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

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Yes, you must use low impedance charger. Luckily most chargers ARE low impedance. The point is to keep the charge through distance and some interference (weeds). More info: http://www.hallman.ca/impedance.htm Seriously, spend the money to get a strong, good charger. You won’t regret it.

Per the blog, I have the brown and green. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g3pyRZ40R6g/U-uR0sED1PI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/gvEkOuME_cw/s1600/20140619_085232.jpg From a distance you can’t see the variation. The nice thing about the two color is with the tape gate–it’s pretty obvious to anyone helping me out when I’m gone that the colors aren’t matching up. However, if the solid brown had existed at the time I bought the first rail, I’m sure I would have just done that. Having had a tape gate, if I were doing it over, I would just use a heavy gauge metal gate. The connectors/handles are expensive. It’s really not THAT much cheaper.

The dark color is more visible in winter the light better in summer. Dark fencing in general is more forgiving for small farms (doesn’t look as chopped up) and if you don’t set your heights perfect. Just my opinion. White is very sharp, but you better be straight! I think the horses see all the colors fine, personally. I thought black posts would be lower maintenance than white. I have seen white on unstained posts and that looked pretty nice too.

[King_s_Ransom]

I used white because 1.) I like it; and 2.) the Centaur vinyl rail that I bought off of Craigslist for a pittance was white.

I know a lot of people prefer brown or even green. To each his own. For me, white is easier to see, looks so nice against the green grass, and just … well … I like it.

No worries here with mildew because it’s very sunny and we have almost no trees, edge of the prairie. Get what you like and enjoy it!

[Jarpur]

We have green tape on green posts and like the look, but never have snow. It’s much more forgiving to amateur fence installation than white would be, IMO.

Here’s a link to the FAQ page, where the study about horses vision and color is referenced, scroll down: http://www.horseguardfence.com/faq/faq.php

[MMavin]

I use brown HG. The brown is a good visual barrier, while fitting nicely into our neighborhood. With the brown, you have to use The coordinating HG insulators to have it coordinate. They do last a long time, and keep tension better than other brands I’ve used.

My charger is a Gallagher Wrangler (5acs)

[mountainhorse]

Hey! So, getting DH (electrical engineer) involved, and he is asking me what charger you guys are using, those of you that are using the “Bi-Polar” HG tape? I guess I needed to see what tape you are using, with which charger?

(He’s loving this, by the way,…I love giving him the electrical “horsey projects”.)

[Kodidog763]

We are using Horsguard Bi-Polar tape with the Parmak Solar Pak 6. We’ve had really good luck with the chargers, except in misty weather. The fence is not hot when it’s misty. However it has been hot enough that my mare, the fence tester, has left the fence alone after her initial testing of it, so it’s not been a problem. However eventually I’d like to add an electric (as opposed to solar) charger as a back-up for the misty weather, just in case she happens to try again.

[mountainhorse]

Anyone use the extended 1 ft insulators from HG? I am debating on whether they are worth the price tag…I was using the 6" insulators for my top rail wire, but we did decide to replace that top line along my perimeter with tape too…not finding a 6" insulator. Deciding between the normal ones for tape (an inch or two off the fence) or the long ones…

[mountainhorse]

Thank you-do you know if that charger is "bi- polar " compatible? Or did you use ground rods as well?
Apparently you can do the bi-polar with ground rods…and a “normal” charger…?

[QUOTE=Kodidog763;8633942]
We are using Horsguard Bi-Polar tape with the Parmak Solar Pak 6. We’ve had really good luck with the chargers, except in misty weather. The fence is not hot when it’s misty. However it has been hot enough that my mare, the fence tester, has left the fence alone after her initial testing of it, so it’s not been a problem. However eventually I’d like to add an electric (as opposed to solar) charger as a back-up for the misty weather, just in case she happens to try again.[/QUOTE]

[Kodidog763]

Yes, it works just fine with Bi-polar. No grounding rods. I know my DH consulted with an electrician friend, but I think it was straightforward to hook it up.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

[QUOTE=mountainhorse;8633869]
Hey! So, getting DH (electrical engineer) involved, and he is asking me what charger you guys are using, those of you that are using the “Bi-Polar” HG tape? I guess I needed to see what tape you are using, with which charger?

(He’s loving this, by the way,…I love giving him the electrical “horsey projects”.)
[/QUOTE]

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/zareba-75-mile-ac-low-impedance-charger?cm_vc=-10005

Zareba 75 mile charger. Get the tester when you order your fencing, btw.

You don’t need ground rods for bipolar. This is just a plain, low imp. charger. I got this one because it was on sale and had a 3 year warranty (vs. the 2 year for the 50 mile), and I wanted it to be really hot. I assume the Parmak is similar (meaning it works with either type of fence–bipolar or regular).

I’m not saying this is better than a Parmak, just sharing what I use.

[MysticOakRanch]

We have both bipolar pastures and “regular” HG pastures. The advantage of the Bipolar - it remains hot even if the ground freezes or is TOO dry (we run into too dry here - our summers are sizzling hot and dry). The regular fence loses its potency if you can’t ground it (and no matter how deep your ground rod is, you can’t hit water in a dry climate).

We also use the Zareba chargers from TSC - I have both solar and plug ins (we have 100 acres, so a lot of different pastures).

Most of my horses are very respectful of the fence once they learn it bites - so they are fine even during the summer in a “not-so-hot” fence, but I had foals and fools who always test, so we did some of the pastures in bi-polar.

BTW - I even have my goat and blind mare in a bipolar pasture (4 strands so goat can’t go under the fence) and they stay well away from the fence.

We used the extenders on our wood fencing - NOT worth it. They break too easily, and are too expensive to keep replacing. And in the Winter, my blanketed horses learned to use them as scratching posts - so they ALL broke.

[mountainhorse]

Update! We placed our order,…big “eck!” on final price, ha. Excited for it to come in. I will try to document our progress as we install it. We got:
The green-brown Bi-Polar tape
tensioners
black insulators from HG (priced others and they ended up being similar in cost,…about .10 cheaper than HG)
tape stretching pliers
some cables DH picked out from HG
Total was just under 2K…not bad.
Our fence guy is installing our wood posts this weekend, so hopefully we can get it in by next week.

[jennywho]

Had a horse get tangled in electro braid that was properly installed and tightened. Sawed her entire hind leg off. Many years later I still have nightmares.

[mountainhorse]

Scary, jenny. Thanks for sharing. From the stuff we are hearing, sounds like EB needs to rethink their design. :eek:

My fence guy changed some pricing on setting posts (great,…) (as well as his timeline, so hopefully it will happen this week), so I am looking at how far apart these posts can be, safely. I was doing every 10’, which is the same as our perimeter fence (difference fencing material)…correct me if I am wrong, but HG site recommends 12-16’ distance between posts-correct? We are going to need to try to push the distance between our posts, with this new price change. Gotta love it.

How far apart are your posts-HG users? Do you like it or do you wish they were different?

[froglander]

How windy does it get where you are? I am planning to put up some of the bipolar tape and was going to do fence posts approx 10’ apart because I live in Florida and it can get windy. Maybe you can contact Horseguard and see what they recommend?

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

We went no further than 12’ on average, but we get strong, straight-line winds from the south in the summer (sheltered to the west and north by trees).

[Jarpur]

We only use it for cross-fencing, not for the perimeter, so we pushed the distance between posts to 16, with a few closer depending upon how the numbers worked out.

It can be breezy here, occasionally very gusty, but we don’t have what I would consider constant or regularly occurring winds.

[Kodidog763]

I’ll have to measure, but I think we are around 12’. The property behind us used the generic white tape fencing from a local farm supply. It’s amazing to see the difference in windy conditions, where the fences are next to each other. Their tape shows a lot of movement, and our HG tape hardly moves at all.

[King_s_Ransom]

12 feet. If you go farther than that, it seems like it starts to sag faster. I went 12 and I’m very happy with it.

[mountainhorse]

Quick question-those of you that have interior HG tape, do you leave it up in snow? I’ve read of a few people that take it down every winter for the snow (!). What is your experience? We get several feet of snow,…I see us turning the voltage off during winter, since part of the fence will be snow covered, but DH is concerned. How do you handle it in snow? Come spring, is it totally sagged and pathetic (needing repairs) due to snow sitting on it?