# Fencing on a budget!



## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

What are some cost-efficient ideas you have/have used for building fencing? (Outdoor arena & paddocks!)

I already found a really cheap idea from HGS for an outdoor arena; wooden fence posts with 2 holes drilled through them and rope threaded through them.

Any other ideas or things you have done?
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## aspin231 (Mar 20, 2010)

I would strongly suggest that you don‘t go the route of rope fencing! There may as well be nothing there if the animal ever tests it.
Is this temporary or permanent fencing?
Fencing should be an investment- in the safety of both your livestock and the people and roads surrounding.
That being said, high-tensile or electric wire are both very cost-effective and safe (if properly electrified) options.
Please keep your horses safe.
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## kim_angel (Oct 16, 2007)

We have used electric rope for years now. As long as it is electrified, you should have no problem with it. We used landscape ties from Home Depot for the posts.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

I re-did our stud lots last summer. I wanted serious fencing. We had a storm come through with straight line winds & tornado activity a few miles from us. It sheared a large amount of electric/utility poles. My hubby splices cable fiber and was out working on clean up, talking to the electric company guys and horses came up. A couple days later I got a flatbed load of treated telephone poles that had broke off. 

Cut them into 10 ft lengths, buried 4 ft, 6 up. Made awesome fence posts and didn't cost me a dime. You might call your local electric company and ask what they do with old poles that they replace. 

I have regular red brand horse fence for my outdoor because it does double duty as dry lot if needed.
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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

aspin231 said:


> I would strongly suggest that you don‘t go the route of rope fencing! There may as well be nothing there if the animal ever tests it.
> Is this temporary or permanent fencing?
> Fencing should be an investment- in the safety of both your livestock and the people and roads surrounding.
> That being said, high-tensile or electric wire are both very cost-effective and safe (if properly electrified) options.
> ...


I think you may have read my post wrong, I wanted to do rope fencing for an outdoor riding arena. Since we're not exactly keeping the horse's in.
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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

My first thought about the rope is the same. If your horses spook or decide to bolt, the rope probably wouldn't hold and as they go through, might tangle in their legs. None of that's pretty all by itself, downright ugly if there's a rider up. I wouldn't use rope, unless it was electrified.


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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> I re-did our stud lots last summer. I wanted serious fencing. We had a storm come through with straight line winds & tornado activity a few miles from us. It sheared a large amount of electric/utility poles. My hubby splices cable fiber and was out working on clean up, talking to the electric company guys and horses came up. A couple days later I got a flatbed load of treated telephone poles that had broke off.
> 
> Cut them into 10 ft lengths, buried 4 ft, 6 up. Made awesome fence posts and didn't cost me a dime. You might call your local electric company and ask what they do with old poles that they replace.
> 
> ...


That's a great idea!! I am trying to decide between wood fencing & mesh wire fencing. Anyone have any pros & cons they'd like to share?
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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

Dreamcatcher Arabians said:


> My first thought about the rope is the same. If your horses spook or decide to bolt, the rope probably wouldn't hold and as they go through, might tangle in their legs. None of that's pretty all by itself, downright ugly if there's a rider up. I wouldn't use rope, unless it was electrified.


The thing that comes with that though is the chance that a rider/horse may brush up against it. I am really against electric fencing for the simple fact of horses & riders getting a shock when it wasn't necessary. Causing more trouble than it needs to.
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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Wood fencing is definately high maintenance compared to wire mesh.
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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

PaintHorseMares said:


> Wood fencing is definately high maintenance compared to wire mesh.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Thanks, I can totally understand why...
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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

If you don't like electric, then I'd go for wood or save up for vinyl for the arena. Vinyl is no maintenance, wood can be very high maintenance. I see a lot of folks around hear using striplings, they put the posts in the ground and go find a young cedar tree (not native to OK and a real PIA), cut it down, strip the branches and put it as the railing on the fence of the arena. Very rustic, practical and free. If you have something like that in your area it could be a very low cost alternative. If not, then maybe going to Lowes for landscape timbers, they're usually $3-4 each and would make a nice, sturdy arena fence.


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## chandra1313 (Jul 12, 2011)

My husband went the cedar post route, we had so many in our back pasture, it looks really nice and rustic. He used three strands of braided wire. We have some of the wire mesh stuff, the bad thing is if you don't put something up along the top the horses will put their heads over and and lean down on other side to eat, it begins to look real crappy real fast.


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## aspin231 (Mar 20, 2010)

Why not construct your arena out of a single rail fence? If you intend to never use it as turn-out then that could be a cost effective alternative.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

chandra1313 said:


> My husband went the cedar post route, we had so many in our back pasture, it looks really nice and rustic. He used three strands of braided wire. We have some of the wire mesh stuff, the bad thing is if you don't put something up along the top the horses will put their heads over and and lean down on other side to eat, it begins to look real crappy real fast.


Yup..you really need to put a strand of electric on top to take care of those fence leaners ;-)
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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

Which option do you think is cheaper? Wood or mesh wire?
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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

WesternBella said:


> The thing that comes with that though is the chance that a rider/horse may brush up against it. I am really against electric fencing for the simple fact of horses & riders getting a shock when it wasn't necessary. Causing more trouble than it needs to.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


You also mention you want to use it for paddocks in your original post. So we really need to know whether horses might be left in this area loose or not to make good recommendations. 

We have a paddock which is used as a riding arena, dry lot, and winter paddock. We got posts from a guy up the road who has a mill. 3$ per 8 foot round (rough) cedar post. We sunk them in about 3 feet. Added rough 2 x 6 boards all around the top, did the rest with electric fence. We have never brushed up against the fence riding (you really shouldn't since your boot/stirrup could get caught). Since the horses are turned out in there all winter long, we want them to be secure so electric fencing was a must. The wood board just adds extra security in case of a power outage, or electric fence getting buried under snow. 

The problem with not using electric fence is that if the horses are left in there, they will reach over the fence, lean on it, etc., and cause it to fall down or damage it eventually. A loose horse because of a downed fence is a far greater risk than a horse that accidentally gets zapped by an electric fence in my opinion. Horses quickly learn not to go near it. Mine only got zapped once, and stay away. It is a secure, safe way to keep horses in. 

Now, if you're not going to use this area as turnout, obviously, you don't need to worry about the horses pushing on the fence, so you can use whatever you like. Though rope would probably be my last choice.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

The most affordable fence is no fence. Where I live it is all open range. There's been no fence to thee east for 5 years. They're free to go to Montana anytime they choose. The thing is none of them have ever left. They have everything they need right here. Pasture, water, shelter, and an awesome heard leader (me).


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

elkdog said:


> There's been no fence to the east for 5 years. They're free to go to Montana anytime they choose.


They might be choosing to stay with their "awesome herd leader", or they might prefer not to find out whether wolves, cougars and Grizzly bears like the taste of horses.

Beautiful country. I went through Bonner's Ferry five years ago on my way back to the farm. It was a vacation destination when I was growing up.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

We use electric rope and tee posts with rubber caps (or trees). The "intellibraid" rope from Premier One is semi-permanent, unlike the tape. I would not use electric for an arena, or a small paddock, though. We used non-climb woven wire horse fence on 6 x 6 posts with a 1x6 top and bottom rail for our small paddock, but another option is steel pipe corral panels which are often available used for pretty cheap. 

For an arena you just want a visual barrier, if you aren't ever going to turn horses out in it. A single-rail fence would be fine. 

Remember that there is cheap up front and there is cheap down the road, and they are not very often the same thing. And anything unsafe is not cheap.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

@Joel Reiter; The wolves, cougars, coyotes, and bears (black) come here all the time. The horses gang up and chase them off. It's interesting to watch.
When we go out camping, I let them go when we get there. I pick a place with plenty of pasture nearby and they never leave. This way I don't have to take extra horses to pack horse feed. No idea how to train a horse to do that, but it sure makes some of the people I go with jealous!


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Avna said:


> We use electric rope and tee posts with rubber caps (or trees). The "intellibraid" rope from Premier One is semi-permanent, unlike the tape.


This is exactly what I do. After more than 20 years of experiments I now only buy Intellibraid.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

WesternBella said:


> What are some cost-efficient ideas you have/have used for building fencing? (Outdoor arena & paddocks!)
> 
> I already found a really cheap idea from HGS for an outdoor arena; wooden fence posts with 2 holes drilled through them and rope threaded through them.
> 
> ...



For an arena, if I am putting up a fence around it, I want that fence to be able to do something, so I personally would NOT be comfortable with rope. If I get into a tight situation, I don't want to also have to worry about my horse (and me) getting hung up in a rope fence and making the wreck worse.



I'd rather have an arena with no fence, than with a rope fence. An arena, IMO, should have solid fencing.



As far as for pastures, electric wire is often the cheapest option.


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## lsdrider (Jun 27, 2012)

kim_angel said:


> We have used electric rope for years now. As long as it is electrified, you should have no problem with it. We used landscape ties from Home Depot for the posts.



Make sure you get "ground contact" treated timbers if you go this route!

I did not know, could never imagine, still don't comprehend "NON - ground contact" treated landscape timbers. Yet, that is what I got for my fencing and 6 - 8 years later they started rotting off.


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## lsdrider (Jun 27, 2012)

And another thing - get at least a "200 mile" fencer. 

Yes, you're on a budget and they aren't the budget models.

Yes, it will hurt them.

Yes, it will hurt you.

BUT - Your horses (and other animals) will not to mess with it or even come close to the wire / rope saving you unknown time, money and heartache by keeping them in. It will also better overcome (temporary) shortcomings in your fence when they happen and still be effective when the lessers will be useless.


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## tim62988 (Aug 30, 2012)

i'd say one of the most economical fences that will last is going to be a hardwire electric fence.

buy a thing of pointed fence posts pound them into the ground every 50', nail up 2 insulators per post hang your wire, put in a daisy spool to take the slack off the fence, put in the ground rods and connect the fencer and you are good to go for the perimeter fence

it is going to be like a high tensile fence material wise but with only moderate tension in the wires


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

tim62988 said:


> it is going to be like a high tensile fence material wise but with only moderate tension in the wires


The summer pasture for my horses has that kind of fencing and it has worked well. The biggest knock on using bare wire is it isn't as visible as something like Electrobraid or Intellibraid, but once horses learn the pasture boundaries they are less likely to accidentally plunge into a fence. But a roll of wire is very cheap.

Dr. Richard Miller says there's no such thing as a safe fence -- that in his decades of veterinary practice he's seen horses killed or injured by every kind of fence imaginable.


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