Barbed Wire Worries

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el_Snowflakes

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Hi all,

My mare has been on 24 hr turnout through summer. However last week she came in with scrapes along one side of her body and several to her shoulder and leg having leant on a barbed wire fence. Thankfully it didn't need treatment and the wounds were superficial and no lameness, however it could have been so much worse. I hate barbed wire and have been assured that said wire is to be taken away in the next few months but I am reluctant to leave her out overnight for the worry of her being injured again so I am back to daily muck outs. I had a look on the BHS Scotland website but the rules regarding barbed wire are sketchy. How do you feel about barbed wire fencing? (Please no graphic injury pics as I am anxious enough already about the situation!)
 
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Personally I would never turn my horses out with bared wire, or preferably any wire. I have had horses get injured on it before - one of them seriously injured, and I would categorically be removing all trace of it before I turned anything out with it - it is lethal, even more dangerous if it isn't properly tensioned.
 
the only grazing around here is stock fenced (also Scotland) so I don't have a choice. Even the paddock I own is stock fenced although I am replacing it with post and rail with wire when and where I can. I fence off with electric where I can but all the fencing is well maintained-loose wire would be a no no. I've seen horrific injuries with plain wire, barbed wire, post and rail (was an equine vet nurse) and electric tape.

Mine are not at livery though-do you mean yours are on a BHS approved livery?
 
I only have barbed on 1 boundary now, everything else is stock (full equi-fence) fenced/ P&R etc, tho I have good electric tape inside all boundaries.
If tape is well maintained, and put about a yard inside the boundary, then you should have no problem till it is replaced.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
If tape is well maintained, and put about a yard inside the boundary, then you should have no problem till it is replaced.
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This.

I recommend a minimum of three strands of tape or poly wire, and space the plastic posts no more than 4 paces apart.

Hate barbed wire with a vengeance, it has no place on an equine property. Unfortunately, there's masses of the stuff around, sagging and rusting gently, waiting to snare its next victim.
 
Having seen a few really nasty injuries to horses caused by barbed wire here in Scotland, I concur with the general hatred of the stuff. :frown3:
 
I've got barbed wire fencing, only the top strand though and that's bad enough. I use electric fencing to prevent my horse leaning over it but I still hate it.
 
We've got barbed wire on a few perimeter fences above stock wire on our land. When I first moved here I replaced a lot of it as quickly as I could, but couldn't afford to do it all, so left that which was in good condition. To be honest, I am surprised to say it is the only type of fencing, apart from a good big dry stone wall, that they haven't injured themselves on because they respect it and don't lean over it until it snaps (plain wire) or falls down (wooden rails). Electric fence it if you're worried. I used to do that when we had sweet itch ponies as I was worried they'd use it to scratch on.
 
We have heavy duty post and rail with Equi-fencing (a tight form of sheep fencing/netting) on it so that they are unable to kick through the fence line.
 
I would never turn my horses out into a field with barbed wire, my Sisters horse has an awful scar from a barbed wire injury, and I have seen two other quite horrific injuries where both horses needed skin grafts and both were down to the bone, never ever would I risk it, buy some electric fence and fence it off.
 
Pinkvboots said:
I would never turn my horses out into a field with barbed wire, my Sisters horse has an awful scar from a barbed wire injury, and I have seen two other quite horrific injuries where both horses needed skin grafts and both were down to the bone, never ever would I risk it, buy some electric fence and fence it off.
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I'm on a livery yard.
 
I don't like it but tbh most of the Diy yards in our area have it to some extent so it's hard to get away from.

Yes injuries do happen due to it but they also happen due to a myriad of other items too in the yard, stable & field and you can't completely idiot proof their environment - nor would I want to, if they're that unintelligent I'd have to question why I'd got them ;)

So whilst not ideal so long as it's not badly neglected or the grazing poor so that they have reason to test it to see what's on the other side I tend to accept it as the alternative is often £600+ a month for full livery and a benign post & rail postage stamp of grazing.
 
We have no barbed wire but ours still come in sometimes with what looks like wire marks where they have rubbed an itch on something. I would put electric fencing up to keep your horse off the wire. Worth paying for yourself, if your YO won't pay, for peace of mind.
 
My youngster jumped a barbed wire fence when he was a yearling. He scraped all the skin off the fronts of his hocks, huge patches of skin. It looked awful. Luckily it was only superficial, but it could have been horrific if he'd actually caught any barbs. I think his legs must've slipped in between them. He has white legs so now you can't notice anything, but if he'd been any other colour the scarring would've been extremely obvious.

I would run electric fencing along in front as others have said. I would never wish to turn any horse of mine out in a wire fenced field again tbh.
 
Evil stuff and the type of fence that was seen all over the UK many years ago. Glad to hear that it is steadily being replaced.

I had one line of barbed wire on the boundary fence with the neighbours, I put up a semi permanent electric fence using the three corner metal posts (waratah's) and a proper soft wire (No8 wire) at high chest height - you'll need strainers and two posts with bracing to ensure that the wire stays taut. We used a portable electric fence unit to electrify it.
 
el_Snowflakes said:
I was statin that I'm on a livery yard in response to someone saying to put electric tape up. Obviously I cannot put new fencing up on someone else's property.
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Any reasonable livery yard owner would understand your concerns about barbed wire in a horses field - I am amazed so many yards seem to still have the stuff tbh.
 
Ask. When I was on livery I asked the YO if they would mind me putting rails up on a section of fence that was barbed wire. They said yes and even gave me some rails to use, so I did.
 
The logical thing to do with stock fencing with barbed wire is to run an electrified single plain wire down the side on offsets. Given the mains unit, that could be done very very cheaply. Keep the wire taut and very few offsets will be needed.

BUT I have a thought in my head that electric fencing and barbed wire is a total no-no due to the possibilities of a child trying to climb over the fence and getting it's clothes snagged on the barbed wire, then being subjected to continual shocks from the live single wire. (I've had a sheep killed by e-fencing when it got caught up, so this is a serious consideration). Having said that, the only length with barbed wire in it on my farm has electric both sides on offsets -- but then I don't have children!

Maybe it is electrified barbed wire that is illegal? Same thing, really, and the occupier has a duty of care towards visitors, invited or not.
 
i moved my horse from a yard that used barbed wire round all its perimeter. Some was new, some was rusty and falling to pieces, some was broken and buried in the ground. Thankfully my horse didn't incur any injuries whilst there but i know a couple that did!
 
Clearing out barbed wire from boundaries is a fine thought but sometimes it's very difficult to do. We have it at our yard but most of it is buried in hawthorn & holly perimeter hedges & we cannot get at it. If we can't get at it then it's unlikely the horses will. When a piece of hedge dies back & the barbed wire is exposed then we can get at it & remove it.

Yes barbed wire can cause injury but I've seen horrendous injuries to horses & peple from electric rope. People may not be aware but electric rope has a ridiculously high breaking strain which basically means it doesn't break very easily at all. When someone or some animal gets caught up in rope the injuries are dressed as serious burns. I know this from first hand experience so I don't use that at all now. :(
 
All our fencing is barbed on top as the fields are rotated for stock. Very rarely had any problems. I would run an electric strand along the top in your case.

Use the thin strand electric rather than the tape as it breaks more easily if it becomes entangled. Entanglement only becomes a problem if the battery goes flat and the horse finds out.
 
I know a lot of people who have put up additional electric fencing on livery yards to fence off barbed wire, it isn't ideal but will do the job until it is replaced. I also know a BHS approved livery yard with barbed wire and stock fence so they can't mind it that much either although I hate both!
 
This might sound stupid but is there one particular place that's really bad, ie that they like to congregate or reach over? (usually the barbs are full of hair). In a previous place we had to move some mares into a neighbours cow field as an emergency measure. They liked to look at goings on over one section so I got some cheap plumbing pipe (the relatively narrow one), slit it and gaffer taped it over for the week they were in there. It's not perfect and it's not permanent, but maybe it could make you feel a little better. This barbed wire was really taut over the top of an aging drystone wall though. YMMV
 
el_Snowflakes said:
I was statin that I'm on a livery yard in response to someone saying to put electric tape up. Obviously I cannot put new fencing up on someone else's property.
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It's not 'obvious' at all that you cannot put up some temporary plastic posts to keep your horse off the barbed wire.Have you asked the YO?

You need to be proactive. Either improve the fencing, move the horse to a different field with safe fencing, or move yards.
 
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