PVC fencing for horses

[BadEventer]

[QUOTE=baysngreys;4976810]
Yep, all the ends were crimped, still popped out if the horses leaned against the middle of the rail.

PITA - beautiful looking but after installing screws in every rail end, resetting posts in Quikcrete, glueing down all the post tops…rather build a wooden fence and be done with it![/QUOTE]

Ditto - we crimped ends & placed screws & concreted posts & glued on tops (and put screws in the tops too) & ran hotwire. My horses still destroy it regularly, and we order a constant supply of replacement posts, boards, and caps.

I wanted it for the “lack” of maintenance, and so far it’s required more maintenance than any other kind of fence I’ve ever had.

And with having to bleach the green mildew off…it’s just not worth it.

[TooManyChickens]

Ours has been up for about 15 years. Posts were cemented in. It’s pretty to look at, we’ve had a few boards pop out but nothing terribly annoying. We do have hot wire on the top and middle rails. Cons: the caps on the top of the posts always find their way into a horse’s mouth, and then into 10 pieces in the pasture. To date haven’t had any of the rails break, but several posts have gotten a kick, and had to be replaced, which is highly frustrating and $$$. Pros: it’s been up, like I said, 15 years, and in the grand scheme of things has required next to no maintenance. Everyone always comments on how beautiful it is, but I’m a believer that without that electric it would have been in pieces long ago.

[TaliaCristianna]

I built two large paddocks with the stuff and it was the bane of my existence.

When the weather is cold, rails will just pop out and sometimes even shatter. The shards of PVC are like glass.

The caps simply DO NOT stay on. Even if they are glued down.

Rails pop out easily if the horse leans on it. If you do decide to go with it hot wire around the inside is a MUST. Also make sure every single post is filled with cement or you will have serious trouble with shifting.

Last weekend we had 70 MPH winds in our area. A friend of mine lost four big sections of her PVC fence to the wind and two of the PVC gates BLEW OPEN. The standard latches that come with that type of fence are pieces of crap.

She is extremely lucky her horse decided to hang out and not wander off during the storm…

I on the other hand dealt with the same 70MPH winds on my hilltop farm and my electrobraid was still as good as new in the morning.

If you have a mild climate where you’re at, cement in all the posts, upgrade to better gate latches and run several strands of electric around the inside you might be okay. The fence DOES look nice but I personally would never go with it again.

[c5rose]

I am on year 6 with PVC fence and love it. We have a line of electric along the top and have had zero problems. We had every post cemented into the ground and only occasionally does one pop out, but they’re so easy to put back in.

[paohatch]

Great info. I am looking at new fencing and will probably use PVC for pretty purposes and not to hold a horse in. I always use hot wire at the top and bottom to keep my Draft Xs and Draft from LEANING

[js]

Depending on where you live, in the Deep South it got a lot of mold on it and quickly. You would have to pressure wash it, which can be a pita. I also saw a lot of boards popped out and broken. Agree, it looks lovely.