Educate me on electric fencing

[EddieWalker]

I'm nearly done with my front pasture fence that will hold a few horses. The fence is a three rail white vinyl that I really like the look of. The horses are my wife's idea and something she has always dreamed of. From all I've read, I need to add a hot wire to the top of the fence to keep them off of it.

My experience with hot wire fencing is to buy a $40 unit and run a wire around an area to keep Oscar in. He hates the wire, but if he wants out, he goes right through it. Then after he's done what he wanted to do, he goes back in. With the horses, I don't want to take the chance that they will decide to go through the fence one day and what might happen if they get out.

I've been looking around and it seems that AC chargers range in power from .5 joules to 6 joules. My fence is about 1,800 feet long and I need to run a line at the top for the horses and at the bottom for Oscar and maybe predators. Would 2 joules be enough to stop horses?

While reading the ratings on the packages I saw on one that it gives a different rating for how many weeds it's going through, and also if it's wire or rope, with wire having about twice the power over rope. Which has me wondering which is better and why? this will be permanent. Is the rope and tape just for temporary fences so you can move it around easily? I like the look of rope a lot better then wire, but if the wire is better, then that's what I'll use.

Is there a brand that you recommend and is there one to avoid?

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[CowboyRon]

I'm nearly done with my front pasture fence that will hold a few horses. The fence is a three rail white vinyl that I really like the look of. The horses are my wife's idea and something she has always dreamed of. From all I've read, I need to add a hot wire to the top of the fence to keep them off of it.

My experience with hot wire fencing is to buy a $40 unit and run a wire around an area to keep Oscar in. He hates the wire, but if he wants out, he goes right through it. Then after he's done what he wanted to do, he goes back in. With the horses, I don't want to take the chance that they will decide to go through the fence one day and what might happen if they get out.

I've been looking around and it seems that AC chargers range in power from .5 joules to 6 joules. My fence is about 1,800 feet long and I need to run a line at the top for the horses and at the bottom for Oscar and maybe predators. Would 2 joules be enough to stop horses?

While reading the ratings on the packages I saw on one that it gives a different rating for how many weeds it's going through, and also if it's wire or rope, with wire having about twice the power over rope. Which has me wondering which is better and why? this will be permanent. Is the rope and tape just for temporary fences so you can move it around easily? I like the look of rope a lot better then wire, but if the wire is better, then that's what I'll use.

Is there a brand that you recommend and is there one to avoid?

Thank you,
Eddie

If I were you Eddie, I would just get the best available solar one at TSC. They will probably have a lower rated one that will work fine, but there's a good chance you will have a stubborn animal that needs all the shock power you can give him.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

You want a charger that will knock anything that touches it back. It's only a psychological barrier, you want your animals to be terrified of it. You want a charger that makes you subsconsciously afraid of it, where your arm twitches back involuntarily at the memory if you stray too close. I've been using a Patriot P20, 2.0 Joules, and I can still remember vividly the time and place the last time I touched it, and I was wearing rubber sole boots.

A good ground is important, it won't work well without it.

Horses have poor vision. I don't know a lot about horses, but my understanding is the benefit of tape is the horses can see it. Wire should not be used with horses, they can cut themselves. The general rule is the electric fence should be positioned so that animals make contact in front of their eyes so their impulse is to retreat. If the contact is behind their eyes the instinct is to run forward and into the fence. So if possible the fence should touch their noses and not their chests.

 

[MikePA]

I've used Parmak solar chargers for as long as we've had horses, almost 15 years. I started with the 6v model and replaced it with the 12v model about 7 years ago. The 6v was more than adequate. They both charge the horseguardfence electric fence. One pasture has 4" x 4" x 8' posts with three strands of white horseguardfence tape. The other pasture is a wooden fence, with four 1" x 6" rails. The horses pushed on this fence, not to get out but to scratch, until I put 1 strand of horseguardfence tape at the top, inside of the top wooden rail and hooked it to the solar charger. No more pushing on the fence. In both pastures, the posts are in the ground 3' with 5' above ground.

Click Here for the 12v model. I've never had a problem with the solar charger nor wished I had a 120v model. Finally, ditto to what quicksandfarmer said, do not use wire, barbed or otherwise, with horses. Horses are not cattle, once they know the fence shocks, they stay away from it, even though they could push through it, they don't.

 

[RobA]

We have 2 pastures - 1 with 3 board oak fence with no electric and another with 3 strand HorseGuard Bi-Polar electric fencing. The horses don't test either fence. The nice thing about the Bi-Polar fencing is a ground rod is not necessary and tall grass won't short it out. I installed it myself and am about to fence in another 2 acre pasture with it. I highly recommend it. And it looks nice too. I believe horses do not see white very well so we chose the green/brown fencing.

HorseguardFence.com : the best electric fence for Horse

 

[Jimbrown]

For horses you need to run rope. They can see it and once shocked a few times will not get close to it. I have several areas that I just rope off with the electric rope and no charger connected and the horses don't get close to it. Tape works but much harder to work with and the wind tears it up. You really do not need a super hot AC charger unless you have really stubborn animals like wild range cows are the like.

 

[RobA]

Tape works but much harder to work with and the wind tears it up.

I have seen some of the more narrow basic white tape flapping and twisting in the wind. The HorseGuard tape isn't bothered at all by the wind.

 

[MikePA]

Not to sound like a horseguardfence commercial, but it really is a great product. I've had limbs fall on it and while the stand offs on the posts might break, the tape does not. You can splice it if you, um, say, accidentally hit it with a chain saw. I used McFeely ss square drive screws to attach the stand offs to the posts. I also have a corridor that connects 2 pastures with T posts and horseguardfence tape. When I installed mine initially 15 years ago, and 7 years ago, they didn't have the bipolar version. If I was starting over, I'd use the bipolar.

Ditto to RobA, wind doesn't bother the tape. My posts are 8' apart, but some of the 'tape gates' are double that. No issue with wind, snow or ice.

The horseguardfence site has a lot of information about horses and fences. And no offense, but in my opinion, high tensile wire fences are for cattle, not horses.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

We run 5 strand high tensile fence with three hot wires for our horses. Never had one caught in it. I think we have the 50 mile fencer from tractor supply.

 

[JimRB]

We use aluminum wire for our hot wire. If the horses get tangled in it they can break loose. With tape there is a greater risk of getting tangled and cut. Of course every horse person has their own opinion and most are valid. Stafix 120 volt charger with I think two ground stakes. 17 years old and still zapping. I have backed in to it with a wet t-shirt. I do not want to do that again.