Need help on choosing a fence.

[andrea]

I only have about three acres to put 10 horses on. We have them fenced in with round pens right now. I now live in a very residentual area. We are grandfathered claused in with our horses. What kind of fencing do you feel would be best. I really worry about them getting out. I have a railroad tracks on one side of me. And alot of houses and a busy road around me. Anyway, i need suggestions on fencing that a horse can not break thru. Thanks all.

[CarolU]

Well, on the railroad track and highway side(s) I'd put up a solid or post/rail fence that horses won't try. Protect ALL fences with electric, high and mid-high. If the horses never lean on the fence, they can never push it over or through it.

On the people side, you could get buy with medium mesh wire fence, again protected by electric. You want the wire small enough to keep neighbor's dogs and cats out, and the electric to keep your horses and their kids seperated. Dumb kids try to feed their fingers to unsuspecting horses, and stupid parents sue.

Good fences make good neighbors.

[pnalley]

Wooden poles no more then 8 to 10 feet apart. 5 foot horse wire (woven not welded) a board at the top. Run a hot line at the inside edge of the board so they neither lean or chew.

This is a nice looking, functional fence. It keeps small critters in or out, but id dogs dig a hot wire at the bottom is needed.

[cristy]

I have been researching fence, trying to decide what is best, I have come up with basically what they said. 2x2 squares woven wire (no climb). I would put the posts no more than 10 foot apart, put the wire on the inside of the posts (so the horses won't eat the posts) and then put the sight boards on the inside. I am also going to put a board on the bottom too
( I am afraid of the horses laying down to roll and getting legs under fence.) I have heard that the horses do not chew on oak as much as pine, and I have also been told if you paint it with diesel fuel they will not chew on it. I don't know, I have not tried it yet.

For me this fence is perfect, keeps the kids and the critters out and safely keeps the horses in.

[Terry Wallace]

I would reccommend diamond mesh of 42" height with a top hot wire.

I have non-climb (woven) that has a board top. I am removing most all of it. I will not ever buy it again. it has not held up for the price.

If you get non climb or diamond mesh... if you will kerf cut your posts and in-set your top board, you can run your non-climb or diamond mesh right over the "horse-side" of the top board.
That protects your top board from horse chew damage. All my non-climb holding pens are done this way.

I've tried all kinds of treatments to wood including diesel, used oil, no-chew...and nothing works for very long. That is why if you build it right the first time, and run your wire upon your top board, you won't have to worry about coating top boards every month or so...

If you don't want to kerf cut your posts...you can edge your boards with drywall corner and that works well... the trick to that is to GLUE the drywall corner (right in the center of the corner with a bead of...) with liquid nails AND cap screw it to the top boards. If you do not glue it, a horse can pinch it up with his teeth and make it look like crumpled metal.
drywall corner is about 99 cents a stick.

The very best fence I have bought and have now is cold-rolled steel horse panels, 16 feet long and five feet tall... they make great holding pens and are virtually maintenance free. To keep horses from chewing on treated posts...I wrap the post with hardware cloth before I attach the fence.... this would be too pricey for field fencing, but if you need an indestructable stallion pen or holding pen... its "the ticket"....

The most economical fencing will likey be t-posts and diamond mesh.
get post toppers for all t-posts... I also glue toppers on with liquid nails, as horse can pull them off if you just stick on with nothing. That topper will allow you to run a top hot wire, as well as protect your horses from possible t-post damage. You won't need a top board for 42" diamond mesh..you will need a top board for non-climb... or it will sag between posts eventually....

[Privatetreaty]

If you ever do ANYTHING to your home, ALWAYS do it to Code.
Ideally, you want to pull a permit.
Some folks don't want to go thru the time and expense. I always pull a owner/builder permit, just to keep the worker in check.

In the event you get "red flagged" in the future, at least they don't make you tear it down.



If you have a railroad or busy urban area, the best thing to do is sacrifice some land and plant a hedge for privacy. If you plant a fiscus hedge (1 foot apart), it will grow in no time and will deter neighborhood kids from getting to close to the horses.

Good luck.

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[Terry Wallace]

Pull a permit for FENCING? Not here! not required....Why would you pull a permit for field fence on three acres PT? ;-)

[Privatetreaty]

In Miami-Dade County, permits are required for work over $500.


If you get Red Flagged in Miami-Dade County, the permit fee triples and if the job is not to code (and not fixable), they will REQUIRE a tear down.

And if you don't tear it down, they will Lien your property with a $50 per day penalty (more in some Municipalities). Which means $1,500 a month penalty.

Make very sure you don't need a permit before starting ANY work on your property.

Remember, ignorance is NOT an excuse in the eyes of the law. Just because you didn't know the speed limit was 30, doesn't mean you are not getting a speeding ticket. Think about it.


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[Candice Burger]

For high density grazing, the fence posts should be no more than 8-10 feet apart. This adds allot of stength to your horizontal fence no matter the material. If horses tend to lean or push against the fence, the pressure is distibuted no only along the horizontal but the vertical too.

I would not use wooden fencing where you expect high performance of the fence. I've seen the quality of wood used for fencing and it's marginal. We've got horse fences all over our area using barbed wire or hot wire to keep the horses from breaking the boards and allot of repairs going on. For a wooden rail fence the rule of thumb to expect begin repairs 5-7 years after installation. If you are putting up hot wire it should not be to protect the fence but to provide a second barrier, the first being the fence. Hot wiring does fail on occasion.

I'd also check into the state statutes in your area and see what the legal definition of a livestock fence is. In Florida the definition is very specific. Should your horses get out and you have some sort of unfortunate accident involving your horses and vehicles, you can expect a visit from police and insurance companies inspecting your fence to see if you are negligent. I'm not saying this to scare anyone or bring doom or gloom--just saying "be prepared" like a good boy scout.

Wire mesh fencing provides the best protection for your horses from the outside. If you plan on using hot wire as your second barrier, you can go with a typical "livestock" fence with 6-inch vertical stays instead of the no-climb fence. It will be cheaper and still do the job. When the hot wire fails (and it will temporarily; electricity outages, lightening, groundings, etc. will happen), then the perimeter fence must hold up to any pressure.

I read a study when I was researching into fencing material about what was the safest fencing for horses. The study involved TB farms around the Florida area. They found mesh fencing caused the least injuries when horses hit the fence and provided the overall best protection. It was way better than wood railing.

Now I don't like mesh wire. No-climb is a waste of money in my opinion and the other livestock wire lets hoofs get hung up too easily. But I have it and it's doing the job. I had to think about what to put up since I'm not living anywhere near where my horses are at. I'm at least a 30 minute commute and my neighbors are trees and sod. I like a polymer rail fence and if I lived there, that is what I'd eventually put up. However, rail fences allow feet, legs, and heads to stick through and even with hot wire (which will fail on occasion) I had to know for certain I wouldn't drive up to see a hung up horse or my horny stallion loose or a foal wandering around screaming for its mother.

I ended up with high-tensile mesh wire that is 4 feet high (can't say enough good about high-tensile for high density fencing) and a 6-inch polymer rail on top so that the entire fence is around 5 feet high. This protects my wire from horses, I can tighten the polymer rail easily and I don't use hot wire (which will fail on occasion). If I had neighboring horses, traffic, or shared fences between pastures, I'd also have hot wire for added security. I used that method at a grazing lease I had and the combo worked nicely. I did have the hot wire fail on occasion (I hope by now you got the HINT) and a few wounds to the fence as a result, but the fence held and the horses were where they needed to be relatively unhurt.

I've seen another nice fencing system that uses electrical rope and wooden posts. I'm paranoid or my horses are trouble makers or at least I think they are. I've seen them test out the hot wire and figure out when it's not on. I'm usually welcomed with wire all over the place because some smart-wise horse decided to play with the wire. I can imagine them testing out the electric rope and then visiting my distant neighbors' horses.

Some folks use T-posts but that's a disaster waiting to happen. I've seen a few horses that tried to gut themselves on T-posts or ram on through their chests. I'd rather spend the thousands of dollars on a fence than a vet bill.

A plug for some good people to talk to--go to kencove.com. They've are very knowledgeable and can help you design your fence and give you an idea of the materials you'll need. They carry just about any type of fencing you can imagine. We didn't buy our fencing from them but did buy allot of the extraneous tools and the polymer rail from them. We called them up for advice on installation and they are very helpful.

[andrea]

I have a amish man that sinks in the wood posts with a machine. I feel i need to use wood posts for support. I have two belguims that can just rub there butt on the T posts and they would bend over. So , my thoughts are to sink in the wood posts. Put one top board on and run the diamond mesh. Then put 3 strains of electric. One on the top post. Electric and mesh will be on the inside of fencing. And using the extended electric holders. I believe they come out about 3 or 4 inches. I am thinking about using the electric rope wire. I am afraid of the regular electric wire. I have seen some very bad injuries where horses hae been tangled up in it. The rope wire seems to roll off of leg is they get there leg in it. I want to be as safe as possible but with no injuries if they get tangled up into it. I am lucky the railroad tracks do have trees and scrubs lineing it with a ditch. Wondering how much the diamond mesh costs.per foot. quess i will have to make a run to tsc. Thanks all of you for the advice.

[Privatetreaty]

Pursuant to our code, wood post holes are 2 feet deep and require a hole inspection. The posts are then set in cement. Once the pickets (or other barrier) is in place, a final inspection is requested.


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[SandyMM]

I didn't see the diamond mesh at TSC although they may carry it. We went with the 2x4 Red Brand. Still need to get a top rail up as the gras-is-greener syndrome can play havoc with the topline of the fence... I bought an electric fence charger and all the fixin's - just need to get the rebar for the grounding and get it all installed.... one of these days...

[Terry Wallace]

If you have two Belgain horses, you need fence higher than 42" ... I was assuming it was light stock and not draft stock...and yes I would use wood posts with concrete.... All posts in critical areas here are set with concrete as I don't want horses pushing on fence posts, and concrete-set posts allow you to get the wire strung tight.

42" height of fence on the rear of a Belgian is probably perfect butt-scratch height and you don't want to encourage that, plus they may try to reach over top of it.....

[Candice Burger]

Diamond mesh is gonna cost you. I'd shop around for prices. It's a great product though.

I know allot of folks still believe in Red Brand fencing like the no-climb and it is safe. I'm with TerryW about it's usefulness. Red Brand has been around forever, but they are not up with the technology and benefits of new materials. I was a no-climb all-the-way person until I tried it and it didn't last half as long as claimed.

An alternative for the same cost is the high tensile "fixed knot" or "solidlock" by Bekaert. The difference is the vertical stays are not broken and then twisted like Red Brand. The fence vertical and horizontal stays are tied down separately and fixed so that they will not slide or move around. No weak joints. The horizontal stays are high-tensile providing more pounds of pressure/foot (lots more), and it breaks insteads of stretching like Red Brand. Because it takes more pounds of pressure, it takes allot before it will break. My horses have tested it over the years and I can attest they'll bounce off or over before breaking or stretching the fence. Shakened but unhurt and the fence too-no serious repair work.

Bekaert makes a comprable "no-climb" that I covet but couldn't afford. The spacing for the vertical stays is 3 inches. http://www.bekaert.com/na/Agriculture/Solidlock%20Horse%20Fence.htm

[andrea]

I am really getting alot of information from you all. Thank you. Because i had to buy alot of round pens to seperate the horses. I will use the round pens as a third backup on the part where the belguims will be along with the electic and the mesh fencing. Those bugers can destroy just about anything. I have a few round pens i gave to the amish because the belguims were scratching there butt on them and bent them real good. The belguims are the smaller stocky type. About 17 hands. We do not have to have permits here for livestock fencing. And the electic very seldom ever goes out here. Maybe once a year. Lucky us. I quess that is what you get for living in the suburban area.

Have me thinking on the high tensel now. I will go check out some sites on them.

I have to be money wise here also. We are fencing in 2 acres of the neighbors proplerty. (I have a great neighbor.) But she has had bouts of cancer and you never know. If something was to happen to her i could loose the fencing if the family was to sell it. Hopefully I would be able to buy it though. The house needs mowed down and I would not pay a out rageous price for it. I am trying to talk her into selling it to us and give her lifetime privileges to the house. She is having a hard time making up her mind. But is thinking on it. Thanks again for all the information.

[jodiTowne]

I use electric rope and love it, but my horses are great. If I ran a shoestring they would stay inside of it (except the mini). I was able to do the whole fence myself except hubby put in the wood posts. Very economical. The first pasture I put up 3 years ago and have had to do nothing but change some insulators damaged by 4 ft. of snow.