It won't take anything like a whole day for a horse to either destroy or kill itself on just about any kind of fence if it sets its mind to it, or just by accident. Two minutes is plenty of time, IME.
You should be able to use your vinyl fencing, though, unless it's too fragile. If it's less than 54" high installed, for example, you can run a line of electric tape above the highest rail.
If you haven't had to fence horses before, this is an extremely thorough and accurate primer; it includes a lot about layout, about gates and posts, etc. It taught me a lot when I first started out taking care of my own horses:
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub037.pdf
This is a nice link, too, with a lot of sound info on different types of fences:
http://www.fivestarranch.com/articles/horse-fence.html
Here is the stable in Virginia where I boarded one of my horses. The photos aren't great, but you can see that the fences were wood, almost five feet tall, with a line of electric wire around the inside near the top to keep the horses from leaning and pushing.
http://www.criswoodfarmandtackshop.com/
This is the standard in Virginia, so when I brought the horses to Texas, where the standard is wire, I worried about them simply not seeing the fence. That's why I had the tape added at the top, and they saw it right away. When two geldings who keep forgetting they aren't stallions any more started quarreling over the tape, I just ran power to the tape. When they then shifted to nipping at each other between the lower lines of wire, I had two lines of electric wire run on one side at about 18" and 48", two feet inside the fence. Now they are, very reluctantly, more polite.
Most important, please courteously ignore anyone who tells you that barbed wire is perfectly safe for smart horses. There are no smart horses.
Hope this helps.
I should have added that the grass lots that will be
enclosed by vinyl are a temporary pasture for the
horses. They would only be in there during the day...
and only a day at a time.
Tell me more about the fences in Virginia. The gate
posts are sturdier? Are they wooden?
I was very lucky and picked up this vinyl fencing
from a lady who moved and pulled up all her vinyl
Fence. None of it was set in concrete.
------- Original Message -------
>From : Kathryn Berck[mailto:ksrberck@prodigy.net]
Sent : 7/30/2012 11:36:37 AM
To : DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: Re: [DIY] Vinyl Fencing... Gate Post
Sorry if this rambles a bit -
Horses not only push on fencing, they also love
to scratch on fence
posts and gate posts, exerting considerable force
while doing so.
Although vinyl fencing isn't as satisfying to
scratch against
because it's so smooth, they will still use it in
the absence of
anything rougher.
I am lucky enough to have bought my horse
property with pastures
already laid out but with wire fencing; swapped
out that barbed
wire, of course, for something less quickly fatal
to suicidal
animals; would have loved to have put up wood or
pipe, but couldn't
afford it. My mesh fences are supported by
telephone-pole thick
wooden posts set at least four feet into the
ground every 30 feet or
so, with simple T posts between and a string of
hot tape all around
the top to discourage leaning and nipping at one
another, and to
make the boundaries more visible. The gate posts
are either similar
no-fooling-serious wooden posts, or are heavy
pipe set it concrete,
also running about four feet deep. If I were to
be able to use
vinyl i would still follow the examples I saw in
Virginia, where
vinyl fencing can be seen on very wealthy
properties, the corners
and the gate posts are far beefier than the
running fence. If I
remember right, they are normally iron set very
deep in concrete,
then disguised with the pretty stuff.
On 7/30/2012 6:04 AM, snafflesnshelties
wrote:
We will be putting up our vinyl fence
this fall. I hope.
There will be 3 pipe gates that measure
5 and 6 feet.
The areas of this fence will hold
horses. Horses often
push against a fence when watching
something.
What is the best method for setting the
gate posts in this
situation?
Thank you
Joyce
No comments:
Post a Comment