12.5 ht barbless fence for horses--line post spacing?

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greybeard

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One 1320' run of fence, another 775' run, both of 4-5 strands, good corners-- for horses only. Plenty of grass and the horses are gentle and have never pressured a fence.
This 200,000psi wire:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... i-4-000-ft





I'm not really much knowledgeable about horses and their fence needs. The wire is going to be pulled pretty tight with a comealong.
With an 8" sawn telephone pole post every 150' and tee posts for line posts, what's the maximum spacing I can get by with between the Tee post line posts?

(Just trying to get an idea how many tee posts will be needed)
 
You could go 24' and be just fine. The closer the better though.
Horses ain't to bad on a fence except pawing the bottom and eating over the top. Go at least 41/2 foot tall and there's no need in having a wire lower than 18 " off the ground. Really be better to use bw especially on the top wire.
 
I space my HT post at 45' or 15 steps the contour of the land makes a difference. Are you planning on charging the fence? Nothing likes to get shocked.
 
True Grit Farms":22axynq7 said:
I space my HT post at 45' or 15 steps the contour of the land makes a difference. Are you planning on charging the fence? Nothing likes to get shocked.
Not my horses or my fence..a non-resident neighbor and good friend. He's not adverse to hot wires but he is to barbed wire. He's got barbed wire now and has to doctor the horses pretty often.
Once (IF) he moves in permanent he may charge one wire.
I was thinking 14-15' spacing at most because flood water does run across or thru the fence, but good to know about the 18" height of the bottom wire. Water is the reason for the bigger wooden posts every so often.
Terrain is flat as a rock except crossing one little ditch about 6' wide.
 
greybeard":31xa8376 said:
True Grit Farms":31xa8376 said:
I space my HT post at 45' or 15 steps the contour of the land makes a difference. Are you planning on charging the fence? Nothing likes to get shocked.
Not my horses or my fence..a non-resident neighbor and good friend. He's not adverse to hot wires but he is to barbed wire. He's got barbed wire now and has to doctor the horses pretty often.
Once (IF) he moves in permanent he may charge one wire.
I was thinking 14-15' spacing at most because flood water does run across or thru the fence, but good to know about the 18" height of the bottom wire. Water is the reason for the bigger wooden posts every so often.
Terrain is flat as a rock except crossing one little ditch about 6' wide.
On flat terrain you can go 60' between post if you choose to. The farther you space the posts the more flex the wire has. At 45' a deer doesn't ever rip any insulators off, and a tree falling across the fence usually doesn't screw anything up either.
 
jkwilson":3nq7f0ze said:
That stuff can cut a horse open like a knife. Use the coated HT wire.
I don't think I've ever seen any of that used around here anywhere.
What's it coated with and how thick (in ga) is the finished wire?
 
greybeard":23m2s1ys said:
jkwilson":23m2s1ys said:
That stuff can cut a horse open like a knife. Use the coated HT wire.
I don't think I've ever seen any of that used around here anywhere.
What's it coated with and how thick (in ga) is the finished wire?

What I've helped install was 3/8" diameter. It is just standard HT wire inside, and is coated with UV resistant plastic. It is available either with or without carbon strips in the plastic that let you make it hot. I can say first hand that it conducts very well.
 
jkwilson":3a2jemxk said:
greybeard":3a2jemxk said:
jkwilson":3a2jemxk said:
That stuff can cut a horse open like a knife. Use the coated HT wire.
I don't think I've ever seen any of that used around here anywhere.
What's it coated with and how thick (in ga) is the finished wire?

What I've helped install was 3/8" diameter. It is just standard HT wire inside, and is coated with UV resistant plastic. It is available either with or without carbon strips in the plastic that let you make it hot. I can say first hand that it conducts very well.
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Hotcote+%2 ... l_WSWH.php

We can drop ship it right to you and save you a little $, Greybeard. Gripples work great on it. For any locals....ahhem....we stock it.
 
callmefence":22medrzi said:
Good grief...y'all best wrap them post in something soft. The horses may bump their heads.

I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.
 
I've been searching for some pics, but my good calf horse cut everything down to the bone on his left hind in HT wire. We put him back together, but it was a year of confinement before we could let him off a lead rope. He healed, and I went back to tying calves down on him after a couple years. Wasn't cheap.
 
Farm Fence Solutions":2trbxsbp said:
I've been searching for some pics, but my good calf horse cut everything down to the bone on his left hind in HT wire. We put him back together, but it was a year of confinement before we could let him off a lead rope. He healed, and I went back to tying calves down on him after a couple years. Wasn't cheap.


they try to get over it and get a leg stuck between wires or what do they do ?
 
ddd75":3e4qxsk8 said:
Farm Fence Solutions":3e4qxsk8 said:
I've been searching for some pics, but my good calf horse cut everything down to the bone on his left hind in HT wire. We put him back together, but it was a year of confinement before we could let him off a lead rope. He healed, and I went back to tying calves down on him after a couple years. Wasn't cheap.


they try to get over it and get a leg stuck between wires or what do they do ?

Couldn't tell you for sure. Wire was broke and coiled around his leg when I found him. I've seen all manor of HT slices and dices on horses over the years, and I should have known better.
 
jkwilson":22y2x744 said:
callmefence":22y2x744 said:
Good grief...y'all best wrap them post in something soft. The horses may bump their heads.

I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.
jkwilson":22y2x744 said:
callmefence":22y2x744 said:
Good grief...y'all best wrap them post in something soft. The horses may bump their heads.

I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.

Y'all think a plastic coating is gonna keep a horse from getting tangled in a fence. Good luck to you.. just another way to separate fools from their money.
Build a five rail pipe fence. No wires, no nails, no worries.... :)

I left my sorrel mare for about three hours with her foot in the net fence...she hasn't pawed a fence since.
 
callmefence":33r7a6il said:
jkwilson":33r7a6il said:
callmefence":33r7a6il said:
Good grief...y'all best wrap them post in something soft. The horses may bump their heads.

I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.
jkwilson":33r7a6il said:
callmefence":33r7a6il said:
Good grief...y'all best wrap them post in something soft. The horses may bump their heads.

I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.

Y'all think a plastic coating is gonna keep a horse from getting tangled in a fence. Good luck to you.. just another way to separate fools from their money.
Build a five rail pipe fence. No wires, no nails, no worries.... :)

I left my sorrel mare for about three hours with her foot in the net fence...she hasn't pawed a fence since.

We need to get you out of Central Texas sometime. There's a whole world out there to explore. :lol:
 
Farm Fence Solutions":2ldoljh5 said:
callmefence":2ldoljh5 said:
jkwilson":2ldoljh5 said:
I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.
jkwilson":2ldoljh5 said:
I've known people who've spent hundreds treating a horse that got caught in HT fence and still had to put them down. They get caught in it and panic.

Y'all think a plastic coating is gonna keep a horse from getting tangled in a fence. Good luck to you.. just another way to separate fools from their money.
Build a five rail pipe fence. No wires, no nails, no worries.... :)

I left my sorrel mare for about three hours with her foot in the net fence...she hasn't pawed a fence since.

We need to get you out of Central Texas sometime. There's a whole world out there to explore. :lol:

I'm doing just fine right here where the fences are iron and the horses are close to it. Thank you very much.
 
As a veterinarians perspective, I have been called out to many more horrific injuries to horses from plain wire, many more than by barbed wire, one that comes to mind was a horse with wire wrapped around the cannon and it stripped/degloved everything off the bone for about 4" 360 degree around the leg, obviously she was a pickup for the lion park. Another a friend's wife's horse standing at the fence waiting for a feed just pawed out and cleanly sliced behind the paster deeply into the heel, took forever to heal, she just couldn't believe it, happened before her eyes and the horse didn't really do much.

My preference for horses if you can't have post and rail or maybe that horse mesh is 4 strands of well strained barb wire with the bottom strand high like Fence suggested. Horses just like to get their long necks over or through plain wire and lean, it is a full time job keeping it tensioned. If your friend insists on plain wire I would hot it up sooner rather than later.

Ken
 
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