Do I *need* wood corners for a fenceline?

[randomequine]

Our entire pasture is HG Bipolar that we did ourselves - after consulting with HG (not sure who, but very knowledgeable guy with a heavy french accent) we set 8" diameter wood posts in each corner and for gate posts - basically, anywhere an end tensioner was going to be - and cemented them in. No bracing, just singular concreted posts.

Four years in and it works like a charm, including when we cross-fenced using t-posts. It looks like you’d need so few that you could almost hand dig those post holes. We used the quik-set concrete and simply followed the instructions.

[Jarpur]

@Knubbsy

I consulted with my structural engineer brother on angling the posts, his response was, “This sounds fine but so you know, this is way below my paygrade”

It’s not much of an angle, just a little bit to help offset the pull of the fence. If your brother suggests something else to address this issue, I’d be very interested.

[Knubbsy]

He said what we are planning (slightly offsetting the post against the direction of tension) should work but an N brace would be the best brace option. He usually designs/retrofits industrial docks and multi-ton bridges so not exactly in his daily wheelhouse.

[Jarpur]

I’m sure a real brace would be the best option. Just wanted to share our successful experience not using braces.

In our case, when we moved in, we weren’t 100% sure that we had the best subdivision of the space into separate pastures, and installed the cross-fencing as simply as possible, without braces. Since we were able to attach most of the electric tape at one or both ends to permanent fencing, we felt okay having a couple of 90 degree corners and one end that were free-standing T-posts, without braces. We did end up moving one line about 50 feet (moved our pipe panel round pen, as well) after living here for a while.

For example, one section of tape begins at the front perimeter fence, continues down the side of the driveway, then there’s a corner to allow the fence to turn 90 degrees and continue to our backyard fence, where it terminates at one of the backyard fence posts. The corner where the line turns is not braced, and there’s a wide gate originating at that corner.

In another section, the tape begins at the front perimeter fence, continues down the other side of the driveway, then there’s a non-braced corner (with a wide gate) to allow the fence to turn roughly 90 degrees, and continue on to our hay shed, where the tape terminates at a non-braced T-post (not attached to the shed). There is also a wide gate at that location.

Now, if someone had horses that were rambunctious and hard on fencing, or there was very tempting whatever on the other side of the tape, this might not be sufficient, but it’s worked for us for decades, with different horses of all ages (foals to elderly) with no problems othere than normal maintenance (occasional tightening of the tension, and some insulator replacement), and no injuries. Was never worth it to us, once we’d decided on the final path of the cross fencing, to go back and put in braces, and we haven’t missed them.

[Bicoastal]

It isn’t about the horse respecting the fence. It’s about the force on the fence itself. I would do it right the first time and brace the corners. Hot-tape gates. Where a physical fence must be hung, brace it.

Or I’d have to go back and fix it three times; the third being the right way because I got tired of fixing the short-cut way.

I’ve done the “good enough for now” too many times. It’s faster and cheaper to buck up and do it right the first time. I’m gradually reforming my ways through hard lessons learned.

For the T-post brackets to create braces, I had an awful, awful time. Warping, shearing off, popping up, etc. Complete waste of time and money when I tried them.

[Jarpur]

We’ve never had to “fix” our cross-fencing corners, in 25 years, but I’ve tried to emphasize that our horses haven’t been challenging it trying to get out, either. Just shared my experience with a similar set-up which has worked very well for us.

[avjudge]

@Bicoastal

For the T-post brackets to create braces, I had an awful, awful time. Warping, shearing off, popping up, etc. Complete waste of time and money when I tried them.

I have never used the brackets because I balked at the price, but I brace my T-post gate posts (electric polyrope gates in a polyrope fence) with braces made of 2x4s. I attach a vertical 2 x 4 to the above-ground portion of the post with 2 pipe straps and anchor the brace to that.

I usually put a wire through a hose between the bottom of the post and the bottom of the brace to maintain the triangle, rather than try to anchor the brace in the ground, since when it goes underwater in a high water event the soil (floodplain silt) basically liquefies so I need a brace that is a unit independent of the ground. But that is an unusual situation.

[Knubbsy]

Off topic to the topic of wood corners but related to my overall project - I got my HG order in, there’s so much assembly to be done! I set my spouse up with the box of insulators to assemble during meetings so that’s one way to get it done, I guess. I just didn’t expect it to need that much work. I’m not convinced I love the post caps since they’re really designed for the T-post cover and they seem kind of awkward and insecure.

[endlessclimb]

Once you get the hang of it it goes really fast. I elected not to use their post toppers because I like the clamping action of the traditional ones.

[Knubbsy]

@endlessclimb

I elected not to use their post toppers because I like the clamping action of the traditional ones.

I assembled one but I might go visit my trainer’s home base to test it on her spare t-posts before I touch anymore

[Knubbsy]

It still needs some tweaking (I ran out of tape for one, so I had to tie on some borrowed mesh tape; thankfully, my mare doesn’t actually need a hot fence), but it looks like the curved corners we did will be just fine. I’m not 100% on the gate. Currently, I have it very tight with the posts angled away, but we’ll see how functional that is when my mare really wants her grass buffet. The HG toppers don’t work for the gate so we used vinyl t-post caps from amazon that we have termed “fence condoms” (classy, I know) and then zip-tied the gate connectors to the post. The terminal ends are actually screwed on properly to the existing fence line - originally, we weren’t going that far but decided to give her a couple of extra feet of well-established grass. The grazing muzzle comes out tomorrow because this grass is lush

[Pehsness]

You definitely don’t “need” them if your horse respects electric. I’ve had diy electro braid up for 7 or 8 years with just t-posts and plastic step ins. It’s definitely not ideal, but for daytime turnout for a horse that respects hot wire/tape it’s ok. The corner posts will lean, the rope/tape will sag, it will not look very pretty after a while. But it will be ok for a bit.

I’m finally getting the last of it replaced with wood board and proper corners/gates/posts and I will say, it’s going to be a huge relief when it’s done.