Walk Me Through the Hotwire Process

[dreamswept]

I have pipe corrals. I have a Haflinger. I have a Haflinger who likes to leeeeeeeeeean through pipe corrals to get that one tempting little blade of grass on the other side, and in the process, rubs his mane out. He’s also been spotted actually trying to stand on the bottom railing of the pipe panel to reach grass further up the hill that his paddock backs up against. Clearly, this is bad. The pipe panels are anchored pretty securely, but I still think if he’s determined enough, he could probably put his whole weight on them, and maybe tip them a little.

I’ve thought of putting up no-climb wire, but it’s an expensive endeavor since his corral is big enough that I’d have to buy two whole rolls which can easily be $150+ each.

As a more cost effective I’ve thought of putting up a single strand of hot wire (polyrope actually) using these (http://www.fencingsolutions.com/pipeclamp.htm) to hold the wire away from the pipe.

The only thing I can’t figure out is how to set this up so that I only have the hot wire on 3 sides (I have stud panels up between my mare and gelding) Basically, the layout looks like this:

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I can’t for the life of me figure out how I can only charge those three sides, can i put up a single strand that goes all the way around, attach that to the charger and still expect it to hold a charge? And how does it work on the very ends, do I tie a knot or something to keep the polyrope from slipping out of the insulators?

Has anyone done this kind of thing before?

[SuzieQNutter]

I don’t understand the problem. 3 sides is easy. One on either side would be hard.

From the charger you have one wire that is grounded. This is attached to grounding rods which are attached together and hammered into below the ground. We have 100 acres so we just attach this wire to the metal post of the fencing and each metal post is attached to each other with the wire fence. Your fence won’t be long enough so you will need the grounding rods.

The other wire can not touch any metal or the ground. You can weld on bits of metal that hold an insulator. Insulators come in all sorts of configurations and can be made out of plastic or ceramic. Or the good ol’ baling twine will work temporarily.

You can use a unit that goes off the main power. You can use one that runs off a car battery and you can use one with a solar charger. The solar charger ones are very popular with thieves.

You can use wire or braid. Wire is better. Braid will stop half way when it gets older in the sun.

What you really need for an electric fence is a tester that tells you how high the voltage is. You can get fancy, expensive ones that tell you which direction a short is or cheaper ones that are still pretty expensive that just test the level the fence is putting out.

You can also use pigtails. These push into the ground and hold the wire with an insulated top for you. You just put the wire around the 3 sides. The unit can attach to it anywhere. You tie it at the ends to an insulator. It cannot touch the post.

Electric fences are magic and the best type of fence to have. It will save your mane on pipe fences and stop the wood being chewed on wooden fences and stop horses leaning on the wire on wire fences. Win! win! win!