# The dangers of wire fencing. VERY GRAPHIC PICS



## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

I HATE wire fencing. This is exactly why. To me it's just a bad idea. Unfortunately, it's what my entire property is fenced in, the same 5 line high tensile fence just like in that picture. I'm saving up and hoping to replace it, but it wont be in the budget to do so until next spring. My gelding Claymore got his foot through, similar to your pictures, the first day he was here. Thankfully I saw him do it and got him out straight away, with no damage to him at all, but it's still scary. I had two lines of my fence electrified just a few weeks ago to make sure they stay away from it, because Claymore is bad for leaning his head through it to graze, and I live on a fairly busy road. I'm still wanting to replace it all with a rail fence as soon as I can afford it. I HATE wires.


----------



## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

We have wire, but its not like that wire. Its looks like this:
http://www.getfarming.com.au/cdt/uploads/75/features/75200710231341.jpg
i hate barbed wire,though.
Is the mare ok?


----------



## jxclass19 (Feb 1, 2009)

I haven't had any problems with regular electric wire on tposts but high tensile I have seen so many bad accidents. A breeder I know uses it and while she was gone the person she left in charge decided to wean one of the babies. A once perfect baby who could have one halter at any show was all cut up. Eventually she got most of the scars healed but then the baby got hurt in that fence again. I wont use it if it doesn't break or come unhooked, etc.


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Yeah the vet came out right away and she got stitches, on her leg and on her rump hopefully she will heal up and stop trying to kick horses threw the fence, either that or the owner replaces the fencing. But i kinda doubt he will


----------



## EPMhorse (Jun 14, 2009)

I went to a farm one morning to look at a horse for sale. The farm manager did not look happy to see me show up, and explained it had been a bad morning. He said not to go back to the barn unless I had a strong stomach. When the vet arrived, I went back to see what had happened.

A prized paint stallion had rolled under the wire fence, and had a rear leg stuck. They don't know how many hours he had been there. The manager got him out by cutting the wire. The horse's leg was cut to the bone over most of the front and side of the cannon bone. The horse was never going to have use of the leg again, and was euthanized.

Wire fencing was designed for cattle. If you have it on your property (I did), remove all but three wires; the lowest one at least 15" to 18" off of the ground. Electrify at least the top and bottom wires, if not all three. Get rid of it as soon as the budget allows. If you can't afford new fencing, consider removing the wire, and replacing it with electrified braided rope.


----------



## CrazyChester (May 5, 2008)

But..if wire fencing is bad, then what are we meant to fence them in with? There is no way in the world anyone would be able to afford to fence 100 acres with just wood. The injuries of that mare is bad, yes but I have never had a problem with it. Hope she heels up well.


----------



## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

CrazyChester said:


> But..if wire fencing is bad, then what are we meant to fence them in with? There is no way in the world anyone would be able to afford to fence 100 acres with just wood. The injuries of that mare is bad, yes but I have never had a problem with it. Hope she heels up well.


Electrify at least 1 strand, maybe?
Make sure it's tall......
Hope for the best and don't get to attached
lol


----------



## CrazyChester (May 5, 2008)

thunderhooves said:


> Electrify at least 1 strand, maybe?


Or maybe instead of having 6 rows, have 3?


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Here is some alternatives
Electric Horse Farm Fence Enlarged View of Electrobraid Fence

HorseguardFence.com : the best electric fence for Horse

Vinyl Fence : Horse Fence : Plastic Fence : PVC Fencing : Horse Fencing : GardnerFence.com


----------



## Just A Girl (Apr 6, 2010)

poor mare! =( ...we have welded wire for our guys, it helps to keep the goats in too! lol


----------



## Skipsfirstspike (Mar 22, 2010)

EPM, even the electric braided rope can be dangerous. Spike sustained injuries similar to the mare pictured from braided rope electric fencing. Mind you , he probably would have severed his leg if it were wire. At least the rope was attached to the posts with break away plastic loops, because he tore it off of 8 posts trying to get free..


----------



## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

What yall are calling tinsle wire we call strait wire...I hate the stuff. The main issue is that horses dont respect it. Also if that fence is hot (electric) and that amre doesnt respect it then its to low a voltage. Crank it up let her get zapped once and i doubt there would be an issue.


----------



## Ktibb (Mar 24, 2010)

Another good idea is to teach horses to give to pressure on their legs, and even hobble training would be helpful. Teach them that if there something wrapped around their leg the best thing to do is stand still and relax. It won't prevent every injury, but it will help.


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Pidge said:


> What yall are calling tinsle wire we call strait wire...I hate the stuff. The main issue is that horses dont respect it. Also if that fence is hot (electric) and that amre doesnt respect it then its to low a voltage. Crank it up let her get zapped once and i doubt there would be an issue.


Problem is the damage (getting caught in the fence) was already done before she got zapped the act of trying to kick the other horse threw the fence was already achieved. The electric WAS on and it was very high, i touched it myself and got a pretty good zap. Poor thing. She isnt learning from the shock apparently if she has done it 2 times already.


----------



## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

does the fence pulse or is it constantly hot? If its pulsing that means she may be able to kick through without getting zapped. if its solidly hot she will be less likely to take her chances.

Also what do you mean by a pretty good zap? I got popped by my fence and it hurt like crap but ours is fairly low voltage...if you want to teach her a good lesson crank it so that you wouldnt even think of touching it. Thats what a friend had to do with her studs. Turns out once they learned their lesson they only needed one strand between them.

Your other option if this doesnt even work is to get different fenceing. thats about it. But like i said...I hate strait wire...horses dont respect it and thus get themselves in trouble cause it slices them up.


----------



## Equus_girl (Jan 25, 2009)

Oh, that is horrible! Poor, poor mare. I hope she will be ok! My horse is in wire fence - sadly barbed wire. I have no control over that though, as the landowner is letting me keep her there totally for free and I'm sure he won't replace his fencing for one horse! Also she is an older mare (18) and has been in barbed wire fencing all her life. I'm hoping she is sensible enough to stay away from it! It also is a large field so she doesn't hang around by the fences too much.


----------



## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

I remember years ago, I was at my Uncles APHA farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. 

I remember being in the Mare's n Foal's pasture petting babies, when I saw a girl riding her horse, approaching the fence line. The fence line was barbed wire fencing. 

Anyways - when she and her horse got close, all the Mare's were interested in the horse she was riding and wanted to say hello - so they all raced up tot he fence line to do so.

The girl thought it was cool I suppose, to watch them race around, so she started to canter her horse, which in turn - the Mare's and Babies followed.

This one baby got stuck between the Mothers and the fence line, and just as the girl on her horse turned around to race back to where they came from to have the horses run along side of her - the babies neck got sliced open, just to the jugular.

I didn't know this right away, until after the girl left - so I had no thought to worry at that point. Until....I saw it. The cut was on the left side of the baby, from the middle of the neck, strait down to his shoulder. 

I immediately raced to get him and when he saw it, he flipped. He put the Mother and the Colt away, and the vet got out there quite quickly as I recall - unfortunately, there was not alot that the vet could do, because the cut was so wide and so deep.

I remember I took alot of pictures so that my Uncle could take the girl to court for damage. It was ugly.

Surprisingly enough, he survived! He ended up becoming a great Reining Mount.

Since that day, my Uncle got rid of all the wiring and changed it to wood fencing with a strand of electrical wire on the inside.

I learnt a lesson that day too, and I've never used wire for fencing ever.


----------



## AQHA1994 (Nov 28, 2009)

Sooo many alternatives to wire fencing. I'm pretty sure you want your horse's health to come before anything else? If it gets injured in the fence, then the vet bills will add up? Think about it some..


----------



## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

The ONLY place I have wire is in addition to my split rail, the wire is an electric shock thing. We've replaced it with tape, which does absolutely nothing to them so my mini keeps escaping, and we're going back to using wire in addition to split rail, but never just wire.


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Corryyy! You have returned!


----------



## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

It's nice to see you back, .Delete. but I'm sorry it's under such crummy circumstances. Hope the mare heals up quickly and completely. Poor girl. 

I will never use high tensile wire for my enclosures. I figure I may as well shell out the extra bucks right off the bat and save the vet trips. Heh.


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

JustDressageIt said:


> It's nice to see you back, .Delete. but I'm sorry it's under such crummy circumstances. Hope the mare heals up quickly and completely. Poor girl.
> 
> I will never use high tensile wire for my enclosures. I figure I may as well shell out the extra bucks right off the bat and save the vet trips. Heh.


Thank you =]. I dont think the owner is going to budge from his wire fencing, he might just stop putting the mare out, which isnt going to help any :roll:


----------



## skittle1120 (Oct 24, 2009)

I use electric wire for fencing, but the wire is 17 gauge, thin and flimsy, if they get into it, it snaps without doing any damage to the horses, and the voltage is pretty high, so they don't like to test it... Haven't had any major problems yet, and they've proved they can go through it without getting hurt if something happens...


----------



## Trish2010 (Mar 15, 2010)

There is a boarding stable near me with high tensile fencing and one of the boarded horses got his leg caught at the fetlock, and sliced totally thorough...had to be put down. I have wire fencing, but it is thin electrified wire so if they do get into it they go right through it. I'd rather chase a loose horse if i had to, than have an injured one. As long as I keep the electric on they stay away. Also I just got a TB mare this year and she had the skin sliced right off the inside of her hock from getting it caught in high tensile. I got her in the beginning of Feb, and according to the former owner it happened in Oct and I'm still working on getting it healed.


----------



## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

We have nothing but barbed wire. If we didn't we wouldnt be able to keep the cows in. And it'd be real expensive to redo the fencing on our property. I have a front pasture thats about and acre where I keep my mare and that has hog wire and barbed wire. We had to add the hog wire because our show heifers kept getting out of the regular barbed wire. Never had any major problems with it. I think the biggest probelm we have had was when my gelding freaked and somehow managed to get the bottom 3 wires between his legs and the top 2 on his side. I cut him out right away and he only had some little nicks. He was in the yard when that happend. Never had anything happen in the pasture.


----------



## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I've had to have horses in electric strand for many years, especially when I was younger (didn't have much of a choice, when living with your parents!) BUT we always used a fairly small guage, because the danger was understood...it was just the best we could afford. When we moved to our new place, back when I was a teenager, that entire property was fenced in woven wire, and I was much happier with that! In a few places I boarded at, one had electric strand (again, not super high tensile), and the other place had non barbed wire, and only three strands, i think it was. The fences were well marked, so the horses could see it, which can make a huge difference to a horse. I mean, if high tensile wire can be hard for US to see, how much harder might it be for a horse? MARK fences, especially if you absolutely have to use electric strand, or high tensile wire. 

I don't tend to condemn or condone any particular fence type, because in retrospect ANY type of fencing can cause severe damage...I've seen the result of horses trying to jump a wooden rail fence, and winding up impaled on a busted post or rail, and in the same breath I've seen the results of barbed wire run ins. Yes, certain types of fencing bear less 'promise' of injury, but I think accidents can and often do happen with any type.


----------



## bethsone (Feb 22, 2010)

our horses are taught to respect the fences even one gelding i got from someone in Sydney who was fency didn't hurt himself like this he simply walked straight through it electric fences dont work through rugs! in my opinion electric fences are far more dangerous if a horse does get caught in it they will panic far worse and the result will be far more sever.
Wire fences are common practice in Australia but accidents will always happen no matter how much you can afford to spend on fences


----------



## kassierae (Jan 1, 2010)

We've had high tensile wire for 30+ year with no issues. It's three strands, nice and tight and is all electric. We also have a 20 mile charger and not nearly 20 miles of fencing. It gives a **** good zap and the horses respect it. I would love to put up electrobraid, but right now it's jut not feasible. So we make do and everything is fine, and has been fine.


----------



## rocky pony (Oct 5, 2007)

I've never even seen fencing like that....it's weird.
Around here absolutely all fencing for every single horse property I've seen has been welded wire, wood, or PVC, all always with either one or two strands of hotwire...I've never known of a horse in my area who was hurt by any fencing in a pasture (only by the fencing of a pipe stall)
Glad the mare is doing okay...and here's hoping they do something with that fencing.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

mom2pride said:


> I don't tend to condemn or condone any particular fence type, because in retrospect ANY type of fencing can cause severe damage...I've seen the result of horses trying to jump a wooden rail fence, and winding up impaled on a busted post or rail, and in the same breath I've seen the results of barbed wire run ins. Yes, certain types of fencing bear less 'promise' of injury, but I think accidents can and often do happen with any type.


This!

I think owners should do everything they can to make things as safe as they can for their horses. Sure.

But....fencing is totally safe.


My paddock is No Climb with a board on top and one strand of electric tape on the inside of the board, gates are round tube type (new at the time of the incident). I came home from work one day and my mare had managed to cut her leg open quite nicely on the gate. 
We can only do so much.

I have to agree, I would have cut the fence to get the mare out. Not worth trying to loosen, etc.


----------



## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Alwaysbehind said:


> I have to agree, I would have cut the fence to get the mare out. Not worth trying to loosen, etc.


Yes, i think it wouldnt have gotten that bad if he woulda just sucked it up and cut the wire.


----------



## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

I use the electric tape fencing. I have 2 strands of hot fencing, 3 feet and 4 feet off the ground. This works VERY well, the only time anyone has gotten out was when I (dumdum) left a gate open. 

The thing I love about the Zareba tape is that it ripples in the wind, and the deer see it as it is reflective. The deer jumping used to catch the fence and pull it down all the time, but now they avoid it like the devil.

Its cheap and easy to put up. I can space my posts 20-30 feet apart. It is a bit more expensive than steel wire, but you save money on the Tposts.


----------



## PechosGoldenChance (Aug 23, 2009)

Our whole pastures/arenas are fenced with wood. As another poster said, if you had wire and your horse kept getting hurt, the vet bills will add up, when you could have spent a fairly large amount of money for one time only, instead of several times.


----------



## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

There is no such thing as 100% safe fencing. Horses will be horses. 

We spent the last two nights fixing fence. We have 4.5 foot high, four board white oak fencing in our primary paddock turnouts. Tuesday night the geldings took out a whole section next to the gate to the pasture. Bent the gate, busted the weld off the bottom of the gate where it connects to the post and broke the 6 inch diameter fence post off at the ground. 

Last night we replaced 3 of the 4 boards on a section in the mares paddock where they had been kicked out - shattered.

No one hurt either time - but it has happened.

You hope for the best and plan for the worst.


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

It's terrible that the mare was injured but like mls said, horses will be horses. You could put one in a padded room and they would find a way to hurt themselves. We have had wire around our property since my Dad was a kid and even though we occasionally have one get cut, it has never been serious. I am not saying that it couldn't happen but I have seen injuries just as bad or worse with wood fencing or, heaven forbid, that hard plastic pvc fencing (when one of those boards break, they are like razors to a horse). Most of ours is 1 strand of electric straight wire with enough juice to really hurt if it zaps you. My horses won't even get within 5 feet of it if they can help it. I am fixing to re-do the fencing on the smaller enclosure with the 1.5 inch electric tape and just see how that works


----------



## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

The best fencing in my opinion is pipe fencing with wooden posts. I have seen a horse roll into one of those fences, cast himself, get all 4 legs caught and with a little assistance, stand up and have not a single cut and be perfectly sound.
I am even slightly wary about wood, I have seen some horses do damage even with that.
Anything else, my horse simply will not be turned out in.


----------

