Horses and hot HT fence

My wife wants to get a couple of horse, but has seen somewhere that horses can"t see high tensile wire and can run into it. We currently have 6 x strands of 12.5 ga HT wire (alternate hot/ground)set up for sheep (coyotes)/cattle. I don"t want to take down any HT. Is HT really bad with horses? Can I just run a tape or rope wire in with the top strand? Thanks for any advise. Chris

Horses are very easily contained; heck you can hold 'em with a rope fence if ya want, so I wouldn't even give it a second thought.

However, they are very adept at opening gates, barn doors and untying lines.

Allan

We always ran single strand aluminum with a hot charger. They get bit by it once or twice and you can turn it off for six months. If you are worried they won't see it get some of the clip on plastic do-hickeys at TSC in the fencing section and clip them on one of the wires.

Horses each have individual traits I have one stud that is held in with one hot white rope. He will not cross a baler twine stretched out on the ground. I have a three year old mare and a yearling male that if they can get their head under a bottom hot white rope without hitting it with their nose they will take the tickle and go thru. I have two other mares and a stud that would go thru a single rope but a three rope fence keep them in easy.
I see several Amish farms that have barbed wire fences holding horses without anything to make it more visible. You will find out what is needed for the horses you buy in short order. Running a strand white rope or tape sure wouldn't hurt anything.

Sounds like some one is feeding you a line of bull. I have horses and I keep them in with just a piece of baler twine in some areas. Ya need to finish the fence some time but now days it seems I have a lot of time just no go to get it done. Shoot my hay barn opens into the pasture where the horses are and the gate for it is a simple rope

They can see it. The problem comes when some freak deal casues them to bolt and they run into it. The stuff is like a cheese slicer and will cut them right to the bone. That said, dad's neighbor has it and doesn't have any problems. I've got some stuff that looks like barbed wire but doesn't have any barbs. Works very well. Run one steel hot wire on the inside. I think aluminum is for trailers and pop cans. Ask 6 horse people about anything and you'll get 12 different opinions.
AaronSEIA

A good tame well fed horse will stay in with no problems. I have held a horse in with grass string. After a week or so, they will learn they can lean under it and eventually walk out from under/over it.

That is a load of crap about HT wire and horses. I keep my horses in with a 4 strand HT setup because it borders the main state hwy and I don't want a car to hit them if they do try and escape. Two of the wires are hot. They claim the horses won't see the HT wire will cut them like a knife if they run through it. So, just put orange flagging on the top wire between every post for the first month and you will be okay. Believe me, they aren't stupid. They will stop and after a week or 2 they will know where the wires are. Mine have been fine for the past 5 years behind HT wire and I marked my fence with flagging when I first turned them into the field.



HT is a lot better than the woven wire that a lot of people use. I have had them cut their legs up getting stuck in the woven wire. HT is also a lot easier to fix when a tree falls on it. I will always use HT wire from here on with cows or horses.

They also say not to use barbed wire, but I have used it and had very few problems. They will get cut on their legs and neck area a little. The cuts are really more like scratches than cuts. It is really no worse than the issues you have with keeping cattle behind barbed wire.

To add to Allan's list - They know when the fence is off!!

Flagging it with surveyor's tape will be fine. If you're still concerned, run one strand of the flat white fence tape- its very visible. Doesn't transmit juice very well after a couple years in the sun, so we ran a wire along with it. We keep ours in with just one strand of white tape/wire, in the same insulators. Only had one that would "test" it, and go through- we gave him a good swappin' off.

Touch the hot wire. It hurts but its not that bad. The horses will learn real fast where the wire is and stay away from it.

If you feel like flagging it or running a piece of tape around to make you feel better, then do it. If you have horses stupid enough to bolt into the fence, they weren't safe to have your family around in the first place and should be culled anyway. Pick and choose a little and don't just "get a couple horses" and you'll be much happier.

Usually no problem training your own horses but not a good idea if you are gathering some unfamiliar horses. Like others suggested, make sure to flag it. Eye placement on horses is much different then cattle and that is why they are not good at seeing the horizontal wires as well as verticle objects like post. Cows see it easily because eyes are more forward then horses. I know many people who use HT for no probs but most people have had a few train recks with it. Just be carefull.

I'm fencing all my horse pastures with 3, 4, or 5 strand all hot HT fence. On the ponds with the wire on the horse side of the posts its just regular 4 strand HT. Closer to the road since I think it looks better to have the wire on the outside of the posts I put up 4 strand on the outside and Equiflex HT single strand on the horse side. 3 strand I use the center strand Equiflex. Its pretty expensive compared to regular HT but still reasonable. On my heifer and bull pens I use 4 strand HT with the top Equiflex and then a strand of it on the inside of the posts.

All of the stories I've heard involve people getting a new horse and just turning it loose in the pasture. They're usually excited and wound up and run right into a fence, I've heard HT and woven fence. I would think when first putting them out, wear them out riding or lunging them so that they won't run as much. Or lead them around the perimeter so they learn where the fence is.

I notice in my country they tend to use electrified tape instead of wire for horse fencing for that very reason.

(quoted from post at 09:13:27 10/02/11) Horses are very easily contained; heck you can hold 'em with a rope fence if ya want, Allan

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Our horses musta missed that lesson in the how to be a horse class :roll:

The only problem I ever have is the foals. The older horses see it and leave it alone. For the foals, I run a line of the thin white Gallager temporary strand along with the HT. They can then see it just fine. You can buy a couple of thousand feet of it for around 30 bucks. I don't like the tape, it gets caught by the wind, stretches and shorts out on the non-electric runs.

John

(quoted from post at 04:39:10 10/03/11) The only problem I ever have is the foals. The older horses see it and leave it alone. For the foals, I run a line of the thin white Gallager temporary strand along with the HT. They can then see it just fine. You can buy a couple of thousand feet of it for around 30 bucks. I don't like the tape, it gets caught by the wind, stretches and shorts out on the non-electric runs.

John

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Breaks my heart every time and the wife can't even be around but the foals gotta be zapped and zapped real good the first couple days or they turn into electrical engineers and you can't keep em in if the fence has the slightest weak spot.....

Gotta lovem......