The best fencing for your horses & your fields
Everyone dreams of having their horses grazing on acres of green pastures, and most of us can visualize our perfect pastures criss-crossed by beautiful fencing. Post and rail, white board – we all have a favorite. But fencing is best for your horses, and what fencing is best for wildlife and the environment?
First of all, what makes good horse fencing? The best fencing is high enough to deter a horse from leaning or jumping out. Fencing at least 4 feet high is ideal; 3½ feet is fine for large pastures or ponies, and stallions may need fences of 5 feet or more. You can see how fencing quickly involves a lot of material!
Good horse fencing will also keep horses from crawling underneath – it may seem odd but many horses are great escape artists – especially ponies and foals. Good fencing will not break or lean if a horse leans against it, but it will break if a horse hits it at full speed – that is essential to prevent serious injury to your horse. Horses are accident prone, and suitable fencing will also prevent horses getting a hoof or leg trapped in the lower parts of the fence. Other than these basic guidelines, horse fencing can be very versatile and so it comes in many materials. If you want your fencing to be effective and safe, yet not restrict wildlife, look good, and not damage the environment in either production or its eventual disposal, which should you choose? Let’s take a look at some common types of fencing.
Wood fencing with three or four rails, or flat boards, is very common and it looks good. If you can find wood from managed forests, then that’s ideal, and certainly wood fencing is easy to chip and compost if you need to take it out and dispose of it. Horses respect it, and if the boards are nailed to the inside of the fence it is resilient to pushy horses (although it doesn’t look as pretty from the other side). Most rails and boards will break if hit hard by a galloping horse, and generally wood fencing is fairly safe. Most wild animals can pass over or through it too. The down side is that for it to last it must be weather treated, and some of the chemicals for that are damaging to the environment. White wash paints and creosote can also contain toxic chemicals which can cause illness if your horse chews the fence.
Pipe fencing is common in some areas, usually where the steel or aluminum is readily available. Both steel and aluminum can be painted, but they don’t need to be if you are in a dry climate, and as aluminum doesn’t rust it lasts a long time. If you opt for recycled metals, you may pay a bit more, but you will have less impact on the environment. Likewise, it is usually easy to sell surplus piping for recycling or salvage. The down side of pipe fencing is it is expensive if you need to fence a large area, if it is damaged it can be difficult to repair and is unsightly, and it offers little absorption if a horse hits it hard. Properly installed, it will have no sharp edges, and is ideal for small paddocks.
Smooth wire mesh, used in combination with a wood top rail, is also common. Choose diamond mesh, with narrow holes at the bottom, to prevent your horse getting a hoof caught. The top rail is required so that the horse can see the fence, and to prevent it leaning on the wire. Properly installed wire, designed for horses (wire for cattle has holes which are too large for horses) is very safe, and a galloping horse will usually roll over it or even bounce off it, and wire is often much cheaper than post and board. Wire fencing won’t restrict larger animals like deer, but smaller animals will find it an obstacle, and some may dig tunnels underneath. A further disadvantage is that recycled wire, and recycling wire for disposal, is very rare.
Rubber strips can be used in place of boards, strung from posts, and is popular with breeding farms because foals can bounce off it without injury (although they often learn to wiggle through it too). Rubber fencing can be made from recycled tires, and can be recycled again, and if installed tightly it will last a long time with little maintenance and keep its looks. It is a great choice for wildlife, as most animals can scramble over or through it without injury. The only downside too rubber fencing is that some horse develop a taste for the rubber and can damage it quickly and ingest dangerous rubber fragments. If you don’t live near a rubber recycling facility, it may be hard to find.
Electric tape is a cheap and practical fencing solution, because the tape and poles can be easily moved. It is a good choice if you need to divide existing pastures. However, some horses lean to ‘power through’ and electric fence or become dulled to the shock. The tape itself is very sharp and if a horse becomes tangles it can cause severe lacerations. Electric fences can also deter the passage of wildlife, and frankly there is no environmentally friendly way to make or dispose of electric fence materials. Unless you need temporary fencing, electric tape should be at the bottom of your list.
Believe it or not, some plastic fencing is available that makes an excellent choice. PVC has been used for fencing for many years, and although it looks good, lasts long, and is a safe choice, concerns from horse owners about the damage caused by PVC production, and its continual seepage of chemicals, has meant PVC has been declining as a fencing for horses. However, a new material, High Density Polyethylene Ranch Fencing (HDPE), is now available. Like other plastic fencing it looks good (it even comes in different colors), lasts long, and absorbs impact well. However, HDPE is made with no toxic chemicals, and is fully recyclable. The down side? It isn’t cheap, but it does have all the features of good horse fencing, and it is a good environmental choice.
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