Wire fence for hunt horse

[Huntin_Fool]

Dear All:
I am fencing my bit of field behind my house to keep my hunt horse at home. Yay, a dream of mine for some time. BUT like most dreams it’s requiring a lot of work and running into snags. The most recent one is after agonizing a good bit over what kind of wire to use-we’re in town, the horse is accident prone, loose dogs running around (not mine), and I’d like to let my own dogs enjoy the pasture occasionally too, I called everywhere, got the best price for no-climb or horse wire or whatever you call it. I had to describe this to all the stores-and I always said it’s 2" x 4" wire and they’d say oh horse wire or goat wire. Ok fine. I drove 100 miles one way yesterday to pick up my wire I’d already paid for only to find that it was 4" x 4"!!! GAH!

Taking it back isnt’ the problem-the difference in price now throws me all off budget etc. Has anyone used this sort of wire for horses? It dosn’t look big enough for him to get a foot through but I don’t know. I’d love to just use it but not if it’s going to be a problem.

Any advice appreciated.

Regards,
Huntin’Fool

[Thomas_1]

Here that’s actually called sheep wire.

You’d not put that up as horse fencing because it’s too risk in terms of a horse getting it’s foot and leg through it.

If you want to use wire to save cost then you graduate the gaps from narrow at the bottom to wider at the top and then put on a wood top rail (preferably with a hot wire) and just in case they try to get over it and catch a leg.

[JSwan]

There is a type of nonclimb for horses.

The wire fencing with the larger weave is for sheep, hogs or goats. (that might be the type Thomas1 is referring too; I’m not sure). That is the 4x4. (or larger)

But the 2x4 nonclimb is used a lot where I live - and it’s a pretty good type of fence IF you stretch it really tight. If it isn’t stretched tight, you’ll end up with quite a saggy mess that would be quite dangerous. There is also - oh - what’s the name… can’t remember - like a diamond mesh that is supposed to be good for horses. The nonclimb that is common where I live is a pretty heavy gauge wire.

Fences out most dogs, but my sisters dog and my beagle can climb it like a ladder. Won’t keep coyote out.

If you put it up right it’s a great fence. Not the prettiest - but certainly functional and versatile.

[Gestalt]

I wouldn’t use anything with a 4" gap. You’re better off with barbless bar, except dogs will run through it. Check out the different types of fencing here. http://www.doityourself.com/icat/weldedwirefieldfence

I have the 2" X 4" without a top rail, just a hot wire. It has worked great for keeping my horses in and the neighbors dogs out.

[Equibrit]

Check this out - http://www.afence.com/store/home.php?cat=441

It doesn’t cost that much to have this thrown on a truck and delivered to you.

[Jaegermonster]

We fenced our whole place in the Red Brand 2x4 mesh with a top rail, and pipe gates. I hate those panel gates.
The goat fence I think they are referring to is the 2x4 diamond weave, at least that’s what they call it in my area.
I would not use the 4" squares.
Like my vet said when we first moved out here, “Either spend it now on the fence or I"ll take it later, up to you”

I would take that roll back, get the right stuff.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Jaegermonster;4325965]

Like my vet said when we first moved out here, “Either spend it now on the fence or I"ll take it later, up to you”

I would take that roll back, get the right stuff.[/QUOTE]

:yes: Having treated fence-related injuries, from before I brought my boys home, I absolutely bore this in mind when fencing my place.

I’m using electric rope from Premier, BTW. If you run a strand about a foot off the ground, most interloping dogs will encounter it - my sheepdog friends have their horses in five strands of the stuff. Dogs (well, at least border collies, clever creatures that they are) only run into it one time.

I only have two to three strands up, but then I have an ornery territorial pony who will chase all animals (except cats, he loves cats) and a fair few humans right back out of his pasture - and I live in the back of beyond. Deer have never broken my fence yet - it gives and bounces back.

4" gap? No way I’d do that. Especially not if my horses were shod.

[Jaegermonster]

Me too. If there is a way to get hurt on something, horses are going to find it.
I saw some pictures once of a horse who got his foot through the 4" squares.
He practically ripped half of his foot off.

[Huntin_Fool]

Hey, yeah, I am sort of concerned about the 4"-though it is smaller than field fence and looks too small for a horse to get a foot through. pAINT Misbehavin’ what sort of fence did they have where you were? You sound pretty satisfied w/the electric rope which I did consider but have heard some bad stuff-are you talking about that plastic coated wire or braided rope? The braided rope I looked at would break if an animal ran into it.

Well back to calling around for prices I guess. On another annoying (and yet once again I have to laugh at myself-it was so stupid) note I spilled green paint on the very crotch of my favorite work pants, raced into the house, flung them into the wash, put on new pants and continued to work. Only to realize about 20 minutes later I’d left my cell phone in the pocket-oh yes it was waaaayyy too late.

And that does impact my fence because now I have no way to call anyone about prices tomorrow! Wah!

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

@Huntin'Fool;4326838

pAINT Misbehavin’ what sort of fence did they have where you were? You sound pretty satisfied w/the electric rope which I did consider but have heard some bad stuff-are you talking about that plastic coated wire or braided rope? The braided rope I looked at would break if an animal ran into it.

I have EnduraSoft by Premier. Here’s a link:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=17857&cat_id=41 It’s a braided polyester rope. Very easy to install, and inexpensive when you consider that you only need about 1/3 the number of t-posts you’d need for high tensile. The deer don’t break it because it gives when they hit it. The horses each touched it once and then never went near it again. I’ve had mine up for three years now and it still looks and works great. In fact, all my horse friends that have bought fence since I put mine up bought the same thing.

When I boarded, the stable had just strands of plain old bare wire, not the field fence you’re looking at. The deer were forever breaking it, and then, no matter how diligently the BO was about trying to pick up the broken strands, inevitably some broken wire would remain hidden in the grass until a horse found it and managed to wrap it round a leg.

I, too, heard reports of injuries with braided polyester - but since horses can manage to hurt themselves on any kind of fence, I found there are horrible injury stories to go along with just about any kind of fencing you choose.

[gypsymare]

I lost a horse to braided polyester… but I think it was a freak thing. I’ve also had a herd of 5 crash into the fence in a storm, break a 4x4 post off and rebound without an injury and the fence flexed and stayed intact.

[Huntin_Fool]

Hey, I read some vet said “the horse is the only animal that tries to kill itself every day.” and that is so true! I did hear the braided wire would break-not rebound and stretch after a period of use and since I live in “town” I wanted something that was pretty hard for the horses to get out of. That said y’all don’t seem to have that problem. Here the price for t posts was $2 less than wooden posts and since I did want the sturdiness I got wood. Then after much agonizing I decided I wanted something that would be pretty sturdy (town as I said) and that I could let my dogs out in occasionally.

Growing up we had four stands of barbed wire and no horse was ever hurt on it-BUT it was well maintained. The barn I board at now is so poorly run it’s horrific-it wasn’t that way when I came. Last winter I found my horse without water and pitched a fit only to come out to the barn later and find that while my horse had water 26 out of 30 did not! Of course I conldn’t leave those with out so I spend 2 hours cleaning buckets-some of them were so rancid it was gagging-and refilling. Horses have gotten loose, wire is down, it’s awful.

Re: the sheep/goat wire-I do think that with a hot wire on top I’d probably be ok BUT though it will cost more it’s not that much more to go ahead and get horse wire. I should have said I’m only fencing 3-4 acres. For the next field @ 6-7 acres I might just use braided rope-I don’t know-for economy’s sake but that’s in the future. Right now I just wan tto get my horse away from the Baghdad Barn before something happens to him!

[gypsymare]

Mine was secured on the plastic screw-in attachments around a 5 acre pasture so when they hit it it has hundreds of feet of rope to stretch and absorb the shock. The one that I lost I can only imagine rolled next to the fence and got it wrapped completely around a hind leg (yes it was strung tight) and took off panicked along the fence line as it tightened and cut all the way around his hind cannon to the bone. If he’d run away from the fence it might have broken or pulled loose

[Huntin_Fool]

Gage Wire?

GypsyMare that’s awful but as you say-who could predict that? Horses are just goofy and their muscles are stronger than their bones and they just do stuff to themselves that as a human we just can’t imagine. I have a friend here whose horses for years were in a broken up field fence-hog wire with huge rusted gaps, wire pointing in every direction. They’d taken down the old telephone poles with the glass insulators and there was an enormous pile of big thick broken glass in the field. Did his horses hurt themselves? Of course not!

AND I just got a good quote on some 2 x 4 opening fence but it’s 14 gage instead of the 12 that’s common-what does the group think of that? Is it ok or unsafe?

Regards,
Huntin’Fool