# Vinyl fencing or wooden fencing



## Maggiemoo2 (Mar 7, 2016)

I'm having a really hard time deciding on vinyl or wooden fencing. The cost is only about 1000$ difference but what are your personal opinions/ experiences with both? Thanks


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We have had Centaur fencing for over 10 years and absolutely love it! It has help up well with our horses and still looks great. We are planning on fencing in another field and will definitely use this or Ramm fencing. We have the 5 inch high tensile fence that is not hot.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I would only ever use vinyl fencing if it was vinyl horse fencing not the fencing you use at a normal home....there is a difference.
The house stuff gets brittle, will not withstand a horse bouncing off of it. It explodes on impact, with sharp shards to lacerate, puncture and destroy all in its path. 
{I actually witnessed this happen, darn scary!!} :shock:

So with that said....
I much prefer board fencing or horse wire fencing that prevents a hoof getting through it by the design.
A top rail absolutely used so no one is stretching their neck over and bending the fence down for that last piece of grass they can reach. :icon_rolleyes:

_*No fence is maintenance free...don't care what any company says.*_
You _must_ periodically check your posts.
You _must_ check to make sure you have no broken boards, sagging vinyl sections, uncovered bottom that a hoof can get stuck under....removal of branches and such from it...and to just plain clean it of mold and dirt that accumulates if you want it to look its best.
I have a combination of 4 board {posts are 6'6" apart for strength}, woven horse wire with top rail and livestock fencing depending upon where you are on my property.
The fences have been up for more than 15 years now and are in as good a shape today as the day they were installed. I have round pipe gates with mesh so my dogs stay out of the horses area and remain safe.
All my posts are 8' long, not cemented in either and they don't move.
My fences everywhere are near 54" high....that height works with my 16 hand grass monsters. Keeps them from getting into to much trouble so far....
:runninghorse2:....
_jmo..._


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

My take: wood needs more maintenance but will age gracefully with care. When it's too old to do its job it becomes small-project wood then kindling then compost. Vinyl doesn't age gracefully and when it is too old it goes to the dump, where it stays, as it is of no use to any living thing. So my vote is always for wood, protected from chewing by a lil hot wire. 

Because I live in a natural fire biome, when I see a vinyl fence I tend to visualize this:


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

OUCH!!!
:runninghorse2:....


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

I strongly say a big fat NO to vinyl fencing for horses. 

IMO.

Between those two options (wood vs vinyl) I would go with wood, hands down.


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

I love my wood fencing. It looks nice and repairs are easy. 

Oh a post is broken? Unscrew the boards attached, pop it out, pop a new one back in, reattach boards. 

Board broken? Unscrew board, screw on a new board. 

I've heard horror stories about vinyl so that was not on my list or fencing choices before I put mine up.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Avna said:


> When it's too old to do its job it becomes small-project wood then kindling then compost.


Very good points....


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## Maggiemoo2 (Mar 7, 2016)

If I were to get centaur fencing. Is it only through them that can install it? I looked at the instructions and it looks complicated.


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## wbwks (Apr 5, 2014)

I have some vinyl fencing close to my house so it is "pretty". It is not horse strong, I have a hotwire running the inside so the animals stay off of it. 

I have had a couple of boards crack/break but I have a stash of extra parts so I can repair them myself. 

I had to remove the hotwire recently because I have a mare in that pasture due to foal, I didn't want any type of electric fence anywhere the foal would be and yesterday I looked out my kitchen window and saw the mare scratching her butt on the fence, luckily it didn't break. LOL I hollered at her and she looked at me like "what?" my butt itches!!! 

It is pretty but not a good thing to have. I was told it was horse fence but eh no.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

Vinyl gets cold and cracks. The wind blows, vinyl breaks. You look at it cross eyed and it breaks.

Vinyl requires a hot wire inside to keep the stock away from it.

Wood, its sturdy. Its easy to fix. It handles wind. It handles cold and heat.

And you can look at it crosseyed and nothing will happen.


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

ChitChatChet said:


> Vinyl gets cold and cracks. The wind blows, vinyl breaks. *You look at it cross eyed and it breaks.
> *
> Vinyl requires a hot wire inside to keep the stock away from it.
> 
> ...



Hahaha I'm sorry but that made me laugh way more than it should have. :rofl::clap:


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

Planning the Centaur/Cenflex fencing system at my house right now. Vinyl but flexible.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

Phantomcolt18 said:


> Hahaha I'm sorry but that made me laugh way more than it should have. :rofl::clap:


LOL

Vinyl....Its great for the first few years then it just looks for an excuse top break.


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## Chasin Ponies (Dec 25, 2013)

Vinyl fencing sure is pretty but everyone I know who uses it has had to add at least 2 electric fence wires to it. Horses seem to always be looking for a surface to rub their butts on and the panels pop right out.

One of my clients had all of her horses escape 5 times into her (very unhappy!) neighbor's gardens before she finally figured out she need electric fencing too!


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## backyardhorse (Feb 22, 2013)

Have been in the industry long enough to have seen it all, and vote for the vinyl. The point was made that vinyl can break and create sharp shards, but so can wood.... I've seen a horse with an itchy butt deflect a vinyl fence better than 2', without it breaking (I was amazed!), usually if it does break, it's at the ends where they fit into the posts, As horselovinguy noted, it MUST be horse quality fence, though, not residential. Installation is more difficult with the vinyl, but the maintenance ( or lack thereof) required will be much less. Right now, I'm only getting about 8-9 years out of our wood rails, and I bet that the vinyl I put in 15 years ago (at a different place) is still looking good


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