What do you think is the safest fence?

[dmalbone]

For a fence (6'- potentially containing a stallion,) on a fairly busy road, what would you consider the safest fence and why? I feel like I've considered everything, but have gotten a little unsure lately and have received some pretty poor customer service which made me just back off and wait until I was 110% sure. We want to wait to fence until the barn is up anyway so we have a little while. In my mind at least these are what I see as downfalls to different options

- any tapes: low breaking strength. On a busy road I want to contain them not have something break and free them.

- electrobraid: psychological barrier not comfortable using on a busy road

- wood: constant maintenance, splintering, cost, have to electrify

- pvc: cost and shattering in cold

- no-climb: pain of stretching, have to pay someone to install most likely, cost, danger of catching shoes- i've seen a horrible accident and I think it scarred me with this fence. :( I do really like keeping other animals out though

- centaur/ramm: this was my first choice... I guess I'm just second guessing. I'm worried that although the fence will be hot about slipping through the rails, wires. Feel free to talk about any other cons of this fencing. It is extremely cost effective for us (we would only be doing a top rail with coated hot wire below).

any other types/options? I'd love to hear about your fencing choices and why.

[WorthTheWait95]

We have 4 board wood fencing (by Penrod..I HIGHLY recommend them!) with rounded corners so the horses run with the fence and not into it and no common fence lines so no need to electrify. It works great for us! We just put it in 3 or 4 years ago and it was worth every penny. We've only had three broken boards so far all due to a tree coming down on a section. No fence related injuries (knock wood) so far either. I might add a strand of electric if our pastures boardered any roads though just to be safe especially with a stud since we have neighbors with mares.

[Luckydonkey]

I have 5 ft non climb with a hot wire about 6 inches above it, and half way down it- it keeps them off of it , and away from it- which will help keep shoes froim getting stuck. It was really not that hard to install- we did it ourselves. We sandwhiched it between 2 2X4s screwed together, and pulled it with our tractor to stretch it- could have used the pick up too though...then just nailed it to the fence posts.... I have had a lot of types of fencing- this so far seems to be the best we have had:D...

[besjoux]

PVC with a strand on hotwire on the top rail

[Tangerine Farmer]

We got a super deal on 4" steel water well pipe. It is welded and great, at 5 feet high. Totally impervious to horses/elephants.

We then ran that rectangular mesh horizontally along it. That didn't come out well. The darlings paw at it and drag themselves along it to scratch themselves. It is curling up at the bottom and I have to monitor it for hoof catching areas.

Hot wire would help, I'm sure, but I've given up and just monitor the danger areas.

[camohn]

We have the Ramm and loff it. The only problem with it has been with babies flipping through it...either by accident or the one bugger than learned to do it on purpose. Hotcote wire or hot tape solved the latter's issue though. I had one horse slip and fall onto it at a full gallop. I am sure if he had hit a wood fence his shoulder would have been broken. With the give in the fence he flipped through it, rolled out the other side and had THE most baffled expression on his face! Cars have hit it and not broken it on the road (usually on Friday nights, funny thing...). Horses have put a foot over it and not gotten heels cut up like with other fence types.
added:The corner posts: should ideally be sunk into concrete and braced. Other than that...ya just have to have the posts 10' apart. If they get much more that that there is too much give in the fence. And yes, trees have fallen on it and it springs back when you cut the tree up!
We did do one small paddock in the hard PVC and yes....it does shatter in the cold if they kick it with nasty sharp things.

[ESG]

No-climb with cap/facing boards and electric wire on top. Hands down favorite. Every farm I've had has had this, and I've never had issues with it. And it's easy to stretch properly with a tractor and a come-along, both of which you can rent (tractor) and buy (come-along) inexpensively. Might be a little more difficult to put up than some of the other options, but believe me - you'll be glad you did, especially if you're dealing with a stallion. :yes:

[LAZ]

I have miles of 4' tall 3 board oak board/cedar post fencing that is ancient & requires major maintenace--the fact that it is nearly 40 years old and (mostly) still standing is a testament to it's durability. The farm was cross fenced in mysterious ways when I got here--as I've replace/repaired sections I've also pulled out some of the fence rows to make little paddocks into bigger fields.

However, if I had a money tree, I redo the perimeter fence and strategic fence lines in Centaur or Ramm fencing & cross fence the interior with a good electric tape fence. I have been super impressed with this fence, I know a number of people who have it and it is like magic in terms of repair--tree falls on it? Cut the tree, fence springs back, crank the tensioners & you're back in business. Car runs into the fence? Same thing. Horse hits it? They bounce off. If you make the top hot they don't lean on it or fight across it. And it looks nice! Only caveat appears to be that you should get your corner posts right or it doesn't work well.

I've always been big on ease-of-use and the Centaur fences seems to fit that bill.

[dmalbone]

Thanks. It seems like centaur is still is for us. The few stories I've heard about cars bouncing off it helps with the fact that we live on a fairly busy road. It's right where it turns into 45 mph and is patrolled pretty well so traffic is never too fast, but I think knowing that it has more of a chance of surviving as opposed to a board fence makes me feel better. I'm just worried about all the corner posts and reinforcements.

[jetsmom]

That hard rubber fence that looks like wood, with electric tape on top.

[LLDM]

Safest for whom? For the horses getting hurt or against them getting out? Or both - but these two things can be at cross purposes.

Centaur and Ramm are only as good as your installers. A poor installation makes these expensive solutions pretty worthless. They are probably safer for the horses, but there are better containment options.

For me the best solution was a professionally installed four board fence. It is the 3rd such iteration on our farm, but *this* fence is far superior to anything else I have seen including our first two installations of four board.

The moral of the story for me is to spend more time checking out the installers than types or manufactures. Installation is the make or break on any fence!

Good Luck!

SCFarm

[MunchkinsMom]

Safest for whom? For the horses getting hurt or against them getting out? Or both - but these two things can be at cross purposes.

Centaur and Ramm are only as good as your installers. A poor installation makes these expensive solutions pretty worthless. They are probably safer for the horses, but there are better containment options.

For me the best solution was a professionally installed four board fence. It is the 3rd such iteration on our farm, but *this* fence is far superior to anything else I have seen including our first two installations of four board.

The moral of the story for me is to spend more time checking out the installers than types or manufactures. Installation is the make or break on any fence!

Good Luck!

SCFarm

I agree on the professionally installed 4 board, and I would add some no-climb to it. When professional installed with the right kind of no-climb, it makes for a fairly indestructible fence. Also, many of the pro's give a guarantee usually. I had a neighbor that just had to have a bunch of posts replaced because they rotted, and were not supposed to, the installers replaced them all for free due to the warrantee.

The other plus with adding no-climb is that if a board breaks, the no-climb helps to hold it all together.

I've seen horses lean on the PVC type fencing and pop the "board" right out of the posts and get loose.

There is a new company out there, making fence board from recycled materials, I can't recall the name of it right now, but I have seen a sample, from the gentleman that paints my fences, and he was very impressed with it. If money were no object, that would be my next fencing solution.