Flex Fence - Ramm vs centaur vs other brands

[Bree]

I am thinking about redoing my horse paddocks next year and just wanted to see what experiences people had with using some of the flex fence products.

I bought this property as-is a couple of years ago and have been slowly redoing a section at a time. Currently the paddocks have smooth wire fence around it and I strung up a layer of hotwire which works fine for my current horses as they respect even the crappiest of fences but I certainly will have new horses at some point which may not have that respect.

I also raise a couple of steers every year and while so far they’ve done pretty well with the fence in place I would like something slightly more durable that I’m not out fixing every couple of months.

Thanks!

[Lmabernathy]

I use the centaur top rail and black lightening coated wire underneath. The black lightening is electrified. That works great for me. I board plus have lesson horses and I have several cribbers that live here. the electric keeps them from cribbing on my wooden posts. In my half acre paddocks I only use the black lightening and t posts with covers, only the corner and brace posts are wood. Very safe fence, horses respect the electricity and when the occasional dummy kicks through they don’t have any injuries. Had a horse with a brain tumor once walk through the fence (imagine just driving a tractor through it) she was able to pull the fence off the corner connectors and tear it down but she had no injuries and I was able to get the fence back up by myself (2 different paddocks) while waiting on the vet to examine her. Sadly she couldn’t be saved but the fence didn’t do any damage to her, she didn’t have a mark on her actually.

[TheJenners]

I installed Ramm on my property this year, it’s lovely. Three separate paddocks, wood posts, each paddock has non-climb field fence topped with the electrified poly wire (Ramm’s “black lightning”). Two of the paddocks are ajoined and are separated by four strands of the poly hot. Future paddocks will be wood posts with the poly hot only; these are done with non-climb because two of the paddocks are rotated with a horse that is a dog-stomper, and the other has my mini donkeys.

[2DogsFarm]

I have a Centaur-clone top rail - 4" - and 3 strands of coated wire beneath - top one can carry a charge.
After 13yrs I have yet to add a charger & 3 sets of geldings have not damaged it beyond one WB chewing on the top rail at some places - cosmetic damage only.
It’s white & so far very minimal green discoloration & only on that top rail.
I do have some posts that are loosening - butt-leaners - but the wire is still piano-wire tight all around.

I have had to tighten just one line in all that time.
So my vote is a resounding YES for the product. :yes:​​​​​​​

[scrbear11]

Has anyone tried it without having an electrified strand somewhere in the fencing? Do horses respect it without electric?

My husband and I are starting the building process. We have been looking at ramm and centuar. My only hesitation is my escape artist will be able to wiggle through the fence. Or does it not flex that much?

[millerra]

In my experience - a hot wire is helpful to keep my big guys from leaning on it but I don’t think it’s a problem if its properly installed (tight) . Our problem was with the cows - they definitely wiggled their way through the spacings. A more motivated pony could probably work their way through…

[fordtraktor]

I have three strands of Centaur flex fence, and two of white lightening that I keep hot so they don’t lean on it. I have been incredibly happy with this product. I bought Centaur because my dad has the same fence we put up 20 years ago and it still looks great. I learned from him to add the White Lightening – some horses will learn to lean on the fence to get grass without it. We did have one wiggle through once…rare but it can happen. I think electric is a good idea to have on any fence.

No fence is perfect but this is the safest I can imagine.

Centaur has a wide electrifiable product as well, “Hotrail.” it is a little more expensive than what I did but I am sure would look very nice.

[Ashtastically]

Can only speak to Ramm fencing, but we’ve had it for 10+ years, with replacements made here and there. The nice part is if you have a damaged part you can tighten the roll back up, rather than having to replace a board. We had a mare that figured out it has give and learned how to climb through it, so her pasture got a hot wire on the top “rail” and had no problems after that.

[2DogsFarm]

@scrbear11

Has anyone tried it without having an electrified strand somewhere in the fencing? Do horses respect it without electric?

My husband and I are starting the building process. We have been looking at ramm and centuar. My only hesitation is my escape artist will be able to wiggle through the fence. Or does it not flex that much?

See my post right above yours - have yet to add a charger.
But I jinxed myself - mini made an escape yesterday by limboing under the bottom wire where the ground had sunk or posts risen so he had room,
I am adding 32" wire grid - Red Brand field fencing - at the bottom to prevent further jailbreaks.
Still holding out against adding a charger as the wire that can carry it is frayed in places & needs to be replaced.
So far no horse 13h or taller has gotten out.

[TheJenners]

@scrbear11

Has anyone tried it without having an electrified strand somewhere in the fencing? Do horses respect it without electric?

My husband and I are starting the building process. We have been looking at ramm and centuar. My only hesitation is my escape artist will be able to wiggle through the fence. Or does it not flex that much?

No, no they don’t. I was a BM for a 65 horse facility and every single horse on the place learned to do this, which meant rubbed manes and angry owners. BO wouldn’t put up any hot because “electric fence is cruel!” so yeah. Also it does stretch it eventually, and on the front of the property where there were the flex-rails, the rails became warped/deformed because of the bottoms or tops of the rails stretching more, and no amount of tightening could fix the wave-y appearance.

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[2DogsFarm]

@TheJenners Yup, all of mine have done that, resulting in a roached mane for the TWH. Hackney Pony’s mane is so fine it doesn’t get as bad, no Equine Combover result for him!
I don’t think electric is at all cruel, just one more thing for me to have to maintain, so I’ve gone w/o.
.
My top rail is not at all wavy, aside from the parts nibbled by the WB & minor green staining it looks as good as New.

[btswass]

I hate our flex fencing. It was installed improperly and never tightened by the person we bought the property from. We did our best to make it work but it looks terrible. Our donkey also likes to force his way through so definitely need electric. Personally when we redo our fencing will be using horseguard electric tape fencing. Its soooooo much easier to work with and tighten and cheaper.