Fencing Recommendations

[MikePA]

What kind of fencing do you horse owners recommend?

We've installed 2 types thus far and I am thinking about using a third on the 3 acres we just purchased.

6" half round PT posts with 4 oak rails
We had this installed by a 'professional'. At first he tried pounding the posts in with a hydro post driver on the the front of his tractor. It was mid-summer and the ground was so hard (lack of rain) he only got one post in before giving up on this idea. He switched to using a PHD, which was somewhat better, but he could not consistently get the posts in very deep, so he had to concrete some of them in. The horses started leaning on the rails to get to the greener grass and broke some of the topmost oak rails, usually where there were knots which weakened the board. The pushing also caused the fence to lean somewhat. As a reaction, I ran electric fence tape around the inside of the top rail, no more problem.

4" x 6" x 8' PT posts with 1" x 6" x 16' PT rails
I replaced the original fence (see above) around the paddock and was able to get all the posts 3' into the ground and while it looks nice, the PT lumber was expensive.

What I am considering using around the 3 acres are T Posts (with covers) and electric fence from HorseGuard Fencing http://www.horseguardfence.com/pages2k/cat49.html. The T posts would be installed 16' apart, covered with the vinyl protection pictured at the aforementioned web site plus 4 strands of the white electric tape connected to a solar fence charger.

Your thoughts and recommendations?

 

[rf33]

Depending on the availability in your area of pipe, I like a 4 rail 2 7/8" pipe fence. This fence really holds up well, and it has the benefit over electric in that I can go through or over it (so can my kids) without the hair raising shock. I like high tensile smooth wire for cattle (with the option of electrifying), but for horses, I really like the welded pipe. The cost is certainly higher than wire, but probably not any higher than the wooden types you have described.

rf33

/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Personally I just go with high tensile. I make two strands electrified, the top and next one to the bottom as this is where they stick their heads. High tensile is great. I've had horses run into this and just bounce off. I put in a wood post every 40' with two t-posts in between. I usually do six strands and make it 48" tall. Personally I can't stand the tape fences. After awhile it loosens and looks like crap in my opinion. If you are looking at rail fences go with the pvc fencing. It costs a little more than wood fencing but not much and lasts forever and best of all no maintaining it!

 

[MikePA]

High tensile requires the sturdy corners, i.e., diagonal braces in each direction? Do you concrete the corners?

I checked into the PVC and the posts need concreted in. Not a show-stopper but a little more work and $.

 

[hess]

Mike,

I'm not exactly sure as to where you live in PA, but I live in Chester County, and I recently fenced in 5 acres of my land for our horses.

I purchased rough cut 4X4 posts (treated pine) and 1X6X16' oak boards from Stockton Lumber in Unionville, PA. I ran three boards high, spaced so that my Lab can get under the lowest rail, and so that the top rail is about 54". This prevents the horses from being able to lean, nor can they fit their heads in between the rails.

I DO NOT recommend the T posts, for the simple fact that if the electric goes off, the horses could escape, and T posts are dangerous to big, stupid animals who like to rub up against everything.

I think the mistake many people make with horses, is that they deal with them like cattle or sheep, when it comes to fencing. I have seen horses run from a wispy piece of paper blowing across the pasture, as if it were out to get them and crash through tree branches, and on one occasion, an aluminum gate. I'd hate to think of what a high tensile wire would do to their flesh, or the consequences of a horse getting out after they easily broke the wire mesh tape.

There is nothing like a tall, clearly seen, wooden fenceline to turn a horse. Electricity just helps them to mind their manners.

Best of luck, hess.

 

[MikePA]

I checked the price for vinyl and just the fencing materials would cost almost $9,000 /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif!

Just for the heck of it, I requested quotes from a local fencing company for 3 and 4 rail PVC and wood.

I will check out the lumber yard in Unionville. I live in south central PA.

 

[MikePA]

Do you have a phone number for Stockton Lumber? I looked them up at http://www.anywho.com and could not find them.

Could you have meant Stockton Supply?

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
If you're interested there is a company here that is closing out that PVC white fencing for $20 an eight foot section. The local store is $34 an eight foot section.

Hess,
I totally agree with you on the fact that horses will run through fences but they are few and far between. Once a horse knows the boundaries of a fence it takes extraordinary circumstances for them to go through. Anyway for quarter horses, I haven't raised other breeds. Horses that I have seen go through fences will go through anything that is in their way whether a wood fence, high tensile, fabric, etc., even a building, it doesn't matter. I've seen horses get a broken board rammed through them as well as wire cuts. For the most part if you have enough strands the horse won't get hurt very much with the high tensile. I've seen horses run right into it and just bounce off without any harm at all. If we're talking about putting up a horse proof fence then we need to basically put the horse in a 12x12 padded stall. Horses can and will get hurt on all kinds of things. The best stuff to get is probably horse fence. It's a pvc type plastic that has a high tensile wire going through it that is encased as well. It's called a four inch plastic rail. A 660' coil is around $280. It stays looking good and is easy to tighten if it goes loose. There is virtually no chance of a horse getting hurt this way. I always use high tensile because it's cheap, in my opinion isn't a hazard to horses, and it's easy to put up and maintain.

 

[SteveBenson]

Mike,

You might want to contact RAMM fence (in OH I think) for a sales flier. They have a good variety of fencing sloutions specifically for horses. We had our fence delivered to CT no problem. I you are interested in high tension wire fence you might want to check out thier 5/16" coated high tension wire. It's 12.5 gauge high tension wire but is coated with PVC to make it 5/16" thick so it can't cut. They also have a neat new product that is similar to 5/16 coated wire but has some carbon seams built into it so it can be electrified (great if your horses need to lean on everything). Mix n' match.

www.RAMMfence.com

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
With regards to putting in high tensile or any fence you really need to have braces at all corners. Depending on the length you will either need a single or a double corner brace. You really don't need to concrete it in either just make sure that your corner posts are at least 3' into the ground. I was just looking at some alternatives in a catalog that I have for you and it you are worried about the cost and safety of fencing I would think about the coated high tensile or that horse fence I mentioned. You can see some of this as well at www.kencove.com. The reason I stay away from wood fencing is that it is so high maintenance AND the stupid horse chew on it all the time no matter what you try and do to stop them. It only takes one horse to start doing it and then your whole herd is doing it. Last year I had a friends rope horse stay at my house. I put him in the roping pen with some others and by the next day he had taught them all to chew and they had just about chewed the top oak boards off of my roping box!

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Take a look at this fence.
http://www.kencove.com/plas.htm

 

[Rodneyd]

Mike,
I agree with cowboydoc. I put in tensil fencing about 12 years ago. Hardly looked at it since as far as upkeep. I put in 5 strands with the next to top electric. After getting shocked once or twice my 3 horses respected it. Much better than barbed wire in that if you have a show horse and it does get into it, it won't cut up the horse. With that said, the only time I did have a problem, my big old horse got spooked with lightening one night. We think he actually took a close hit. Anyway, unlike cowboydoc's horse, he went through. He snapped a heavyduty t-post, broke the top three strands. He had marks across his chest and took the hide off his one back leg. If that would have been wooden or barbed wire or anything else, I think he would have been history. I think the only reason he snapped the wire is because of his size and he had to be moving. If I were doing it again, I would do the same thing. If you are concerned about the posts, they make a plastic cap that fits on top of the posts that protects the horse or humans.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Mike - I just fenced in approx. 3 acres this summer for my 3 horses. I wanted a fence that was functional but also that looked good. I check on the 4 inch flexible fence that Cowboydoc talked about but it was too expensive for a 3 acre pasture - I am going to use it for an arena. I did alot of research and settled on RAMM's plastic coated high tensile. It is high tensile sturdy but also is very visable and gives a nice appearance. My pasture is approx. 400 ft by 300 ft and I also put in a diagonal to divide the area into two pastures. I put in 4x4x8 posts 14 feet apart with single braces using 6x6x8 at the corners and by the gates. At the braces and on the diagonal the posts are 8 feet apart. The posts are 3 feet in the ground and I used one bag of instant concrete in each corner and gate post. I'm in Ohio and was also concerned about the ground being so hard this summer so I rented a bobcat with an auger for two days for about $250.00. I used six strands with one of them being electric. I don't think you need more than 1 electric strand - the horses seem to get the message. With one friend helping me most of the time and working all day every weekend and just about every evening, it took me about 1 month to get the fence up. The posts were the most work. We had to deal with alot of rocks and the soil was so dry it fell back into the hole and we had to do alot of digging. Go on the internet (I just put in "horse fence") and you will find lots of sites regarding fence. The people at RAMM fence were very helpful and I ended up bying all my fence materials from them (except the posts which I got at Carter Lumber for 4x4x8 - $5.50 each and 6x6x16 - $18.00). The RAMM fencing materials and the 4 inch flexible fence for a 70 x 60 arena ended up costing about $3,400.00.

 

[HarveyM]

One creative method for setting the posts that my neighbor uses is tp drill a 4" hole with an auger, then use the FEL to push a 6 or 8 inch post into it. The posts that he and I set between us have remained VERY solid.

We then used high tensile, and the main advice I would give there would be to keep the lines close together and very tight to keep horses hooves from getting stuck.

 

[radman]

Personally, if you have a lot of fencing to do, an electric wire works great a keeping horses in line. I use high tensile for all rows except one row of electric wire about 21/2-3' high. This usually stops them from reaching through or over. Once a horse learns about an electric fence they usually won't bother them again. In my vet days, I once treated a horse caught in a prarie fire. The horse was trapped between the fire and a single strand of electric fence wire. Unfortunately, the horse was so conditioned to the electric wire he withstood the fire rather than run through the fence to escape. Poor animal suffered severe burns and had to be destroyed.
Overall, pipe works great but too expensive for large areas. Wood is too high maintenance and as cowboy doc said, loves to be chewed on (cribbing) by some horses.

 

[hess]

Mike,

Try this: http://www.stocktonsupply.baweb.com/stocktonsupply3.html

Good luck, hess.

 

[tag9889]

Last summer fenced 8 acres + paddock, PT posts & 2X6's for paddock with hot scare wire over all boards (I have a cribber and chewer!) Pasture is 2 strands wire + 1 top strand rope for visibility, all wires electrified. Used springs for tensioning wire and rope. Tree fell in 1st 30" storm in March, dropped fence, nothing broke. Got the tree off after the next 30" storm melted some and it popped back upright.

Used 6" round PT posts, on corners and fiberglass rod posts in between. The rope withstands snow and wind better than tape plus lifespan is longer (depending on what you buy. Hi tensile was not recommended for horses (cheese cutter effect)

Check out Premier fencing - they sell sheep, cattle, horse, deer, etc. Good instructions & recommendations in catalog. Web site http://www.premier1supplies.com/ Good info for decision making. The chargers are not cheap. Have had cheap charger and you have to do a lot more line clearing to keep the shock. Good grounding is essential no matter what charger. Premier explains this, and how soil conditions affect (snow, wet, dry) grounding.

I also checked out Ramm fence, but Premier has better how to do information.

You could spend a lot of money on fence.

 

[cowboydoc]

Mike,
Just to let you know the cost on high tensile. I figured up last night what it costs me to do every 8' and it was about $4. This is based on putting wooden posts every 39 foot with two steel posts in between, the cost of the insulators to insulate two strands, corner posts, nails, and six strands of 12.5 gauge wire.

 

[MikePA]

cowboydoc - 50 cents/foot is a pretty good price.

For wood fences, do you prefer nailing the rails or using screws?

Also, is it a special spray paint people use to mark where the posts go?

I was also thinking about keeping the fence in about 10' from the property lines so I can mow the grass on the outside with my tractor. Each side butts up to either a road or a woods.

 

[gerard]

Mike, I agree with Cowboy doc about having to retension the tape fences once in awhile (We have two acres done with the tape, 4 strands but should have gone with 3) but it's a lot safer for the horse. If you have older horses the wire may not be a problem but if you have horses with a "little energy" they can cut themselves pretty badly on wire fencing. If I had to do it over again I'd go with the plastic encapsulated high tension fence like "centaur". Best of both worlds. Horse safe, won't cut and stays tensioned and tight but also costs more than the electric tape and t posts. I'd never go with wood. Between chewing, leaning and just plain weathering you're fixing the fence all the time + it's expensive!