Fencing Ideas for Horses

If you have those smart equine, then you are surely lucky cause their presence suggests your royalty and they turn out to be excellent companions! Keeping horses as pets is a great option since they are known to be loyal and totally faithful to their masters. But, when it comes to keeping them, the costs of feeding and housing do come into picture which are expensive as compared to keeping other pets like dogs and cats.

A good and comfortable horse fence keeps them in a safe area, precisely, gives them their own space. Any horse fence should be well spacious with minimum height that is above the horses chest. Horse fences must be easy to see, strong and durable and reduce, as much as possible, the chances of a horse hurting itself by coming in contact with it. The fencing should be devoid of free or sharp ends as well, which could injure the foot of the horse. The horse fence uses both post-and-rail and post-and-wire constructions. Knowing which types of fencing is suitable for horses is the best way to keep your equine companion safely contained. Horse fencing can be a top expense for any horse owner, but can definitely be done in a budget. Below are some affordable ideas from which you can choose the best one.

Wood Fencing: Horses often try to reach through the boards on a wooden fence to eat the grass on the other side; placing the boards close together and keeping the height appropriate will prevent them from doing so.

Electric Fencing: It uses electrical wires that are embedded inside a highly visible strand of white plastic called hot tape. For permanent horse enclosures made of wire, use T-posts or wooden posts with tightly stretched smooth wire or mesh, topped with a single strand of electric wire. The posts for horses can be spread out widely up to 50 feet or even more when using a high tensile wire with one or two lines. You can create temporary fences from fiberglass rods made to accommodate electric wire or tape as well. Horses can often sense when the fence is electrified and when not. To teach the horse to respect the fence, walk him up to the fence and touch his nose to it. This will deliver a mild electric shock and the message that the fence is a barrier to be respected. Alternatively, you can have a solar-powered fence, cause it costs nothing to run.

Smooth Wire Fencing: Smooth wire, either twisted two-strand or single strand, is one of the most inexpensive materials for creating a permanent horse fence. You can use a minimum of three strands, and many people prefer four or five, spaced 8 to 10 inches apart up the post.

Meshed Wire Fencing: It is more expensive than the smooth wire fencing, but a very sturdy material to use to prevent the horses reaching through the fence in any way. Making the fence 6 to 8 feet high is one of the good ideas. Also, make sure that the posts used to hold the fencing are large and sturdy; choosing posts with an 8 to 12 inch diameter will ensure that the fence stays along and that ongoing maintenance needs will be modest and affordable.

Barbed Wire Fencing: A roll of barbed wire is what you need with T-posts and other necessary equipment such as fence clips as add-on's. But try avoiding using barb, since many horses have died from tangling with the barbed wire. It's always better to stick to smooth wire, wire mesh, electric wire, vinyl or stout boards.

Recycled Fencing: You could use farms as a replacement for fences. A chain linked fence is a great recycled horse fence. If you could reuse the materials you have used to make the horse fence, then don't hesitate and go ahead. What is required is man power for clean up and labor.

Plastic Fencing: The biggest advantage of its use is that it's almost no maintenance and no splintering or rotting like the traditional wooden fences and also no repainting as well. They might be a bit costly, but are good alternative options for the wooden fences.

With these fencing ideas for horses, the main aim is to use posts made up of wood or metal, though wooden posts look very attractive and are always safe to use when horses are around. The metal T-posts are famous as well, but they could be easily destroyed by the horses leaning on the fence. These posts and the railroad ties, whether wooden or metal, are easily available in the farm supply stores.