDC this past year. A very experienced field trial horse (one who has been to nationals 8 times I believe, and has been to countless trials) rolled over his stake out, impaled himself, and had to be euthanized on the spot. It was really terrible.

Anyway, our horses are about as experienced field trialing, and we watch them walk to the end of their lines and THEN go down and roll...most of the time, but better safe than sorry (plus, we have a new horse that still has to learn to stake out).

Anyone know where we can buy stakes with flat tops that pound nearly all the way into the ground?

[AZ Brittany Guy]

Go to a salvage yard, buy a axel with the hub on the end, take it to a welder and turn it into a stake. That is what the horse trialers do down here. I saw it happen once at the Greens Peak trials about 5 - 6 years ago. Fortunately it did not punch a hole in any vital places on the horse and flushing and stiches did the job.

[shags]

At one of our local trials a horse tore himself up on a stake and had to be put down. Nasty, nasty business, that

Here are a couple

http://www.lazyliz.com/detail.htm
http://donsforeverstainless.com

Our stakeouts don't have the flat top but my husband easily fixed that. He cut a length of white pvc pipe, about 8 or 10 inches long, and cut a slit up it about four inches long so that the pipe would fit down over the ring where the cable is attached. Then he glued caps on the top of the pipe. So now the stakes have a broader top with no jagged edges. Besides making the stakes safer for the horses, the pvc toppers are really easy to see in the dark, so no more tripping over them.

[ultracarry]

We have the flat top ones. I'll find out where to get them from.

[RayGubernat]

Karen -

The real key thing here you already mentioned. Pounding the stake as far down into the ground as is possible is the very best thing you can do to prevent serious injury. The second thing is to assure that the top is flat and does not have any sharp edges that can act as a knife. Dressing the top with a grinder every so often is probably not a bad idea.

I don't have a welder(and I am cheap) so I bought some hand threading dies for my 4 dog tieout stakes. I cut threads on the stakeout, installed a jam nut(I/2 width) on the bottom, 2 large washers and a full sized nut on top. This also serves to make the top striking surface much larger, easier to hit with a sledge. After you smack the nut on top a few times, the threads get mashed and lock the whole thing in place.


I think you could also modify any existing stakes you have in the same way as I did above or by getting 2 or 3" washers and having a tradesman weld them in place about a half inch below the end of the stake that you beat on. If you have a brand new stakeout whose top has not been mushroomed out, adding this feature becomes easier.

RayG

[Karen]

We can re-purpose the stakes we have for dogs, I'm not worried about that. I was going to buy from lazy liz (we actually bought a saddle from her 6 months ago and she went above and beyond to get it to us), but her paypal account appears to be disabled, so no online orders.

Thanks for the other links.

Here's another question. So you've pounded the stakes all the way into the ground. How the heck do you get them out? Use a claw hammer?

I can just see me trying to leave the 1st trial of the season and unable to get the darned stakes out of the ground

[ultracarry]

Get them close to the ground , when you go to remove them tap side to side and pull straight out... They come out easy. Still trying to find the info.

[cmc274]

http://donsforeverstainless.com/product ... stake-out/

Yes its expensive, yes its nice. Could probably find a local fab shop to make you one from common steel real cheap. Whack it a couple times with a sledge and it comes right out.

[RayGubernat]

Get them close to the ground , when you go to remove them tap side to side and pull straight out... They come out easy. Still trying to find the info.

If that does not work, find someone with a fencepost puller.

Harbor Freight used to sell a low profile post puller model years ago and dummy me, I never bought one. You hook it up and step on it. The post gets sucked right out of the ground. If they ever decide to sell them again, I will be all over that.

A 3-4' steel pipe with a slot cut out to slide under the top and onto the shaft, sitting on a chunk of 4X6, should provide enough leverage to pull a stake, when you step on it... unless you have pounded it into a tree root.(Don't ask :roll: )

RayG

[sunstone]

This is the best stakeout system that i have found with no risk to a horse.
http://www.beyondtack.com

[Karen]

Thanks guys. I ordered 3 new stakes from Don's forever stainless today.