Horses
Select The Best Fence Design For Your Site
Let Premier help you decide which fence can be used to keep your horses in or out. Choose from:
Fence Solutions for Horses
Why our horse fences work...
Because they are designed by folks who own horses with the needs of both horse and horse owner in mind. While cost is a factor, it is never our first concern. More important is the safety of horse and rider, installation ease and reliability of the components.
Two important reminders:
- The smaller and less visible a barrier, the more chance a horse may run into, through or over it. And the taller, larger and more visible a horse barrier, the less likely it is that this will occur.
- Risk, be it to horse, fence or horse owner, is inherent in the nature of horses and horse barriers. The risk can be reduced—via increased visibility and/or safer materials—but risk cannot be eliminated.
Every fence must be easily seen by horses (and people)...
Because their eyes are on the sides of their head, horses are less able than people to clearly see small objects directly in front of them when running. That's why they occasionally run into steel wire fences—and in doing so, risk serious injury and/or escape. Escaped horses are serious road hazards.
Knowing this, we designed our ropes and tapes with the equine vision capabilities in mind. That's why:
- They have contrasting colors—to be visible against all backgrounds. We were the first to offer black/white tapes and ropes. That we were right to do so has since been proven by our many imitators.
- They're flexible and large enough in diameter that direct impact by a horse rarely results in injury.
Why electric fences from other sources may not work as well...
- Single-color conductors are not visible enough for horses to see.
- Most electrifiable tapes have too little elasticity for daily and seasonal temperature changes. So they become loose, sag and wear as the wind blows them.
- Some fence energizers provide very high output in volts and joules. They may cause spirited horses to panic.
- Many insulators are not able to hold tape securely in high winds.
- Many ropes are made of inferior material. Unfortunately, they sell better than they perform.
Warning! Do not use high-tensile smooth wire fences for horses!
High-tensile wire fences look nice, are not expensive and are easy for contractors to install. Nonetheless Premier advises against such fences for horses though we promote them for other species. Why? Because HT wire can produce terrible equine injuries. The wire is very strong yet small so it behaves like a cheese-cutter on flesh when accidently kicked or impacted at speed. It's difficult for horses to see most HT wires so they are less able to avoid them. If you already have such fences, it's a potential injury in waiting. As a fix we suggest installing an offset strand of energized rope to enable horses to better see and avoid the wires.
To Reduce Risk and Liability...
Are electric fences a serious safety risk to humans?
Because touching an electric fence is painful and the voltages are high, most assume that the risks from an energized fence must also be high. That's a myth. Consider that millions of people throughout the world are "exposed" to millions of electric fences every day—yet they are involved in (but are not always the cause of) less than one human death or serious injury per year worldwide. Compare that to the number of annual injuries and deaths that occur from human exposure to tractors, skid loaders, ladders, PTO shafts, balers, mowers, combines, bulls, stallions, rifles, shotguns, knives, etc. This is not to suggest that there is no risk at all. There is, indeed, a small level of risk. And with risk, there is also liability to the fence's owner.
What NOT to do!
- Never place your head or upper spine near an electrified wire. Accidental head or neck contact can occur when pushing a voltage probe into the soil. Be careful when doing so to avoid head-to-wire contact!
- Never attempt to step over or climb through an energized fence of any kind.
- Never encourage anyone to touch an electric fence.
Warning!
In 1991 an accidental fatality occurred when a young child's head contacted an electrified fence while the child was crawling on wet grass. The fence was correctly installed and functioning properly. The energizer was a UL approved unit. As a result, Premier strongly advises against allowing toddlers access to any electrified fences. Also, due to this incident and others, experts now suggest that human contact by an energized wire to the head and neck may be the most dangerous point of contact. We urge all to especially avoid this kind of contact.