I am so sorry, OP. I really dislike Electobraid for this reason and I have had horses hurt on all sorts of fencing, down to the five inch Centaur which you would think is impossible, but no, horses find a way. You absolutely cannot blame yourself.
So sorry for your and the owner’s loss. It’s terrible to lose any horse, but especially hard to lose a young, talented, well loved one. Best wishes to you both in this time of emotional pain and loss.
You did nothing wrong. Horses will hurt themselves on almost any kind of fencing.
Personally, I love electrobraid, and won’t use anything else. However, I would not have horses on a shared fenceline regardless of fencing type, just because of the type of accident you lost your horse in. Kicking through ANY kind of fence at another horse can be catastrophic.
I’m sorry for what happened.
With that said, I think your grief is clouding your judgement. Any horse that kicks through a fence can get badly injured. If it were Electrobraid fence or something similar, the injury is actually less likely to be serious.
OP, so very sorry for your loss, this was a tragic event. I know of two accidents from electrobraid, one fatal and the other one was noticed immediately and the horse survived. Like everyone says, accidents can happen with any type of confinement materials but I personally avoid electrobraid.
Fatal accidents happen on ALL types of fences. Electrobraid is one of the safest one available actually. Avoiding a safe fence just because some reported accidents only to pick another that is MORE prone to serious injuries is not wise.
There is a serious, operational flaw in the “fence breaks first” approach and that is if the fence breaks too soon the horse is released from confinement. If it then walks into the middle of a public road and gets hit by a truck then what have we accomplished?
All equine confinement systems have their issues. Demonizing one or the other, without a lot of thought, is a Very Bad Idea.
G.
So sorry for the loss of this horse. Only you can decide what fencing is best for your situation. You sound like an experienced horse person and will surely use good judgement. Horses do have a tremendous capacity for injuring themselves but saying that does decrease the pain for owners when disasters happen.
Electrbraid is one of the few electric fences that doesnt have a warning stating that it should not be used as peremeter fencing. If the fence breaks and your horse causes an accident,you will probably have a dead horse and a law suit for negligence. And God forbid that a person get killed. I live on major roads. The fence must contain the horse.
I do agree that perimeter fence should be something a horse isn’t likely to get through. Which would pretty much require any fence near a road to be 10 foot high HEAVY DUTY chain link, because the reality is that in the right circumstances horses can get over or through any fencing.
There are some types of fencing that injure horses “often” and some types that have virtually no reports of injuries.
But I believe this accident was talking about cross fencing between horses.
Board fences age poorly and shatter on impact, sometimes with devastating results. If you have trees nearby a storm can take out a section of fence in 2 seconds.
Pipe fence also ages poorly into a rusted husk and shatters shoulders if they run into it.
Cable, smooth wire, and electrobraid can all deglove a leg in seconds, but are largely resistant to trees breaking them.
Hot tape breaks and also (IME) ages poorly under the glare of the sun.
if money were no object, then woven no-climb topped with Centaur or Ramm flex rail or hotcote carrying a charge is ideal. but boy is it $$$.
http://store.rammfence.com/Images/Mesh%20Fence/horseman-mesh-2.jpg
No climb is not too pretty when a horse kicks thru it and gets the fencing stuck on their leg.
Which just reinforces the point that no fencing is safe when it comes to horses. They will find a way to injure themselves.
Exactly. It’s the safest I can come up with, but life is dangerous.
Right, no fence is 100% safe. But this farm, where there are 30+ horses of all sexes, sizes and ages, has not had a fence injury caused by Safe Fence or Horse Guard Electric in over 20 years. And no “horses out on the road” episodes. Pretty good odds if you ask me.
I agree with the general consensus here that horses can and will hurt themselves on any type of fence.
I think the best way to reduce the possibility of injuries would be to try and keep horses away from the fence by having large enough fields and no shared fence lines. Not always possible of course.
Another way to reduce the risk of fence injuries is mowing practice.
We mow both sides of a fence as short as the mower can make it. We try to keep the fence lines clean with RoundUp. This year that has been tough due to weather and equipment problems. We’re working on it. 
The rationale, here, is that if the grass along a fence line is really short then there’s little to no reason for the horse to hang out there. Of course “fenceline fighting” with the horse next door is sometimes all that is needed. Still, the fewer reasons to be along the fence line the better.
If you’ve got the room then keeping an “aisle” between paddocks is a Good Idea.
Another way to minimize risk is to be careful which horses are in which paddock. There’s all kinds of advice on this subject; the husbandryman should take the time to observe groups and remove “fractious” or “disruptive” horses. That will reduce risk of certain types of injury.
There is no “silver bullet” here. Except, maybe, exercising good sense.
G.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen some terrible injuries from Electrobraid because it will not break. It’s similar in many ways to high tensile wire and I agree with the other posters that it can be very dangerous. I have used many types of fence over the years, including wood fence, and I’m another vote for the Horseguard fence. I’ve never been happier with a fencing system and (knock wood) I’ve never had a horse injured by it. Even when an occasional deer has gone through it, the fence has just stretched and the animal was able to get free uninjured. If you need a perimeter fence that is impenetrable it’s best to make it separate from your pasture fences so horses will only come in contact with it in rare, emergency situations. In my opinion, if the fence doesn’t give the horse will and it will always be tragic.
My friend had a pony get caught up in electric fence. It couldn’t get out and it finally died in the night after being shocked over and over. They now have a safety to avoid them getting zapped over and over if they get caught. Hopefully the safety works
