DAPNET Forums Archive › Forums › Draft Animal Power › Horses › fencing a draft horse
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carter.
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- April 13, 2009 at 4:16 pm #40452
patch
ParticipantI have a two year old draft cross who is an escape artist. He has walked through fence whether its hot or not. The fence he’s in is electric tape. I am moving him to my rental home and can fence him there with my rocky mountain horse, who is not an escape artist. I figure if I feed him more than where he currently is he will stay in but just in case, I would like to find a safe temprary fence or a cheap fence I can leave at my rental home that will keep him in. Do you know of an electric fence or the amount of charge I need to add to the fence to keep him in? I saw on Ebay Poly rope but I don’t know if I can charge it to the strength he needs. What do you think? I won’t use tensile wire because Pearl once had her leg injured from it. So, I want a safe, cheap fence that I can put up in a weekend or two. The other option I heard of was the fencing that looks like chicken wire fence but I think he’ll just run it over. He’s a calm horse but is great at wiggling between fence strands. Help!
thanksApril 13, 2009 at 5:03 pm #51693grey
ParticipantYou need a hotter fence. Either your fence isn’t sufficiently grounded or the charger is too weak for the amount of wire you are trying to power. Don’t forget that if you are using tape, there are several minute wires in each ribbon of tape. Tape and polyrope draws the charger down more than plain wire. Can’t use as many feet of tape/rope as wire and still have the charger deliver a good zap.
Make sure your fence tester isn’t just a yes/no on/off type single bulb unit. Get one that has several bulbs that show you just how hot your fence really is. You might need to add more grounding rods in series or water the ground at your rods from time to time to get better ground. Check, double-check and triple-check all your connections and test the fence after each splice.
Myself, I use three strands of smooth, very hot wire on capped T-posts set at roughly 8 to 10 foot intervals. Ideally, one day I’ll have crossbraced wood corner posts but I haven’t gotten there yet.
Horses can hurt themselves on just about anything. Mine would be in greater danger of injury if they escaped from the pasture than they are from the fence itself.
April 13, 2009 at 7:52 pm #51695Theloggerswife
ParticipantPurchase a decent fencer that gives off a good charge. We use three strands of high tencel wire. This keeps in our draft horses and 20 plus highland cattle. You can use the poly tape or rope, but you need a decent charge going through it. Our one fencer puts off a hot, hot charge and all animals respect it and it charges all 70 acres of fence on our farm.
We purchased our fencer from a neighbor who installs ag fences for a living. Not cheap, but it will gives you years of worry free fencing.
April 14, 2009 at 4:11 am #51696Robert MoonShadow
ParticipantYou didn’t mention how much area you’re wanting to fence in at your rental… stock panels (also called ‘cattle panels’) aren’t cheap (about $20 hereabouts), but my 50″ tall x 16′ long panels go up quick, and hold the company draft mules – they’ll bend them over at the top, but a strand of barb wire stops that. As my boss likes to say: “It takes a damn good fence to starve a mule” –> well-fed & content (as in not bored) animals tend to stay put. ‘Til you say something like that… then they’re gone, just to show you up. :rolleyes:
Good luck in your efforts.April 14, 2009 at 4:57 am #51698sanhestar
Participant@Robert MoonShadow 8035 wrote:
You didn’t mention how much area you’re wanting to fence in at your rental… stock panels (also called ‘cattle panels’) aren’t cheap (about $20 hereabouts)
I would love to buy stock panels at that price. EUR 118,– a piece or more!
April 14, 2009 at 5:57 am #51697ParticipantSanhestar: These are welded-wire panels – heavy gauge wire (about half as thick as a pencil) – are you talking about the heavier kind? Because that’s an extreme price for what I’m referring to.
April 14, 2009 at 8:57 am #51699Participantno, I refer to this type of panels:
can’t remember that I’ve ever seen the type you describe over here, at least not for cattle.
April 14, 2009 at 10:24 am #51700carter
ParticipantJust a thought, patch. Your horse, or one of the others, isn’t turned out in a rug/blanket
are they?? The shock won’t go through the material. One horse can push and disconnect the wires, and any horses who haven’t learned to respect the tape, will push through.
I have seen this.April 17, 2009 at 1:41 am #51694Crabapple Farm
ParticipantSanhestar, over here that type are normally called corral panels. And run over a $100 depending on length and gauge, paint or galvanized.
On the fencing issue, I think you really only need one strand of rope or tape at the top, lower strands can be plain smooth wire. If the horse is moving, their head will be up and they’ll see the rope or tape. If they’re head’s down below that height, then they are moving slow and will notice the less visible wires. Tie the top wire into the smooth wires every so often, because rope and tape are typically poor conductors. The smooth wire will do a better job getting the current all the way around the fence.
There was a thread a while back about electric fencing issues, with lots of grounding advice. It does sound like your fence doesn’t have enough juice, and that your horse needs to learn respect for it. - AuthorPosts
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