# Question on Electric Corral



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Okay. I have come to the conclusion that not everywhere that's advertised as horse campgrounds are super horse friendly in that a lot only offer a hi-line or a hitching post/tie rack. Those are okay-ish, but since we go for three and four days, it seems kinda crappy to me that my horses have to stand tied the entire time unless we're riding them. We HAVE been known to let them off the hi-lines, one at a time only, and let them have a good roll and meander around camp nibbling and mowing the lawn, but that's only when it's just us. And, more than one horse off the line at a time = horses haring off on their own since they're in a 'group'. 

I'd like to invest in an electric corral, the type with step-in posts (the white plastic/fiberglass, 48" types, the 2" electric ribbon, and an energizer.

Here's where I get confused.

It's the energizer. Hubs says just take the solar one off the fence out back (The one he HAR HAR popped me with last weekend) and use it to save the big expense, but will that even work? Do I need one that big? It's almost the size of a jump box (Battery charger). 

How many step-in posts do I need/should have? Spaced how far apart when I set up?

Advice wanted.


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## rmissildine (Feb 1, 2019)

AtokaGhosthorse,

Let's see if I can answer a couple of questions.

It's the energizer. Hubs says just take the solar one off the fence out back (The one he HAR HAR popped me with last weekend) and use it to save the big expense, but will that even work? Do I need one that big? It's almost the size of a jump box (Battery charger). 

Okay, the solar charger will probably work, as long as it can get the sun to keep the battery charged. I don't know what the range is on your model, but if it's working for you now, it should work for a temporary corral.

How many step-in posts do I need/should have? Spaced how far apart when I set up?

How big are you going to make the corral? Most folks, me included space our fence posts between 8 - 10 feet apart. What does the manufacturer recommend? You say that you're gonna use 48" step-in posts. Will that be high enough to contain your horses? If yes, then everything should work.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

rmissildine said:


> AtokaGhosthorse,
> 
> Let's see if I can answer a couple of questions.
> 
> ...



48" are the tallest I can get here, so they'll have to. Not sure I have manufacturer recommendation - the posts are loose at TSC, the charger has been on our place for a couple of years, so unless it's on the ribbon, idk. :shrug: Charger is working fine right now, fairly new, battery is strong. 



Not sure how big to make the pen - there's a 20ft round pen 'kit' on ebay that looks about the size I'd envisioned, but I'm open to larger or smaller. I'd probably have no more than two horses in it, and I could alternate them out if two horses were more likely to act dumb and tear it up.


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## lb27312 (Aug 25, 2018)

On the energizer I have one from Zareba... it's very portable and quick to set up, the solar one I have that runs my permanent fence would be a pain to keep taking on and off when I want to camp. I camp often so the portable one stays in my trailer, just take out the batteries.

Just be sure that in the places that have the high ties or the standing stalls will let you put in a portable round pen, I got busted once in a state park that only had standing stalls, first I had ever heard or seen them. They were just that standing stalls! Well I promptly set up my little portable stall and a ranger promptly came by and made me take it down. Horses are okay on hi-lines especially if you're riding them and you give enough rope for them to lay down.

I have the posts you mentioned from Tractor Supply, I have about 10 - 15 and usually do a 20' square pen if I only have one horse. If I have more then I cut it down and do two separate ones. 

I use ribbon but thinking of doing a different thinner ribbon... 

Good Luck!


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## rmissildine (Feb 1, 2019)

A 20' round pen is kinda small for 2 horses, so, like lb27312 said, maybe construct two 20 footers, round or square. you can always connect the two together via one charger. I say that being unfamiliar with how tape connects to the charger, but I'm sure you or hubby can figure that out. lb27312 doesn't mention how far apart they place the posts, but like I said 8-10 feet should be good.


Good luck,


Roger


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Both @4horses and I do a lot of camping with electric. I bought mine from some catalog supply like Jeffers, can't remember which one. It takes 2 D batteries and the batteries last a couple of years. I take them out when not using them. My system is about 6 years old and still going strong. I bought white tape for the fencing. I bought my ground pole and posts from Tractor Supply. I probably have 20 posts and normally don't use them all. Depending on which horses go and how they get along, I make 2 connected pens or one larger pen. I have two handles in case I have a double pen.

Trial and error helps you figure out how large to make your pen . . . also some camping areas have rules about how big your pens can be. If your horses are fussing with each other, your pen is too small. If you run out of posts, your pen is too large.

How far apart they have to be depends on the horses you are fencing in. If they are calm quiet horses who have been camping a lot, you can put your posts further apart. The same with double strand versus one strand. For a young horse who has only been camping a couple of times or who is going to be left while its buddy rides out, I make two strands. I normally keep the electric turned off during the day since the horses are usually out being ridden and when they get back they are eating or a bit tired. I always keep it on at night, and of course if one is left while others are riding out, I keep it on.

@4horses has a slightly different charger than I do and could tell you about her set-up.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

I'm in the process of getting it together for a electric corral. I got the 2" tape and the stakes from TS. I was going to get the energizer there as well but the solar ones aren't as strong and they're pricey for what you get, the plug ins are out of the question. The battery powered ones at TS take a deep cycle 12v and who wants to lug that around. 

I'm going to order mine online and get something similar to what @knightrider has if not the same thing. It runs on two D batteries.


https://www.statelinetack.com/item/...POMy8Ejs2BAglk2AqAKo6m_W7N-ChlTxoCX1YQAvD_BwE


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

We use electric pens at competitions:









Above, you can see our charger (from tractor supply), which we attach to a marine battery just to know the battery isn't going to die in the middle of the night.


Depending on the configuration of our parking area, we try to set up both pens so each pen has a gate to out:










But some places that isn't possible, so one pen opens into the other:










We generally give each horse a separate pen, as that prevents any bickering and also allows us to know who is eating and drinking what.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I use the step-in posts that you can get for a couple of bucks from the farm store when they have a sale, electric tape, and a portable charger that runs off a marine battery. I used to have one that worked off a 10-volt battery, but that one disappeared somewhere along the line. Batteries are nice because you don't need to worry if the sun doesn't shine or if you're set up in a shady spot, and if you arrive to find them dead, it's easy to run grab a battery from somewhere or keep a spare in the truck. 

That being said, I use the portable corral more for setting up a pen in the back corner of the show grounds for a multi-day show or trail ride or fencing off a grassy spot in yard so the horses can graze it a few days. More and more campgrounds are not allowing electric corrals. So, before setting up a pen, verify you're allowed to. Only one of the campgrounds we use allows anything other than using the tie rails or stalls provided, or tying to your trailer. Some allow portable corrals but not electric as electric is seen as a risk to other unknowing campers. If a child walks up to your corral and gets shocked, be prepared for livid parents even if it's allowed. So do your homework. Horses do just fine on high-lines if properly trained to them. That's all we'd use for 2 or 3 weeks at a time in the backcountry and everyone did fine.


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## lb27312 (Aug 25, 2018)

phantomhorse13 said:


> We use electric pens at competitions:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Yeah, all of mine do fine on the hi-lines - I just thought a corral, for the places that allow them, would be nice and I could at the very least alternate out who is off the line and has some grazing and chilling time.


Hubs claims our energizer, which is solar, but has a built in battery back up, and BOY does it work! would be just fine for what I'm doing and to save some money, snag it for the trips that it would be used, instead of buying one and taking a separate battery too.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

So, old thread but I'm still kicking this idea around. It occurred to me, watching Trigger the other day, that I might can fake him out, for day time use while I'm supervising, to just stake up a white string or wide ribbon, and tie flags to it, for when we camp at Coffee Mill since I hate having to hi-tie him the whole time unless we're riding.


Anyone ever faked their horse out like this? He avoids our hot wire like the plague...and it's been off all summer.


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

When truck camping I take a spool of fence bare wire, some flagging tape, T-Posts, insulators, ground rod, electric gate handle and a post pounder in addition my portable electric fencer. My horses HATE getting shocked and yes I have faked them out before. I did it for several months this summer on accident. I disconnected a gate going to the pig pen which disconnects my front pasture as well. None of the three horses I had in that pasture tried to get out or tested the fence while it was off. The portable fencer I have is called: "Powerfields D-Cell Portable Trail Fence Charger".


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

If they decide to be really stupid about the fence you can always high line them inside a portable fence. Just take your high line stuff along that way if anything fence related fails you can fall back on the high line.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I use all three methods. Hot Wire, Highline and Hobbles. And I guess even a 4th, Tied to the side of the trailer. It depends on where I am camping

When I used to do NATRC Competitve Trail Rides, We all tied to the trailer at night. Of course after 8 hours in the saddle and 20+ trail miles, most horses were content to stand and sleep.

When I truck camp, I try to find trees where I can put a Highline. I sleep a whole lot better without the occasional tugging of a horse on a lead tied to the trailer.

When I pack into the backcountry, I put up a Hotwire around a meadow for the horses to graze. But I never leave the horses in the hot wire at night, They always get highlined before dark. I've had too many deer/elk/moose come through and snag the hot wire and drag it off. They don't know what it is and their dragging it off usually ends up with it sparking my horses' butts as it gets drag past them.

I often carry hobbles on my back cinch and frequently hobble the horses while I eat lunch. In camp, I'll keep one horse tied and hobble the others. As long as their heads are down grazing, They can stay out hobbled., When their heads come up and start to look around. They come back on the Highline. That usually about an hour of grazing

I've been known to take two 1/4 mile rolls of hot wire and 40 fiberglass rods and fence of a large meadow and turn 19 horses out in it. So how much wire you take and How many fence post is really a matter of how many horses and what your intent is. For me a hot wire is used only during daylight hours when I can watch the horses and I want them to have enough room that strange horses in the group don't bully others and that there is enough feed to graze on and hopefull it can touch some water for them to drink. I've used the portable chargers that run on 4 D cell batteries to run that much wire just fine for several days.

I see folks put up 20x 20 hot wire corrals in camp for their horses. But I just don't trust it here in Utah and Wyoming. Too many nights I woke up to a commotion and found a moose eating my horses hay while they stretch the highline as far away as they can.


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

We have moose here but the elk do the drag down your fence thing the most at night. Moose rarely get anywhere close. When I am truck camping I usually take my ACD and she chases the elk off before they become a nuisance. I think it depends on how much you are fencing in. If you are making little corrals or if you are fencing in a larger area etc. I do the same thing with taking my whole fencing setup when I truck camp. A 1/4 spool of wire and T-Posts don't really take up that much more room and the rolls are smaller than a roll of that white electric fence tape by a long ways, they just weigh more. I would be really hesitant to leave all the horses, all night in just an electric fence though without tying at least one.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Deer will tear our hot wires down. It's the most aggravating thing in the world.


I think I'll try Trigger around the house then, see if he can be faked out. I'd just use it at certain camps we go to and for day use only.


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## WildestDandelion (Apr 4, 2019)

AtokaGhosthorse said:


> 48" are the tallest I can get here, so they'll have to. Not sure I have manufacturer recommendation - the posts are loose at TSC...


I've always wondered how well these work at containing them. We looked into these, but then got nervous about the height.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

WildestDandelion said:


> I've always wondered how well these work at containing them. We looked into these, but then got nervous about the height.



I paid attention at the rodeo a couple of weeks ago. Those folks weren't using real tall ones, but their horses are probably used to the electric corral and won't try it.


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## dustywyatt (Aug 19, 2019)

AtokaGhosthorse said:


> Anyone ever faked their horse out like this? He avoids our hot wire like the plague...and it's been off all summer.



Some horses, yes. Pat, Teebo and Buck will avoid hot wire like the plague and are good to fake out. I've even taken baling twine wound around small trees and they stayed in just like a corral lol.


Diesel and Wyatt are escape artists and will test every section of wire multiple times to see if it's actually on. And Pistol just stomps on it and walks on out. *headdesk*



Painted Horse said:


> When I pack into the backcountry, I put up a Hotwire around a meadow for the horses to graze. But I never leave the horses in the hot wire at night, They always get highlined before dark. I've had too many deer/elk/moose come through and snag the hot wire and drag it off. They don't know what it is and their dragging it off usually ends up with it sparking my horses' butts as it gets drag past them.
> 
> I see folks put up 20x 20 hot wire corrals in camp for their horses. But I just don't trust it here in Utah and Wyoming. Too many nights I woke up to a commotion and found a moose eating my horses hay while they stretch the highline as far away as they can.



Yikes!! Dang big critters lol. We've seen deer from a distance but the dogs usually keep them away.

We've done the small individual corral thing, and the large pasture for everyone thing. It just depends on where we are. (And whether Diesel is along, because he is a turd to the other horses lol.) Most places we camp there are corrals available; the two places we usually use hotwire are waaaaay out in the boonies and inside a fenced in area so if we have any escape artists, they're still contained and won't go far. We have tons of hotwire and posts so we just grab a length and a bunch of poles and the spare charger with an ATV battery.


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

We have the D/C powered fence charger from Zareba (it's like $61 on Amazon) for our pen. We hook it to a car battery and we're good to go. That being said, when we're at rides we don't have it on unless we aren't there or are sleeping. Our horses respect fences pretty well (ours aren't even hot at home except in one area) but I like to have it on at night or if we leave someone behind while we're riding. To be perfectly honest I usually have it off because I'm the one that ends up zapping myself accidentally!


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

QueenofFrance08 said:


> We have the D/C powered fence charger from Zareba (it's like $61 on Amazon) for our pen. We hook it to a car battery and we're good to go. That being said, when we're at rides we don't have it on unless we aren't there or are sleeping. Our horses respect fences pretty well (ours aren't even hot at home except in one area) but I like to have it on at night or if we leave someone behind while we're riding. To be perfectly honest I usually have it off because I'm the one that ends up zapping myself accidentally!


I have a charger I could rob off our east fence - we had to put it there because the cows would just duck through the fence like a deer, and we'd come home and there'd be No 5, standing on the back porch with a beer and grilling some baby back ribs on the grill... So... now the horses are back there, and I keep it off. Usually.

But Oops is back to playing the Halp I Iz Hung On dis Fence... she puts her leg through the bottom two strands and hooks the back of her ankle on the wire, and tugs and tugs and tugs and acts helpless... because used to we'd fall for it and come 'save her'.

She's popped the clips off the two bottom rows lately and is trying to lay down and sckoonch UNDER the fence to hang out with is. I casually flipped it on two days ago... She KNEW it was on, I saw her look at the wire... then she decided to risk it and bellied up the to fence... and pressed into it. 

You know that sound R2D2 makes in Star Wars when he gets zapped almost to death? That's the sound I imagine she thought when the hot wire bit her. She's not acting a fool around the fence anymore. She gives it a 10ft clearance.


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## AndyTheCornbread (Feb 3, 2019)

I had an absolute idiot of a gelding in once for training and resale and he would paw the bottom wire closest to the hay at feeding time and would hook a shoe and tear my fence all to pieces. So one day I replaced that strand with an electric one and he pawed it exactly one time and got blasted by the 30 mile fencer and he never came anywhere close to it again. Sometimes they just have to learn the hard way, fences bite.


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