THREE TypES OF ELECTRIC

tape: Tape fencing is often used for temporary setups, such as a camping trip, or for rotational grazing. It makes a very visible boundary for horses, which is nice, but it’s perhaps less aesthetically beautiful than other types of fencing. Tape doesn’t hold up very well in rough weather like wind and snow, as it begins sagging quickly.

Wire: Plain, bare-wire fencing is not as visible and may not break easily if a horse becomes tangled in it, so you’ll want to do your research to see if it makes sense for your farm. It can be used as the hot wire along a wooden fence, and it lasts a long time.

rope/Braid: Various types of highly visible polymer or braided rope fencing are available, and these are quite popular with horse owners. The rope is durable enough to be used as a permanent setup, and visible enough to act as a visual boundary for your horse.

breakage. Keep an eye on them and replace as needed. Always keep a bag of new insulators on hand for this purpose.

POWER SOURCES

Electric fences must be powered only by safe fence energizers.

The charger doesn’t put out electricity constantly—it does it in short pulses. This creates the audible “tick, tick” sound.

Some chargers plug into an ordinary household AC outlet. These devices take the powerful current from your farm’s electric service and reduce it down to a mild shock that, while certainly attention-getting, causes no harmful or lasting effects.

Other charges are solar-powered. A small solar panel collects electricity and stores it in a battery. While usually weaker than AC-powered chargers, solar chargers are perfect for remote pastures where the nearest electrical outlet is far away.

A third variety of charger contains just a battery (no solar panel) that powers the fence and needs to be recharged periodically.

LIGHTNING PROTECTION

If lightning strikes near your electric fence, some of the power may ride along your fence wires, trying to get to the grounding rods.

To get there, the lightning has to go through your fence charger—probably with damaging results.

To guard against this, you can install a lightning protector, kind of like a home surge protector, on your charger. You can also attach lightning arrestors to the corners of your pasture; these will help lightning get back to the ground before it reaches your charger. If there’s plenty of warning before the storm hits, you could always detach the charger from the fence, assuming there are no horses in it.

For your horse, that harmless-yetattention-getting snap of electricity is hopefully enough to remind him that he shouldn’t graze too close to the fence or try to escape from it.

TENSION

Follow the instructions for your particular type of fencing to achieve the proper tension. In general, rope and braided types of electric fence are intended to stretch and bounce to some extent, like a boxing ring.

Don’t put your fence posts too close together, or you’ll lose this effect. But you also don’t want the lines too loose, because sagging leads to decreased electric conductivity. (Plus, it looks bad!)

TESTERS

Finally, make sure your fence is working properly by using a fence tester. These devices not only show you how strong the charge is at various locations around the pasture, they are also invaluable in helping you track down problems with the fence.

Shorts and broken spots in the wire can be located easily with a tester. It’s one of the best tools for your fencing toolbox.

Ready to start building? With a bit of planning and the right tools, you can enclose a fairly large area with electric fencing in only a few days.