I am setting up a temporary paddock in the middle of my pasture for my horse that’s coming off stall rest. What’s an easy way to create an entry and exit point in the middle of the electric fence in between two plastic posts? There will not be a permanent post to set up an actual gate and I’ll be moving the “paddock” around.
I use 3 round pen panels in an arc, and use one of the ends to open and close. Not the cheapest way probably, but if you happen to have some it works.
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I’d use 2 posts very tight together on either side of where you want your gate opening to be. Zip tie them together…this will make them a bit sturdier. String your electric rope/tape/cord around the area and then leave a loop of rope/cord/tape sticking out on one end on one of your gate pieces. Then use a plastic electric fence handle on the other side…it will hook into the loop.
Sorry… not easy to explain…
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So the fence handles with the metal hook can hook right onto the rope? This is the exact solution I’m looking for!
Your electric gate handles can hook right on to the wire/tape/rope. It will not be a really great connection, but there should be some ‘zap’. What I often do is two fiberglass step in posts right next to each other and then the tape/rope terminates in the usual hook for a gate but the weight of the hook is being held by two step ins so it doesn’t sag. Look for something like this
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/american-farmworks-2-in-poly-tape-splicers
Sorry, I can’t get that to work as a link. But, if you have the tape run to a buckle at a fiberglass post you can then attach a gate handle to the ‘gate’ and latch to that.
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really there are inexpensive complete kits available that horses respect. These Spring gate kits are complete, under $20
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/american-farmworks-16-ft-electric-fence-spring-gate-kit-1213245?store=461&cm_mmc=feed--GoogleShopping--Product-_-1213245&gclid=CjwKCAjwiaX8BRBZEiwAQQxGx2I-DFzykzaBHgWNBZQl3hEcIatAebwPTNxkyjAGhzA2MbXS-L0OAhoC9NMQAvD_BwE
Good idea, but I have been told (or read) that the spring gates aren’t a good idea for horses because tail hairs get caught in the coils. Note I have no personal experience!
But the bungee gates should work just fine, and come in the same sort of kits.
Most of these gate kits I found seem to have end insulators that nail or screw on. But I suppose you could switch out the insulators in any kit for similar ones made for T-posts.
As for whether you want to put in T-posts, for me that would depend mostly on the soil. Some soil just doesn’t hold step-in posts well enough to provide a satisfactory gate for other than overnight use (i.e. just a few openings/closings), and a T-post would go deeper & hold better and still be easy enough to get out (I’d use a shorter one driven shallower than I would for a semi-permanent fence). In other cases the step-in post should be fine and a T-post to difficult to pull when you want to move it.
well none of our horses will approach an electric fence so the spring gates work fine for us as the horses have great respect for the fence itself. I suspect I could string twine across the openings and they would just assume its hot (when we had the pony turned out with them they would use the pony to test the fence but since he has gotten to be somewhere north of forty we keep him separated
I can not see how a horse’s tail’s hair could get entrapped in the coil as the coils are not tight but loose coils … but a horse can do most anything wrong to kill itself without much thought
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Revisiting this…it does depend on how much connection you are looking for. I get a decent charge on the rather flimsy gate to hook, hung off step in posts. But it is cross fencing…On a fence that runs close to 11000 at all times at the charger and is ‘low’ on the cross lines at around 4 to 5 thousand. Bear fencing. You can get away with very flimsy fencing if the horses are broke to electric fences and it is running at that sort of voltage. And, of course, you aren’t trying to confine too many in too small a space. So, I don’t know if it would work for you. I do know that I rotate horses using that system, which is the same as people use for cows, without any problem; but I have a fair bit of space.
Second on a dislike of spring gates. I find that tape gates work well and it really is not that much hardware.
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