# Best Fence for Your Buck?



## Nightside (Nov 11, 2012)

Most everyone I know uses field fence, the big squares that come in a roll. Unroll, pull tight, and staple. Pretty easy as far as fences go.
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## BigGirlsRideWarmbloods (Mar 28, 2010)

I have the multi-strand, High-tensile electric, smooth wire New Zealand fencing. 4 strands in the pasture, 5 strands in the turnouts. It's probably the cheapest to install, and its fine. I am working to replace it with no climb mesh and a solid top rail with 2" hot tape, ONLY Because I regularly breed and have foals.
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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

I wouldn't put in field fencing if you paid me to. I am looking at ripping out 15 acres of it. Horse put his foot through a square, caught his shoe and ripped off shoe + half of hoof. This was 3 months after he tried was fighting with a horse on the other side, reared up and slammed his foot down on it which of course sliced the entire back of his heel bulb open. 

Fencing is cheaper than Vet + Farrier bills.... TRUST ME!

My horse is very respectful of fencing (providing the idiot neighbor doesn't pasture his gelded at 15 horse on the other side who is KNOWN to pick fights with every single gelding) so I'm going to do 4 strands of electric tape on the existing T-posts and electrify 2 of them.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

We are putting in no climb with electric on top.
$1.90 a foot installed. But I'm sure after 1 day of pounding into solid limestone it'll go up, LOL!!!
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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

We use high tinsel. 5 wire in the front pasture because it was there (though I just cut the bottom wire out). And two wire in the back. If the front wasn't already done I'd just use two wire.
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## Nightside (Nov 11, 2012)

Haha, I've never had a problem with field fence. Mine is field fence with a strand of barb wire at the top, about 6 feet high. Encourages the horses to keep their heads on their own side o the fence. But then again, I also don't keep horses with shoes so that may make a bit of difference. The rest of the pastures are either chain link with wood at the top to block the pokies, or just plain wood. Neither of those second options are usually cheap.
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## Nickers2002 (Nov 25, 2009)

We bought the place with wooden post and board. So far so good and the fences are about 15 years old we were told so should get at least another decade out of them before thinking of replacing anything hopefully.


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## Koolio (Apr 7, 2010)

I've had 4 strands of 3/8"electrified poly rope attached to treated wood posts for coming up 3 years now. It was relatively inexpensive to install and has been pretty close to maintenance free through all 4 of our extreme seasons. It still looks fantastic. I have not had a fence related injury with any of my 4 horses on this fence yetand they all have a healthy respect for it. (Knock on wood) I do keep it hot, so I do have the maintenance cost of power, but that is it. 

Basically this is an inexpensive and very effective system.


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

We use electrified poly rope and aluminum wire. The rope for visibility and the aluminum wire seems to offer a better shock on thick manes. The place started with the electrified tape but it regularly snapped and stretched in our high winds - even the more expensive stuff so we switched to the rope and strand of aluminum wire instead and have been very happy since. 

Easy and affordable and even the haflinger we had that would use any wood fencing like a gate and walk through stayed in the electric fencing.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Getting ready to fence in my side pasture, and will be using t-posts and braided electric poly wire. T-posts will be capped, of course.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

A single strand of 1/4" electrified white polyrope, 3' off the ground with posts 30 apart is all we need for our four mares. No one has ever gone under, over, or through it. You can't beat that for cost or setup time.
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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Two strands of electric with good stout wire. The heavier the wire the better it carries the charge. The top strand is the hot and the lower the ground. You can run a third line below that which is another hot line. Wire should be used for the main containment area. The ropes, ribbon, etc. is fine for dividing the pasture within the main containment area. The wire is wind resistan and as long as very strong corners are built your posts on a straight run can be up to 50' apart. The wire doesn't have to be real tight like barbed wire. A little movement will keep the horses farther back. My posts are about 30' apart and the wire has done it's job for 20 years. But, the corners are very well braced. Each corner uses 5 posts with tight wire running diagonally from top to bottom (forming an X) on each side. The corner wires were done with a special tool and a little do-hickey that ratchets them tight. As the wood may shrink a little the ratchet will retighten the wire.


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## RedHorseRidge (Nov 3, 2012)

We put up flex rail a couple years ago (which can be electrified if necessary but we don't need to). Best. Fence. Ever. Not hard to install at all. Probably more expensive than regular high tensile, but so much safer for the horse.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Field fence is what I put up, the kind that has 2 inch rectangles at the bottom and progresses to 6 inch squares at the top. I've got electric along the top and 18 inches up from the bottom.


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## RedHorseRidge (Nov 3, 2012)

While electric is good for keeping a horse away from a fence (so they don't get a hoof caught in a field field or a leg trapped in high tensile), it won't keep them away from the fence if they slip into it or kick into it. I had a mare roll into a field fence with electric on top/bottom; she got her front leg caught and messed it up badly. I had another mare kick through high tensile (electrified) and she got her back leg twisted between the two wires and took the skin off to the bone. 

While I realize there is no "safe fence" for horses (they can hurt themselves on anything; we had one kill itself on a wooden fence), I would certainly consider the cost versus safety factors before putting up a fence. 

We have a section of pasture where we put temporary "step in" plastic post with electric tape. Cheap, easy, and relatively safe, but not something I would do as the only fence keeping them in. Your cheapest, safest fence would probably be something electric, either multiple strands of polytape or polyrope, with wooden posts. You would need to keep this tight at all times, or the wind will wreak havoc on it. Personally, I would avoid field fencing at all costs. If you use wire, I would opt for the coated wire at least; I've seen too many horses that have slid into a high tensile fence and sliced open their chest/front legs.

As far as cost for running electric: we have a very large charger than runs a couple miles of fencing (with lots of weeds), and it cost us about 72 cents a month to run. So if you are considering using electric, don't let the operating costs scare you away.


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