[UnDun*]

I know it's kind of a boring thread to come across but I could use some help.

Background info, I moved 4 hours from my home town to work. My horse is still in my home town at a boarding stable, but I see him once a month if I am lucky. No boarding stables up here, it's kind of do your own thing and thats it.

So, I was lucky enough to come across a place with a vacancy. However, it's fenced in with tensile wire which is ok, but most of it is 4 strands across, even 5 in most places. What could I do to make it horse safe? Horses are living in there but I know for a fact I wouldnt be comfortable leaving my gelding there for fear of getting caught up in it.

So... would a 2x6 on the top with one strand of wire below it work (so there are no strands below knee level)? What else? Im not pressed for cash, but I would already be building my own shelter/tack room and pruchasing a trailer so I dont want to re-do the whole 7 acres completely.

Any ideas/suggestion would be greatly appreciated! Or even what kind of fencing you have...

Thanks much!

[freedom32]

The easiest soloution to me is to run a couple of strands of electric tape on the inside, provided that there is a place with power you can hook up a charger. I personally use rubber coated high tensile, with electric tape liners in some spots.

[County]

I love the tensile fencing I've got about 140 acres of it now and switch more to it each year. Have never had a horse hurt on it yet but use it only in the pastures. Paddocks I like 6 rail 2 inch dia. steel pipe.

[gluey33]

You could try standoff insulators. They hold insulators about a foot out from the fence and you can run a tape or plain wire through them. If theres no power look at battery powered. i am assuming you can get standoffs where you are

[4kids]

To keep the cost lower I would go with the electric. It wont cost as much as a complete or even partial overhaul. You could always do a smaller area with the board and wire for later or introducing new horses should you need to.

[2spotslast]

I second the electric tape. You can get insulators that are about six inches long to keep them out of the tensile wire. Some of the other posters have not had trouble with tensile, but I have a mare that got into it and tore the inside of the hock to the bone, requiring tendons being sutured and a very long recovery time. I'm afraid of tensile wire now.

If need be, you can get a solar fence charger. They work fairly well.

[WashingtonBay]

Mine are in high tensil wire. Wire is safe as long as it's hot. So add a hot wire/tape. Or two.

[harli36]

^^^ Personally I would add electric tape to it with extenders, extending into the paddock. Even better would be to put up an electric tape fence within the outer perimeter high tensile fence. You could probably get away with just using the temporary fiberglass fence posts.

We had a horse die in a well maintained hot high tensile fence. So just because it's hot does not make it safe

[sorrell]

I personally think a 2 x 6 at chest level or two at knee and upper chest level is a smart idea. With my back fence, I strung white PVC pipe through the top row of fence so that the horses would have a visible barrier and I could see at a glance if the fence was up or down, but it was a visual cue only... didn't enhance the safety of the fence so much.
An electric wire along the top is always a good idea too, especially if other horses are on the other side. The board fence won't keep others from reaching over. My greatest fear is a horse kicking at another and putting a foot through the fence as I have seen this happen more than once with really bad results.

[WashingtonBay]

Originally Posted by harli36

We had a horse die in a well maintained hot high tensile fence. So just because it's hot does not make it safe

Well true. Nothing is completely 100 percent safe if a horse is involved. A determined horse can hurt himself or get tangled in any kind of fence. But generally, the safest fence is the fence he doesn't want to touch at all. I'd rather have hot wire than wood boards or pipe rails they will paw, lean on or reach between.