Coated High Tensile Wire Fencing

[Texarkana]

I apologize, as I feel like this has probably been discussed extensively and I missed it.

Can you tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly about coated high tensile wire fencing?

I am talking about things like the PolyPlus from Centaur seen here (with or without the sight rail): https://www.centaurfencing.net/products/polyplus

As a rule, I have always hated plain high tensile wire. I grew up with it and saw too many injuries.

But this coated stuff is turning up on more and more farms and I figure there must be a good reason why!

My current, beautiful, three board painted wood fence also has ended my love affair with wood fencing. It has me cursing it’s existence every single day. :lol:

I am hoping to find a sturdy, safe option that is lower maintenance overall. (Not replacing the current fence, we are renters and will hopefully one day move into our own place)

So what is your experience with coated high tensile wire? Is it truly that much safer than the uncoated stuff like they say?

[wsmoak]

Elisa Wallace has posted a couple of things about her new setup with the Centaur coated wire, here’s a video tour:

https://www.facebook.com/wallaceeventing/videos/521982532031646/

(I agree… I did a four-board wood fence in Florida and NEVER AGAIN. Here I did non-climb with a top board and even THAT is annoying. I’m using CenFlex as the top ‘board’ on any new sections.)

[Texarkana]

@wsmoak

Elisa Wallace has posted a couple of things about her new setup with the Centaur coated wire, here’s a video tour:

https://www.facebook.com/wallaceeventing/videos/521982532031646/

(I agree… I did a four-board wood fence in Florida and NEVER AGAIN. Here I did non-climb with a top board and even THAT is annoying. I’m using CenFlex as the top ‘board’ on any new sections.)

Yes! I’ve seen that video. When she installed it, I really started paying attention. And now I’m seeing it absolutely everywhere.

No climb with a board or vinyl sight rail is probably my top choice at the moment… maybe leaning towards vinyl after your comment. But my understanding is the price of it has skyrocketed lately (maybe that’s wrong, I’m just repeating what I overheard).

[lenapesadie]

I recently priced out no climb and vinyl flex rails. Ouch all the way around price wise.

I boarded at a place with coated high tensile fence in a couple of paddocks. It was good fencing. Hot as fire. Horses never tested it so I’m not sure on the safety bit. Looked good too. I think the coating makes it more visible. I’d be less confident in the non electrified variety. YMMV

[Texarkana]

@lenapesadie

I recently priced out no climb and vinyl flex rails. Ouch all the way around price wise.

I boarded at a place with coated high tensile fence in a couple of paddocks. It was good fencing. Hot as fire. Horses never tested it so I’m not sure on the safety bit. Looked good too. I think the coating makes it more visible. I’d be less confident in the non electrified variety. YMMV

Thanks for confirming I’m not losing my mind over the price of no climb. It’s always been pricey, but I heard it has risen so much recently that most can’t consider it.

Is the coated high tensile always hot? I was under the impression many people use it without electric. I’m just curious; I plan to add at least one hot strand to whatever I go with as I have a cribber/fence rubber who is hard on anything that’s not hot.

[lenapesadie]

@Texarkana

Thanks for confirming I’m not losing my mind over the price of no climb. It’s always been pricey, but I heard it has risen so much recently that most can’t consider it.

Is the coated high tensile always hot? I was under the impression many people use it without electric. I’m just curious; I plan to add at least one hot strand to whatever I go with as I have a cribber/fence rubber who is hard on anything that’s not hot.

Count me among those that won’t consider the no climb! I love it functionally but dang the cost is too steep for me.

Brief look at RAMM showed two types of coated high tensile. One electrified and one not. I’ve only seen the hot stuff in real life.

It might be nice to mix the hot and not hot. Matchy matchy but not all the way electrified.

[Ponycatraz]

@Texarkana

Thanks for confirming I’m not losing my mind over the price of no climb. It’s always been pricey, but I heard it has risen so much recently that most can’t consider it.

Is the coated high tensile always hot? I was under the impression many people use it without electric. I’m just curious; I plan to add at least one hot strand to whatever I go with as I have a cribber/fence rubber who is hard on anything that’s not hot.

I bought Ramm coated high tensile. I have three strands that are full poly, and two strands (strand 2 and 4) that have the carbon inlays to electrify. The stuff you can make hot is more expensive so we saved money not using for the normal strands.

I’m loving it! My husband’s horse is hard on fences and gets stuck in normal boats fences but he has had no problems with this! I’ve also seen the idiot gallop into it and he only bounced off. No injuries and the fence was fine. The place I vacation at uses it for their foal and weaning pastures and Haven’t had injuries either. All we have to do is tighten it once a year.

I have been told by several People to avoid the white as it discolors over time. We have the brown.

[Texarkana]

@Ponycatraz

I bought Ramm coated high tensile. I have three strands that are full poly, and two strands (strand 2 and 4) that have the carbon inlays to electrify. The stuff you can make hot is more expensive so we saved money not using for the normal strands.

I’m loving it! My husband’s horse is hard on fences and gets stuck in normal boats fences but he has had no problems with this! I’ve also seen the idiot gallop into it and he only bounced off. No injuries and the fence was fine. The place I vacation at uses it for their foal and weaning pastures and Haven’t had injuries either. All we have to do is tighten it once a year.

I have been told by several People to avoid the white as it discolors over time. We have the brown.

Thanks for sharing! Good tips! I was wondering that about the white. I see so much of the white stuff around here, but it’s all fairly new. Do you feel like visibility is fine with the brown?

Do you feel like you need to have the hot coated wire strands for it to be a safe and effective fence? Would you feel comfortable using it without?

I ask because with my cribber, I always have to run a strand of hot wire on extenders to keep her away from the posts. Even in electric tape fenced fields she would crib on the posts, and I imagine it would be the same with the coated wire. My vision is foregoing hot coated wire strands and just running an interior hot wire on extenders, but I don’t know if that is a reasonable idea.

[Pony_Someday]

I had our paddock fenced earlier this year with 5 strands of coated wire after having spent several years considering different fencing options. The white coated wire has great visibility, looks neat and tidy. It holds tension well, but has the bounce you would need in an accident. Three of my wires are hot (bottom, middle, top). The only thing to consider about not running them hot is that your nosy horses may want to stick their heads through, which can disrupt the integrity of the tension. I haven’t had that issue at all with my fence, just thinking in theoretical terms, but the thought would make me uncomfortable. I can rest easy knowing that I have a sturdy fence that’s going to keep my horses secure while I’m not around. I saw Elisa Wallace’s video on her fence just a week or so ago and felt really validated!

[Texarkana]

@Pony Someday

I had our paddock fenced earlier this year with 5 strands of coated wire after having spent several years considering different fencing options. The white coated wire has great visibility, looks neat and tidy. It holds tension well, but has the bounce you would need in an accident. Three of my wires are hot (bottom, middle, top). The only thing to consider about not running them hot is that your nosy horses may want to stick their heads through, which can disrupt the integrity of the tension. I haven’t had that issue at all with my fence, just thinking in theoretical terms, but the thought would make me uncomfortable. I can rest easy knowing that I have a sturdy fence that’s going to keep my horses secure while I’m not around. I saw Elisa Wallace’s video on her fence just a week or so ago and felt really validated!

That is a very good point about them sticking their heads through and disrupting the tension. Driving around my area, the coated high tensile wire is becoming almost as common as other traditional fencing options (until I started paying attention, I mistook most of it for electrobraid/electric rope). But I’ve definitely noticed some tension problems and certainly wouldn’t want to install it in a manner that would contribute to issues.

[Scarlet_Gilia]

DH installed four strands of white Kencote four years ago. We went with Kencote because the shipping to us at that time was cheaper than from other manufacturers. I wanted to have two strands of Kencove Hotcote plus two of Kencote, but DH preferred the warranty and appearance of the Kencote (and after three years of trying to agree on a type of fencing - I was willing to give a little bit on that issue). I have since added two strands of poly electric wire at the bottom, to encourage neighbor’s dog to stay home, and top, to enforce horses’ respect for the fence.

We have been very happy with the coated wire fence. We have tightened it a few times. The white is still white, but we live in an arid climate. The only real test was when an escaped steer ran down the neighbor’s lane and spooked our horses. One gelding got going too fast for conditions, slid on a some slick, melted-then-frozen snow, and ran into the fence. He bounced off unhurt but embarrassed, a fence post snapped off at the ground, the wire was fine.

https://kencove.com/fence/Horse+Fence_products.php

[Scarlet_Gilia]

Also, look at Finish Line Fencing. @Montanas_Girl posted about it recently. It sounds like it is easier to handle than poly-coated wire.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…nally-complete

[Montanas_Girl]

Like @Scarlet Gilia said, I recently installed about 5 acres of perimeter and cross fencing (2 pastures & a sacrifice lot) in Finish Line fencing. https://finishlinefence.com/

I priced out the coated wire first, but the Finish Line was much, much MUCH cheaper - not only in materials but in installation costs. I’ve been very pleased with my fence. I have four strands of Finish Line and a top strand of Horse Guard electric tape. I also have one line of plain electric wire running between my 2nd and 3rd strands of Finish Line to keep the horses from sticking their heads through the fence. (It doesn’t, however, keep the deer from squeezing through and popping the corner insulators on the electric wire out of the post, unfortunately! At least that’s an easy fix.) The Finish Line is virtually maintenance free - I walk around and hand tighten the fence every few weeks if needed, but that’s about it so far. Since there’s no wire (other than the electric strand, which is low tensile/easy to break) in the fence, there’s no way for the horses to get caught/cut in the fence. If they hit it, the Finish Line stretches and then bounces right back. I guess if they hit it at high speed/force, it might break, but mine haven’t yet felt a need to test that theory.

[Ponycatraz]

@Texarkana

Thanks for sharing! Good tips! I was wondering that about the white. I see so much of the white stuff around here, but it’s all fairly new. Do you feel like visibility is fine with the brown?

Do you feel like you need to have the hot coated wire strands for it to be a safe and effective fence? Would you feel comfortable using it without?

I ask because with my cribber, I always have to run a strand of hot wire on extenders to keep her away from the posts. Even in electric tape fenced fields she would crib on the posts, and I imagine it would be the same with the coated wire. My vision is foregoing hot coated wire strands and just running an interior hot wire on extenders, but I don’t know if that is a reasonable idea.

I do feel I need to have the two stands of electric but one of my horses is an expert at crawling through high tensile. The two electric strands keep him from putting his head through and stretching the wire up so he can step through it.

I’ve not had issues with mine going for the posts to chew but the fence gives a pretty good zap so they stay back.

[OzarksRider]

Texarkana, pardon me barging in on your thread, but I too am considering high tensile coated wire fencing. I was going to start my own thread but you beat me to it.

I have two questions for those who have experience with this type of fence. First, is it a good fence for containing cows? (My horses and cows share a fence line.) Second, how hard is it to keep the fence electrified if I choose this version for some of the wires?

[Texarkana]

@OzarksRider Ask away! I want to know the answer, too…

[PaddockWood]

I’m about to have electric coated wire installed. The friends I know who have it have NEVER had an injury in 35 yrs with it. Fence installer agreed it was the least expensive and highest safety fence. They say IF a horse hits it they just bounce off. It IS amazing how many people don’t understand how safe it is - they think it’s high tensile.

[B-burg_Dressage]

I really like it!

Personally I always prefer an electric fence–no leaning and they’ll only test it if they’re really panicked or they slip or whatever.

Used to board at a barn that had it and my guy did test it (he used to really like testing fences). He basically got all the hair rubbed off kind of like a smooth rug burn? I was pleased with the lack of real injury. He went through the fence hard enough to break a cedar post with his neck that left a permanent dent. But he had a couple days off, some minor swelling around the rubs, and zero vet bills.

I also love the very very low maintenance aspect of it. We installed some last summer and it looks great and I don’t see any issues long-term. I’ve had to tighten it a couple times as posts have settled but nothing hard since we installed tighteners on every line. Put posts about every 20-30 feet (which does void warranty but yolo).

[Texarkana]

@PaddockWood

I’m about to have electric coated wire installed. The friends I know who have it have NEVER had an injury in 35 yrs with it. Fence installer agreed it was the least expensive and highest safety fence. They say IF a horse hits it they just bounce off. It IS amazing how many people don’t understand how safe it is - they think it’s high tensile.

35 years?!? I had no idea it has been around that long.

I never knew the coated stuff existed until maybe 5 years ago. A farm sitting client bought a new place and told me she was ripping out all the 4 board and replacing it with coated high tensile wire. Having only experienced regular high tensile up until that point, I about fainted with shock/horror/disgust at the thought of removing precious wood (ha) for “risky” high tensile. Now it looks like she had the right idea!

[spacehorse]

My whole farm is coated high tensile, with the exception of the arena, and that is flex rail. Best decision I ever made. My fence is going on 7 years old, I have never had to tighten it. My drylot is wooded and I have had large branches fall on the fence, I can just throw them off and the fence pops right back up. I have 4 strands, 2 are hot and 2 are not. My horses don’t tend to challenge the fence, they know it’s hot and just don’t mess with it. My posts are 20 feet apart, so that alone I was able to cut down on install cost.