"Aesthetic" Horse Fence

[mep0726]

SO and I are in the planning stages to bring my two horses home (yay!) and have agreed on HorseGuard tape as our perimeter fencing. However, we will have one line of perimeter fencing (~350’) that will be very visible/prominent from the house so SO wants the fencing along that line to be a little more aesthetically pleasing than HG tape. He was thinking wood fencing, but I am not a fan of that idea (one horse already likes to chew wood a bit and I’ve never liked the maintenance associated with wood fencing, even with an electric wire along the inside – I feel like it’s always getting broken). Both he and I are opposed to the mesh/no climb fencing and high tensile coated wire. I was thinking something like a Centaur 5" rail would be a good alternative? Are there any other options that I might have not considered? The fencing would need to be both aesthetically pleasing as well as effective. I would also like to have something that would be easy to match if we decide to upgrade the perimeter fencing sometime down the road.

TIA!

[Bluey]

Another solution would be to make that frontage yard, not horse pasture.
Landscape it nicely and put whatever kind of yard fence appeals to DH there, no horses in that area.

Give DH his own place to design, build and keep up.

[Scribbler]

I think you can get vinyl fencing that looks like lovely white painted boards from a distance, but the horses won’t chew it.

[moving_to_dc]

Properly installed Horse Guard is very aesthetically pleasing, IMO.

Improperly installed, saggy, twisted tape fence looks like crap.

[allons-y]

I have field fence plus a line of brown HG tape on top and it’s lovely. (Finally have my horses home so I’m a little biased, but still) I would not use just tape as perimeter fencing, I’m too anxious for that. Mine is HOT and they are very respectful. HG tape is very easy to tighten and maintain but a spooked horse could get through it.

[Jarpur]

I only use HG for cross fencing; it has worked very well for that purpose, but I would not count on electric fence for perimeter fencing.

Our perimeter fencing consists of Red Brand King Ranch (KR means extra stout wire with extra heavy galvanized coating) field fence with two additional wires at the top, mounted on galvanized t-posts for line posts, with steel pipe posts at corners, gates, etc., and still looks new after 21 years.

For a long time, when we had young horses, we also had a line of electric fence on stand-offs inside the perimeter fence, but our mature horses are so good about not challenging the fence that we don’t bother with that anymore.

My husband originally wanted the board fence a neighbor has, due to its attractive looks, while I preferred a fence that could keep dogs out, even though I agreed that a board fence can be beautiful. The way we went is not unattractive, and he’s glad that we did go with a more secure fence.

Our sacrifice paddock is fenced in Diamond-V mesh on cedar posts with a top board. Every few to several years, the top board requires re-staining, but it’s not onerous to do so.

Do consider the possibility that horses could blow through an electric fence if frightened – or the charger could quit working – and/or that roaming dogs might be an issue when you decide on a fence; people, including children, could easily climb through a board fence, as well.

Perhaps the area nearest your home, around the front yard, for instance, or either side of the driveway leading to your house, could be the type of fencing which your husband prefers, assuming that there is a more secure perimeter fence and a front gate kept closed.

[streamline]

I don’t think I’ll ever mess with electric fence again.

Our front pasture is fenced with sheep (maybe, I always argue with SO what it’s called) fence with two strands of barbwire on top.

It’s probably the nicest looking fence around this area (I’m bias) but everyone has plain ol barbwire, we have cattle on all sides of us. Random dogs, deer, etc etc.

We had to fence off the back part of our pasture, I was really against more barbwire so we went with hot wire… we just finished installing it and the one horse who hates cows spooked and ripped down all my freshly installed Hotwire. The other two followed.

We now have two strands of barbwire in the back, complete with orange flagging 😂

I would think the HG fence would look nice in the front? Maybe with some no climb fence.

I also have a cribber so im sure he would break vinyl, and destroy wood.

I would also like to go continuous panel fencing, like the 6 foot stuff but like I said I have the cribber. If we ever get a new place we would most likely do the front pasture/front view in panel fencing.

[Palm_Beach]

@mep0726

SO and I are in the planning stages to bring my two horses home (yay!) and have agreed on HorseGuard tape as our perimeter fencing. However, we will have one line of perimeter fencing (~350’) that will be very visible/prominent from the house so SO wants the fencing along that line to be a little more aesthetically pleasing than HG tape. He was thinking wood fencing, but I am not a fan of that idea (one horse already likes to chew wood a bit and I’ve never liked the maintenance associated with wood fencing, even with an electric wire along the inside – I feel like it’s always getting broken). Both he and I are opposed to the mesh/no climb fencing and high tensile coated wire. I was thinking something like a Centaur 5" rail would be a good alternative? Are there any other options that I might have not considered? The fencing would need to be both aesthetically pleasing as well as effective. I would also like to have something that would be easy to match if we decide to upgrade the perimeter fencing sometime down the road.

TIA!

Why not just do a top rail for the parts that you can see and paint it the same color as the tape? I have it in black and it looks great with a top rail and fat wood posts.

[Calvincrowe]

We used black coated steel posts designed for chain link fencing with no climb and a top black steel rail for our front field that we see from the house (and visible along the road). It is lovely to look at, safe and has lasted for years.