Temporary Horse Pasture - Fencing advice please

[Joe Cowboy]

Horses have been all I do for a living for almost 14 years. I have had hundreds of different horses over the years and have miles of fence that I have had in just about every possible style. Any kind of smooth wire and horses do not mix. I've seen a horse die in wire and I've seen multiple horses deglove (as in skin clean) limbs requiring hundreds of stitches. Luckily, by far the best, easiest, most effective and neatest fencing option has also been one of the cheapest and is simple to use and move as a temp fence or to keep permanent. Hit electro-braid.com there's a good chance a Tractor Supply or someone near you carries it, or they ship pretty quick if you order it. last check it was about $200 for a 1200' spool. On flat ground posts can be as far as 75' apart and on hilly or rolling ground posts are only needed to help the line go with the terrain. Be sure to sink 3 grounding rods as they recommend and use the recommended split bolts for connections, not just tied knots. I've had mine for about 8 years and have extremely little maintenance time, the horses respect it and we have exactly zero fence related injuries or incidents. Good Luck. Also, don't confuse the cheap pvc "rope" at the feed store for the same stuff. It rots fast in the elements and ultra-violet, breaks a lot and will drive you nuts in short order. (ps: I do not work for electro-braid )

 

[Dave5264]

For a temporary fence, you could use an electric fencer and wire on insulators on t-posts. I would flag any new electric fence so the horse can see his boundaries. Tie one or two 1 inch strips of rags to the wire between each post.

Put a plastic cap on top of each t-post for safety of the horse and anyone who rides the horse in the area. There have been some tragic freak accidents involving t-posts.

I don't know about using logged posts. I think they will rot rather quickly compared to treated.

This is bang on.

Ive done this many times over the past 2 years as we have been setting up our horse farm.

-T-post's - With SAFTERY CAPS !
-High Tensile Wire -- if you use this - be very very diligent in how you tie it and how you cut the free ends, its sharp and can slice skin very easily if exposed to the horses
-Electric Fencer

all easily removed when you put up the permanent fence

you could use the electrified Rope wire, thats easier to roll up and re use later on, depends if he's the type to "test" the electric fence or not.

when you go permanent, if you want wooden posts, i'd recommend cedar, doesnt rot so quickly.

 

[Dave5264]

Horses have been all I do for a living for almost 14 years. I have had hundreds of different horses over the years and have miles of fence that I have had in just about every possible style. Any kind of smooth wire and horses do not mix. I've seen a horse die in wire and I've seen multiple horses deglove (as in skin clean) limbs requiring hundreds of stitches. Luckily, by far the best, easiest, most effective and neatest fencing option has also been one of the cheapest and is simple to use and move as a temp fence or to keep permanent. Hit electro-braid.com there's a good chance a Tractor Supply or someone near you carries it, or they ship pretty quick if you order it. last check it was about $200 for a 1200' spool. On flat ground posts can be as far as 75' apart and on hilly or rolling ground posts are only needed to help the line go with the terrain. Be sure to sink 3 grounding rods as they recommend and use the recommended split bolts for connections, not just tied knots. I've had mine for about 8 years and have extremely little maintenance time, the horses respect it and we have exactly zero fence related injuries or incidents. Good Luck. Also, don't confuse the cheap pvc "rope" at the feed store for the same stuff. It rots fast in the elements and ultra-violet, breaks a lot and will drive you nuts in short order. (ps: I do not work for electro-braid )

This looks good Joe, wish Id seen this stuff 2 years ago.

Have to see if I can get it in my neck of the woods

 

[flusher]

The only thing separating my neighbor's horses from me is a line of T-posts with two wires, the top one hot. Been that way ever since I moved to my place 6 years ago. Never had one of his animals stray onto my place.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Horses have been all I do for a living for almost 14 years. I have had hundreds of different horses over the years and have miles of fence that I have had in just about every possible style. Any kind of smooth wire and horses do not mix. I've seen a horse die in wire and I've seen multiple horses deglove (as in skin clean) limbs requiring hundreds of stitches. Luckily, by far the best, easiest, most effective and neatest fencing option has also been one of the cheapest and is simple to use and move as a temp fence or to keep permanent. Hit electro-braid.com there's a good chance a Tractor Supply or someone near you carries it, or they ship pretty quick if you order it. last check it was about $200 for a 1200' spool. On flat ground posts can be as far as 75' apart and on hilly or rolling ground posts are only needed to help the line go with the terrain. Be sure to sink 3 grounding rods as they recommend and use the recommended split bolts for connections, not just tied knots. I've had mine for about 8 years and have extremely little maintenance time, the horses respect it and we have exactly zero fence related injuries or incidents. Good Luck. Also, don't confuse the cheap pvc "rope" at the feed store for the same stuff. It rots fast in the elements and ultra-violet, breaks a lot and will drive you nuts in short order. (ps: I do not work for electro-braid )

Joe,

This post was SO AWESOME and full of solid info I had my wife read it so she could see why I spend so much time here at TBN now.

I WILL follow this advice.

THANK YOU!

All,

I took a series of pictures and I am starting a new thread later today called "Temporary horse pasture Project" if you wish to follow this to see what I goof up...

Thanks!

David

 

[JimRB]

As I thought I mentioned, we like the thin aluminum as it stretches and breaks. We have not had a horse lose any fur with the wimpy but sufficient aluminum wire. Of course the problem with that thin wire is it is not very visible so you end up stringing up a bunch of plastic bags or flagging tape which always seems to blow to the posts. Of course if you use some of the better tape another person mentioned it is a bit more visible but we fear a horse getting tangled in it. If a horse learns his perimeter, only another mean horse, dogs or other creatures would spook him into the hot wire.

No opinion on plastic versus fibergalss. We use about 500 of the plastic posts for our cyclocross races. It seems that we break a few posts every race. Generally they break relatively benign meaning we have not had any bloody injuries from racers and posts. I have seen some fiberglass posts at some races but no experience with them at the farm or at the races. We fear the metal T posts but I suppose with palstic safety caps they are no as dangerous.

 

[QRTRHRS]

First off, I would consider any fence to be temporary because all types of fencing require constant maintenance. Secondly, "temp" fencing often ends up to be in service for far longer than originally planned.

That said, IMHO, the best bang and one of the safest options for your buck to get a fence up and running and very easily changed should your plans change is some type of wire rope such as "electro braid" as mentioned. (Electro braid is one of the first to offer this type of fence and one of the better makes for longevity if not your "permanent fencing")

T-posts with the round "head" plastic cap are easily installed by two people and a tractor with a loader. (Something I learned on this website) Simply have one person stand the t-post upright while the other uses the front end loader on the tractor to push the post into the ground.

T-posts have a flat plate towards the bottom to stabilize the post in soft soil. The position of this plate will vary so sort your posts. Place the posts with more length between post bottom and the top of the plate on the higher parts of undulating landscape. The posts with less length from the plate to the bottom go in the lower areas. Makes your fence more visually pleasing to the eye to have the runs more level.

You can buy metal brackets to use T-posts to make braced corners but I feel that they are dangerous for inquisitive horses. Use wooden posts buried to three or four feet instead. Wire rope does not load the corners excessively so an unbraced corner post will suffice.

I like four runs of wire minimum for horses. Make the third row up a ground. Fence power varies with dry ground. If all of the wires are hot, the electric has to conduct all the way back to the charger and ground system. During dry times when the conductivity is lower, a horse can still get shocked by the top or lower wires but being the top two are more likely to be touched (if at all), the shock will be instant and hot!

I think the electro braid brand is quite thick and easy for a horse to see. I have some 1/4" and some 5/16" thick wire rope and the horses seem to see it alright. At least, it has never been run through. The majority of my fence is plastic coated high tensile by the way. Carries a charge, is easy to see, low maint, somewhat "safe", expensive.

I have used 1.5" flat electric tape in the past and do have some for dividing permanent pasture. I have found the make that I first used in 1998 to have gone down hill in quality since then. The hardware is not as heavy and the webbing is quite flimsy. There are still some good albeit pricey makes but I won't use webbing again as mine is replaced. I just think that the wire rope is a more cost efficient option.

Long term, wire buried under a gate to connect the fencing is the way to go. I would still run one strand of wire with handles over the gate(s) to keep the horse from pushing on them.

As mentioned, use wire made for electric fencing and not Romex. You can by single or double strands. Single for the hot only or double if one of your runs is a ground. Long term, I like to put my connecting wires in flexible conduit when I bury them.

 

[Ken45101]

I agree, the electrified rope is easy and quick to install. Wooden corner posts do not need to be braced, a big advantage IMO.:thumbsup:

We have one pasture fenced with it. Only two strands. None of the horses have gotten out as long as the charger is on. Most of the time it even works without the charger. We have had it up for six or seven years now.

That said, this is not a perimeter fence near the road. I would go for something more secure (e.g. more strands) in such a situation. Fortunately, none of our pastures are near a road.

For temporarily dividing a fenced pasture to rotate the grazing, I have used just a single strand of the electrified twine supported on the plastic posts. Worked fine even for our stallion.

Ken

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Here are the pics I promised. They start from the newly bush hogged area and go south towards the wider and mowed areas.

There are at least a couple trees as landmarks in each picture, although the direction I am facing changes to show the full extent of the area I have.

The spots I am standing are all on my gravel road driveway, inside my gate, down a long gravel easment through 2 other properties, and eventually the pavement starts somewhere down there, so we are very isolated from the "road".

So far the advice has been awesome.

OH! I also plan to use some of the trees as posts as well.

I will update you all as I get started.
Be well,
David

 

[USNative]

Good Luck on it, I'm sure you have a good idea of what you want to use now with all the good direction you received from us here on TBN. Setting up a good temp fence is not rocket science and there are a lot of ways to do it but you want to do it with safety for the horse/horses in mind. :thumbsup: