Corner posts - How deep?

[Car Doc]

The best way I know is use steel pipe as deep as my tractor auger will go and thats little over 3" but I use 3 posts and weld braces to keep the apart and add strength to the corner.

 

[mjw357]

I personally don't recommend using galvanized wire for all strands as it can become too invisible for playful or spooked horses to see. As a minimum the top strand should be highly visible. Here I like to use a braided white electric line. As I have tall horses I go 4 strand 5 ft high where the top and middle are braided white electric to improve visibility and keep horses off the fence lines and posts.

I second that. DO NOT USE SMOOTH WIRE for horses. My wife had to put a horse down after getting sliced by it. We use a product called Electrobraid. Highly visible, less posts. They have a website, look it up.

One mistake many people make with corners posts/brace posts, is they put the brace post too close to the corner post. That's why they may lift out of the ground. Make it 8'-10' away.

 

[MMagis]

No offense guys, but some horse owners get a little out of hand. No smooth wire? Then what the heck are people suppose to use, because of course barb wire is the devils wire. Come on, horses aren’t as delicate as some of you think. I can’t even imagine how 9 gauge smooth wire could possible cut a horse. Not everyone wants to spend the ridiculous amount of money to build board fence, when thousands upon thousands of horses are kept in with wire. One of my neighbors even uses the dreaded BARB WIRE. And his horses are fine and have been for years. He’s not your typical horse owner though. He’s quick to tell you they’re farm horses, not baby kittens.

 

[ole farmerbuck]

Around here its barb wire for everything. Single strand.....hot!

 

[dmay]

No offense guys, but some horse owners get a little out of hand. No smooth wire? Then what the heck are people suppose to use, because of course barb wire is the devils wire. Come on, horses aren稚 as delicate as some of you think. I can稚 even imagine how 9 gauge smooth wire could possible cut a horse. Not everyone wants to spend the ridiculous amount of money to build board fence, when thousands upon thousands of horses are kept in with wire. One of my neighbors even uses the dreaded BARB WIRE. And his horses are fine and have been for years. Heç—´ not your typical horse owner though. Heç—´ quick to tell you theyæ±*e farm horses, not baby kittens.

Ever used a smooth wire cheese slicer? Pretty easy for that smooth wire to slice a hard brick of aged cheddar cheese.

Ever heard of snowmobiler getting decapitated running into a utility pole smooth guide wire.

Thankfully you must have no experience with a horse injured by a galvanized wire fence. Believe me when I say smooth wire injuries are a horrific injury whether to horse or man.

Typically occurs for three reasons:

1) The fence is not electric so the horses do not know to respect and avoid it. They are always in close proximity or worse head, leg and body through due to the grass always being greener on the outside.

2) The fence is all galvanized wire which at times may be highly invisible. A playful, spooked or bullied galloping horse might run right into the invisible fence at speed. Especially true if non electric and not respected.

3) The horse gets a leg on the other side. Either from rolling on the ground or grazing the outside grass. When it tries to stand up or walk away the leg feels stuck, the horse panics, pulls back, and slices flesh right off the bone.

This above can almost be completely deterred by correctly electrifying your fence so horses learn to respect and avoid the fence and using more visible fence material, like a white electrobraid as mentioned. Electrifiy at least the top and middle strands. If you just electrify the top the horse will learn he can still reach through the lower strands without issue to get that greener grass.

 

[Bison]

For horses wood planks or rails are the best.
i have lost horses when they tried to jump page wire and smooth wire and got a foot stuck(not a pretty sight)
I also lost a filly that broke both hindlegs jumping a steel pasture gate,poking both hinds under the top bar.
Barb wire is h3ll on a horse.

 

[MMagis]

I guess those are all good reasons why I won't own horses. Cattle aren't that smart, but they don't get tangled in the fences and they taste good.

 

[Chilly807]

If you have trouble with the corner posts "jacking" up out of the ground because of the braces, try using longer posts for the corners, and attach the diagonal brace ABOVE the top strand of fence, the higher the better.

We're relatively comfortable with smooth 14 gauge wire for horses, we use a wire bottom (4th) strand, then a braided (electrified) third and top strand, with another smooth wire (2nd) between the top and third strands.

Accidents happen, even with Electro-Braid... The best you can do is keep it tight enough there aren't any sags or loose wire.

Sean

 

[Bison]

I guess those are all good reasons why I won't own horses. Cattle aren't that smart, but they don't get tangled in the fences and they taste good.

Cattle get hurt by fences plenty.they ain't any smarter than horses,they are just not as high on the list of emotional attachment as horses

BTW,horse meat tastes pretty good,should try it someday

 

[MMagis]

I guess I should say MINE have never gotten tangled in the fence.