*updated, re: Horseguard tape? (OP: Tape or braid fencing options,....)

[mountainhorse]

We are looking at having to utilize tape or braid fencing options for this year, as the price of rails has skyrocketed, while we are trying to finish some fencing options (similar to a paddock paradise setup,…interior track fencing).
I have a reasonable quote to put in posts from my fencing guy, thank goodness. So, we will have permanent wood posts, 4"-5" diameter (smaller than my perimeter fencing, which is 6", but these are all interior fencing and I am OK with the slightly smaller post on these) to attach insulators and whatever temp fence we decide on.

I am going nuts researching the options though,…so help me, COTHers! I have used electric wire in the past, hated it. Looking at using something better to act as rails between my permanent posts,…read, as safe as possible. Electrobraid? Tape fencing? Electric rope?

Tell me your experiences, please, the good and bad.

Electrobraid? PonyRail from RAMM? SafeFence brand? Powerfields brand?

I am researching the installation and insulator cost as well…

Looking for safe + economical, keeping in mind this is a temporary solution for the year, which will eventually be replaced with permanent wooden rails and nice no-climb horse wire mesh fence with a top electric wire to keep horses from leaning on top rail or wire (same as my perimeter and all other fencing I’ve done in the past). When will we replace with permanent? Probably next year, unless this does really well and maintains a clean/good look, then maybe stretch it to two years. We’ll see.

ETA- this will be for ~ 2700’ (total) of fencing (2 lines of 1350’), for two well-behaved horses and one mini donkey, all respectful of fencing and electricity (knock on wood!), and all get along well.
Thanks!

[Quelah]

I’ve had Horse guard tape here on my farm for 13 years now. I love it in all ways.

I would not have electric rope fencing. if a horse gets hung up, I want the fence, not the horse, to come out the loser. It’s too strong. I have personally hauled horses to hospital that had been injured getting hung up in electric rope fencing. 3 in total. Only two of them got to come home. Interestingly none had bloody injuries, these were lower limb crushing injuries.

[Simkie]

I have electrobraid and like it fine. It IS important to keep it tight, so we take a look at it couple times a year and tighten it up. Horse bounce off of it as long as you maintain it (by tightening as needed.)

I have no climb + a centaur sight rail + electrobraid topper for my exterior fencing and four stands of electrobraid for the interior cross fencing.

[MMavin]

Second for Horseguard. Had a horse run through it during a lightning storm-it stretched and she didn’t have a mark on her. Ten years in, it still looks new. My DH and neighbors appreciate the brown vs white RAMM the previous owners had (our area is more ranch/neutral aesthetic than white rails). I installed it by myself in very little time.

The only modification I would make is to get the bipolar version.

LOVE IT.

[Garythesquirrel]

I have four strands of Electrobraid for some of my fencing and love it. I installed it myself and it was super easy.

[moving_to_dc]

Third vote for Horseguard, and like Quelah, mine has been in use for 13 years now. My interior cross-fencing was installed in Oklahoma in 2003, then taken down and moved to Maryland in 2012 and re-installed here.

My Horseguard survived a tornado in Oklahoma in 2010 that took the roof off my house and blew 1/2 the barn down, and that was while it had sat UNATTENDED for 3 years while I was in Alaska - so I am sure it was saggy & loose and it still held up. That is definitely one BIG thing I love about Horseguard - the wind blows right through it, while other cheaper brands catch the wind like a sail and sing/vibrate.

Horsegaurd is well worth the difference in price!

[2Below]

4th vote for Horseguard. I’ve had it 10 years as perimeter and cross fencing. I put all of it up by myself. It does sag with heavy wet snow (I’m in Northern WI) but tightens by hand, no tools needed. I’ve had geldings argue across the fence and pull the lower strand down but it just pulls out of the tensioner, no harm to the horses. Once I had a tensioner failure, an entire section of fence was laying on the ground and my horses did not go near it, stayed safely in their pasture. Fleet Farm type tape doesn’t hold a candle to HG.

[Flash44]

We are in the process of replacing all our 4 board fencing with tape fencing. We do the large round posts, a top board, and 3 strands of electric tape. Once a board fence is 10 years old, it’s a never ending process of tapping nails back in and replacing fence boards. We had one field with the top board + 3 strands of tape, and that was the least amount of maintenance and held up the best. Had a large tree fall on it, the fence posts broke off (they were old and cheap 4x4s) and the top rails broke, but the tape just stretched down. We were able to get the tree off and use temporary posts to keep the tape up, which worked just fine until we got the whole fence replaced.

[Guilherme]

Electrobraid is a first rate product. It’s easy to install and seems to be very durable, withstanding weather very well. In a recent ice storm it was coated with almost 3/4" of ice and didn’t collapse. When the ice melted we needed to tighten the fence but that’s all.

I’ve used several brands of tape and have found all lacking in durability. They seem to deteriorate in open weather fairly quickly (by three years after installation it looked “ragged” and had numerous small “shorts” in the tape where the embedded wires had broken during the normal expansion and contraction of the material with temperature change). At five years it was trashed. I’ve personally inspected multiple Electrobraid installations as old as seven years and didn’t see these issues.

I’ve put up just short of 8000 feet of Electrobraid and will put up more. I vote with my dollars!

G.

[OTTB2]

I run a under the table fencing install and repair service around my town. A few things I have noted while doing this is. 1. Electro braid is GREAT to work with you can tighten it and is sturdy enough to be a fence on its own if for some reason the electric is down. I would trust well energized braid on its own. 2. Tape is well alright it beats that cheap twine stuff for sure but it looses tension and although it would hold a horse for some time its not nearly as strong as braid. 3. Don’t skimp on a energizer. Those cheap solar ones just don’t have enough kick. My personal area is 1-2 joules (prefer 2) per mile of fence. If you need solar the Premier One PRS energizers are AMAZING have 2 and love them.

[vandenbrink]

Tape…never braid for me on any fence. Yes, braid is stronger than tape, which means horses can’t break it when they get stuck it in. I rather it be tape and break. It’s easy to fix. I think the vinyl coated thick wire is a good compromise for safety and durability. It’s very rigid so won’t wrap. It comes electrified too. Here it’s called Raceline and Hotcoat but goes under different names from different suppliers.

[Sweetums_Mom]

I have Electrobraid and a generic version everywhere. Fairly easy to put up and by the 4th pasture, DH and I were experts. Very versatile. Had one section downed by a large tree that we were unable to move, even with the tractor. Just left it there for over 3 years as brambles were all over the place so the horses didn’t go near it. We eventually cut the braid and moved the fence line a bit this past summer as we changed some sections to include more pasture. The charge didn’t diminish too much over the years.

Only twice has a horse gone “through” the fence line (in 16 years and up to 12 horses at one time). My mare must have been chased as I saw the tracks in the snow and the top line was off and she was then outside of the fence. I found her snoozing in the aisle of the barn that morning. No marks on her.

The other, was a boarder this past summer. His owner came out to see him inside the barn hanging out. The top two lines of the fence were down and the post (not t-post) was broken in two. There also was not a scratch on him.

I personally think that for the money and ease of installation, there is no better fencing for my situation (no road frontage, no foals, plenty of space, etc.).

[poltroon]

I like Horseguard. It’s also nice because you can set it up without a lot of tension so it can be kept and reused for temporary fencing when you get your permanent fence in.

[mountainhorse]

Sounds like Horseguard and Electrobraid are the top two for COTHers.
I haven’t heard of (or seen) Horseguard before-I like how it is a weave though,…we get wind occasionally, and when we do, it’s brutal. There is a farm down the road with tape fence that has been poorly installed and it comes down almost every wind storm we have…was not a good ‘advertisement’ for tape fencing,…
https://www.horseguardfence.com/index.php <-----this is what y’all are talking about, right? Looks like it would be about $1K to install what we need, minus charger cost, with the Bi-Polar type.

Question for the Electrobraid fans: they sell “Electrobraid” chargers,…can this fencing be charged with other types of electric fence chargers, or just certain electrobraid chargers? (Stupid question, I know).

ETA- On the “Electrobraid” site (Really Zareba brand), and I am totally overwhelmed again…
They have electrobraid, various type of tape, etc.
Grr.
vent over

I have a run of insulators already on my wood perimeter posts, ready for hot wire. Now I am rethinking the wire (not bought yet)…I ‘could’ possibly use Electrobraid for that top line of electrified stuff (as well as my interior fencing) if I was to go with Electrobraid, and buy it in bulk,…right?

What does Electrobraid feel like? Rope?

Edited, again, to add: Now I am questioning maintenance…I do not want something I have to go out and retighten several times a year to be useable…is tape going to require that?

I am kind of leaning towards Electrobraid in that respect (and financially, looks like I will come out mucho better) , but then my safety meter in my head is pinging,…it is smaller, less visible to horses, stronger than tape if a horse was to get caught in it, and well, if it is rope-like, can do exactly what an above poster was saying, wrap around a leg or limb and be devastating…
The tape is more maintenance, more expensive,…
Safety is paramount though.

…I’m spinning.

Anyone with photos of either would be greatly appreciated too.

[IFG]

Horseguard is my top rail above non-climb–which I love. The Horseguard has been virtually maintenance-free for the last 8 years. Only now, am I looking at replacing some of the insulators. Great stuff and really easy to install.

[Sweetums_Mom]

Yes, it feels sorta like rope. Although I started with Electrobraid at first as this was 16 years ago, there is now a generic version that I buy at my local store.
http://www.cashmans.com/product/cashmans-elite-rope/. I’ve used wooden posts, the “special” white post that Electrobraid sold us (can’t remember what it is made of) and now use t-posts with wooden posts on corners and in a couple of places, we used t-post corners in the very wet areas.

It can be overwhelming but believe me, once you’ve done it a bit, it gets much easier. Hope this helps.

[Guilherme]

You can power Electrobraid from any charger, AFAIK.

As to risk, no fencing system is without risk. If you keep the wire hot the odds of a horse running through are low. Low is not zero, so there is risk. I don’t know how “strong” it is and don’t know its breaking point.

G.

[Garythesquirrel]

We have a Gallagher charger for our Electrobraid fence.

Have you looked at the actual Electrobraid site? Lots of good info.

http://www.electrobraid.com/

[King_s_Ransom]

I am in Kansas – I mention this because the wind here can be brutal and non-stop.

I have Horseguard tape on t-posts with covers for the line posts and braced wooden posts for the corners on my cross-fencing (interior fencing). We have Centaur flexible rail on wood posts for perimeter.

I use a Gallagher solar charger with a kick. It’s flawless. I’ve only had it up for a year, but so far it has held tension and charge. It looks great and we cross-fenced 5 acres in an afternoon.

I highly recommend it. I’ve also had electro-braid. I didn’t like the looks, I thought it was hard to see, hard to keep tensioned and when it broke I couldn’t easily tell from a quick glance. Now, in defense of the electro-braid, I had this as a newbie farmer so some of the problems could have been user-error.

[Sweetums_Mom]

Forgot to mention that I put up a two inch electric tape (not actually called Horseguard) in several sections and my neighbor has their two very small pastures in the tape as well. I’ve noticed that the tape really flaps in the wind if not totally tightened and even then, some movement. The braid hardly moves. Aesthetically, the braid looks much better.