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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
   
Location: Montana | What is your experience with the best electric fencing for horses? Because of a lack of fence on some pasture I'm renting where I have my horses, I need a temporary fence until the permanent one is set up which we are hoping will be some time this spring. Do you prefer AC, DC, or solar powered fence? How many strands of wire? I've not set up an electric fence before...I can do real fences, but this is a whole new realm for me, besides the fact that I have great respect for electricity. The area, at this time, isn't very large, but I am anticipating using it on another, larger area if the permanent fence isn't put up in the amount of time it should be (which isn't my responsibility, though I've offered to help). Any advice and brand names are helpful! |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
 
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | We use the white electric rope -- two strands with solar powered charger. |
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 Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | Delta Cowgirl - 2015-04-11 4:14 PM We use the white electric rope -- two strands with solar powered charger.
This is the same exact setup we have and I believe it is 30 mile charge. Whatever it is it will knock your butt on the ground-trust me. It's really fun when you have a migraine and you happen to somehow touch it!  
I'll get my DH to give me the specs on it to help you more on putting yours up. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1096
| I have a two strand high tensile wire fence. It's got a 50 mile Gallagher plug in electric fencer. They don't bother it. It will drop you flat though if you touch it. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | I'm not sure of the name of the fencer we finally got, but it was made in Australia and used on the giant stations they have there... Runs miles of wire and will knock you on your backside... It was 10,000 volts at 1/4 amp. |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | You need 2 wires. Solar is dandy and a blessing should the power go out. T he white wire is ok but will need changing after a year. The wide tape beats itself to death rendering it useless. Make sure to walk the fence with your horse so they won't run through it. Even let them touch it and move it with a stick so they see it there. Be sure to leave a halter on the first day should they get a wild hair and start running and forget to stop. Get the one rated for horses and cows anything less in not enough jolt. Place low wire at thigh height and second just above your horse chest that is guess t. mate. My in law always said you only need 1 wire which is bs. If I wasn't around when they kicked through the wire they would be out on the road. I'm all for 2 or more wires.mine are in 2 wire and it works fine. |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Thanks very much, I appreciate the advice! I'm hoping the electric fence will be only temporary as the permanent fence is supposed to be done this spring. :) |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | purplemoon828 - 2015-04-11 5:09 PM
I have a two strand high tensile wire fence. It's got a 50 mile Gallagher plug in electric fencer. They don't bother it. It will drop you flat though if you touch it.
This is the same set up we have, and I'm so happy with it. Our horses respect it completely; there have been times the fence was left unplugged and we didn't know it-----and that's because the horses acted the exact same way as if it was charged to the max!! I have had people tell me we're blessed to have exceptional horses and that they wouldn't trust electrical fencing, but whichever is the case I have only good things to say about it. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| I have electric chargers in the barn and a solar Galleger (sp?) for the pasture. I use the flat, tape, 3 rows. Very happy with it, rarely have to mess with fixing fence. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| I separated my dry lot years ago with electric tape. Southern States was carrying a taller pole with more holders that I string 4 lines on. I want them to see and respect that line and 2 lines just didn't seem to get their attention. I do restring it almost always once a year. I use the skinny tape. I'd rather use the skinny rope, but it doesn't have as much visual presence. My theory is - if one is going to go through they're going to go through, so I want a fence that won't give me a vet bill if they do. |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | I've got 3 strand high tensile with the top and bottem being hot and the middle not. I have a Gallagher solar fencer and other then the battery going dead every couple of years we are good to go. |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Luckily my horses aren't too rowdy (I only have two), and my mare is definitely hot wire trained. She decided to scratch her butt on one once at a friends place, and she thought once was enough, LOL. The other one has a little to learn, but is very respectful of fencing of any kind, so far (knock on wood), I do appreciate the advice. |
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Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | We have never had a horse not respect a hotwire...if it is on. Our stallion is kept in a pasture with an alley separating him from geldings in three adjoining pastures and he has total respect for his two strand rope hot wire. We also have the filament stretchy wire that is not hot and most of our fifteen horses totally respect it. We have a mare and all three of her colts walked right through that filament so we had to put hotwire up in their pastures. They have never tried to walk through it since then. I'll try and get pics of our setup and post it on here later. |
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| If you tie some of that flag tape (purchase at HD or Lowe's) the horses will see it and not be so apt to go through the fence when you first put them in there. Use at least 2 strands-solar is ok but if you have a battery just watch when the grass turns brown-our neighbor had one-it arced & set the country side on fire, took 5 fire departments to put it out... |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Thanks! So what I have for now is Gallaghers is a good brand, use rope or tape instead of wire, 2 strands, and be careful of battery powered ones if the area is dry. I do have a barn with a plug-in that is on a separate meter that I can hook up to if battery or solar won't work.
My dad has been my go to fencing guy because he was raised on a farm and he has been giving me advice too, but he has been sick and I may have to figure this out for myself this time.
I've started making my list as I hope to make it to the farm store in the next day or two. Thank you again! |
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Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | MTC, I sure hope your dad gets to feeling better.
I got some pics of our fence today. Let's see if I can load them...
Top and middle strands are hot rope and the others are filament.
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Kaycee - 2015-04-12 6:14 PM MTC, I sure hope your dad gets to feeling better.
I got some pics of our fence today. Let's see if I can load them...
Top and middle strands are hot rope and the others are filament.
Thanks so much for sharing! I don't think mine will be quite as high as your's...it will be about the height of a barbed wire fence. It definitely gives me an idea though!  |
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Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | mtcanchazer - 2015-04-12 9:33 PM Kaycee - 2015-04-12 6:14 PM MTC, I sure hope your dad gets to feeling better.
I got some pics of our fence today. Let's see if I can load them...
Top and middle strands are hot rope and the others are filament. Thanks so much for sharing! I don't think mine will be quite as high as your's...it will be about the height of a barbed wire fence. It definitely gives me an idea though!
Sure thing!  |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | We have 4 strands of 1/2" white tape. Only 2nd from the top is lit up. It works for us as we rent.
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | Four strands of Electro-braid and a 30 mile AC charger for about 2 miles of fence. Hot like fire!
I have a gelding who has no respect for a fence unless it is lit up like a Christmas tree. The tape and the wire didn't conduct enough jolt but that rope keeps him on his side of the fence. Giant a-hole. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 303
| TwistedK- what brand is your fencing? |
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| MT - you are in snow country and trust me when I say that the white tape and rope strands are a PITA when it snows heavily. It must be stretched and tacked on TIGHT every 6-7 feet or so or it will absolutely sag under the weight of snow. MY PSA for the day. :) |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | Use more charger than you think you need. Ground it really well. I just use galvanized wire. The more strands the better, I suppose. All my life we just used one strand about waste high on an average height man. Post were rebar. I like the plug ins better. We have barb wire pastures and just run a strand of hot wire to make it safe.
Edited by Tdove 2015-07-14 7:06 PM
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 Regular
Posts: 53
| I installed electric tape over about 1.5 square miles of turnout and pasture in between the rails of our RAMM Horse last year.
I used a Zareba Red Snapr'. It's a 6 volt, low impedance, and I used 2 strands of 2 inch tape, but as I said this is in between 4 rows of vinyl fencing. As a standalone fence I'd use 4 or 5 rows as I have a terrible clan of escape artists...
I also have an older Zareba which I run from an extension cord. Like everything else, everything that works best was made in the "olden days." Olden days for this box being about 15 years ago. The non-solar box is like old reliable; whenever my solar goes down, I hook it up and I know it'll work. Either way, once your horses touch it, most will stay away. Most. I have 4 braves who test it out every now and then to make sure it's on.
The grounding system and connection of the wiring took me about 3 hours. Since I don't like asking for help, I avoided the males in my life and learned how to do the grounding system with the pamphlet that came in the box (it's online too). It's pretty simple. Digging the trenches to run under gates is the hardest part. It looks nice and has held up well, but lately, I've been eyeing the Electrobraid.
As a side note, with Zareba, if for some reason you need a repair, you might have to ship your box out as most certified repair places are in another state. For this reason, I wish I'd looked at other brands. Other than that, my best advice is to use tape (or Electrobraid) not just for safety but for visibility, use copper rods instead of rebar, and make sure you place the rods in an area where the ground isn't dry as a bone since it'll have a hard time generating the charge.
Edited by heartswideopen 2015-07-14 7:45 PM
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Thanks for more ideas. We put the electric fence in in April and have had really good luck so far. |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | lonely va barrelxr - 2015-04-12 8:48 AM
I separated my dry lot years ago with electric tape. Southern States was carrying a taller pole with more holders that I string 4 lines on. I want them to see and respect that line and 2 lines just didn't seem to get their attention. I do restring it almost always once a year. I use the skinny tape. I'd rather use the skinny rope, but it doesn't have as much visual presence. My theory is - if one is going to go through they're going to go through, so I want a fence that won't give me a vet bill if they do.
THIS. I had a very scary, stupid experience over the weekend that involved me and my horse both getting tangled in loose string on the ground. I was not using my brain and really could've been seriously injured. I still ended up with some beautiful rope burns on both my legs bc of course I had shorts on. That string was still tied to a post so it would have broken had the horse taken off with it still on his leg. The tape-he would've had a broken leg when that hit. And I could've been drug. Again, stupid, stupid, painful lack of judgement that won't happen again. I always thought I preferred the tape for visibility, but if rather the string pop if and when one hits it. You just never know. Ours is very strong too, part of the reason the horse freaked when he realized it was "hot" wire on him. |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | brlraceaddict - 2015-07-14 6:08 PM
MT - you are in snow country and trust me when I say that the white tape and rope strands are a PITA when it snows heavily. It must be stretched and tacked on TIGHT every 6-7 feet or so or it will absolutely sag under the weight of snow. MY PSA for the day. :)
This is a good point that I never thought about. Some things need to be cleared up here... A solar fence is by definition a DC powered fence because it charges a battery that powers the fence through the night. This would make a good backup for when the power goes off. I would look for a tape that is not so strong as to be unbreakable if a horse gets tangled up in it. The thin, high tensile wires can cause horrible damage.
You can rob a horse of it's ability to causally test the condition of a fence if you remove the horse's whiskers. I've seen horses use their whiskers to check if a fence is hot... The tingle they get through a whisker is not as great as the shock through direct contact with skin. Something to keep in mind if your horse used to never test a fence but now does because the whiskers were allowed to grow out. Same thing with using flag-tape. While it allows greater viability, it also creates a way to test the fence without being nailed with the full force of the power in the fence.
Edited by komet. 2015-07-14 10:08 PM
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | We use just one strand and have never had a horse, bull, or cow go through it. We have real fencing keeping them off the road, but everything inside that is separating everyone from each other is just single strand electric fence. |
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Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | go4broke - 2015-07-14 5:04 PM
TwistedK- what brand is your fencing?
Zareba (Spelling?) from Tractor Supply. Have the 3 mile solar charger with 3 ground rods and then the fencing. Works like a charm. |
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Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | We just moved to a new property and set it up again. Works great. I haven't lit this up yet but it will be tonight.
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