Barbed Wire???

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dobbin27

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Hello all,

Hope you've all had a good rain free weekend!!

Am in the process of putting my horse out on loan, and was just wondering how you all feel about barbed wire fencing?

Do you/would you use it?

If so, how do you go about introducing new horses to paddocks? Do you take extra precautions to avoid injury etc...

How safe do you think it it's the only type if fencing?

Thanks X
 
I don't have a choice here as we have it on top of stock fencing. If kept very taught we have not had a problem, but have known other people who have - its not really the done thing. However, it is safer than plain wire. Have put up a strand of electric tape on our side of fence if next door horses are new - just keeps them off it and hope stops any injury.
 
I absolutley hate the stuff seen far too many nasty injuries and far too many rugs trashed from them, so for me its a total no no.
could you not electric around the edge of the barbed wire?
 
i wouldnt use it, it is really not safe i have heard of one too horrific injurys with barbed wire fencing and witnessed a few. I dont think it is worth the risk tbh - but thats just my opinion!
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It wouldnt happen with mine ever again,he had some nasty injuries many yrs ago because i was stupid enough to think it would be ok
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horses and barbed wire do not go together!
ETA...many yrs ago a friend of mine took her old gelding to a new yard with barbed wire fencing,within 2 days he got so badly wrapped up in the damn stuff he had to be pts,it was awful!
I have photos of my lads injuries but unfortunately they are snap shots and not digital,so cant put them on here!
If it your only option then i would electric tape a good 2 feet away from fence to keep them away from it!
 
ONe side of our paddock has lovely, rusty, saggy, barbed wire belonging to the neighbouring patch, so we have the electric fence just inside it. Visibility can be a problem with any wire, so make sure they can see it - maybe tie some flappy plastic bag strips to it? Given that your horses won't chew the plastic of course.
 
ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY NOT. Had barbed wire where Fella used to be. I came down one day to find him covered in blood, with a dozen or more cuts where the barbed wire had somehow come down on one side and caught him on the inside of one leg. Luckily they were only shallow, and healed without any problems, but it could have been so much worse. I would never go back to barbed wire fencing again. Never.
 
Its not my fencing, is in a yard I've been to look at today that are interested in my horse. If it was just the top wire I'd be less worried, but is two/ three strands. It looks fairly well maintained.

It wouldn't be something I'd choose, but just interested if everybody on here would think it was a deal breaker if you were happy with the people?

They've been at the yard years do they wouldn't move.
 
No, horses find enough ways of injurying themselves in the field imo, i wouldn't risk it. In the field behind ours there is old rusty barbed wire sagging off the posts and the cows regularly hurt themselves leaning into the hedges. Its nasty stuff......
 
[ QUOTE ]
Its not my fencing, is in a yard I've been to look at today that are interested in my horse. If it was just the top wire I'd be less worried, but is two/ three strands. It looks fairly well maintained.

It wouldn't be something I'd choose, but just interested if everybody on here would think it was a deal breaker if you were happy with the people?

They've been at the yard years do they wouldn't move.

[/ QUOTE ]
Unless they agreed to electrify around the whole field so your horse couldnt get to it,then no i wouldnt let him go
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,they may be the loveliest people on the planet and give your horse the best possible care,but barbed wire can be lethal!
Your call at the end of the day,but if it was me then(contradicting myself slightly,but am trying to give you an option)my horse would go nowhere near the place!
 
I have one of my horses out on loan and the family were very concerned as the yard they used only had barbed wire so they told me asap, i checked the placed out and the barb wire was very taut and in good condition and so i happily let my 5yr old sport horse go there.
At the end of the day not every yard is perfect in every way, and i have seen far worse injuries on wooden post and rail fencing than i have ever seen with barbed wire.
But everyone has their own opinion, you have to take everything into account when putting your horse out on loan
 
That's pretty much where I'd got to too, I wasn't sure if I was over reacting because I personally don't like it...

I think I'd spend the whole time waiting for the call to say he'd run into it!!
 
considering that you can buy electric tape and insulators for a pretty reasonable price I am astounded how many people still have barbed wire!! anyone who has it must speak up to YO even if it means doing a whip round to put up some other type of fencing.
 
QR

My horse had to be PTS because of an injury due to a barbed wire fence. I thought it would be ok that I had electric taped it off. It wasn't. Never, ever again will I turn a horse out into a field with barbed wire.
 
My old yard had barbed wire fencing. My horse never had a problem with it, but there were a couple of very nasty injuries. I wouldn't risk it again.
 
The yard where I keep my horse has a fair amount of barbed wire, so I would be a bit of a hypocrite to say never.

Is it the most ideal fencing for a horse - NO, most definitely not

However, We are talking a yard with 60+ horses, I have known the yard for 15+ years and there has only been the odd minor nick here and there. Maybe we have just been lucky?

What I would say is this - horses are never in adacent fields and separated by barbed wire. If there is a logistical need to have horses in adjacent fields then a decent electric strip is used so the can't talk over the fence.

The fields are also big, so there is room for horses to play/be horses without needing to be penned into a small field.

When the grazing gets a bit low in winter I actually electric off the areas where my horse trys to lean over the fence to get to greener grass!

In all my time with horses the most horrific 2 fencing accidents I have seen, 1 was with P&R and 1 was with plain wire

ETS - however in your situation, loaning out a horse, I don't think I would risk it without knowing how the yard really works. If I was loaning a horse I would be realistic and not be offended if an owner chose not to send their horse to my yard due to the fencing
 
Like what Ben and Jerrys says. Absolutely never should barbed wire be used on its own to separate paddocks, especially if there are horses on either side of it trying to interact. But its not as dangerous when used to border very large fields, also backed by hedges as obvious boundaries which the horses tend to respect.
 
We have barbed wire in my field, and Monty was once kicked through it when some idiot bought a just cut horse from Southall market. His injuries were horrible, however I had nowhere to put him except back in that field (yards are very hard to come by in west london).

He has not had any other problems, and in fact I have not heard of any other injuries in the 20 years my friend's horse has been there bar the odd nick here and there. I don't think it's ideal but I don't think it is neccessarily the worst thing in the world. At the end of the day, he would have tried to jump a post and rail/leccy fence to escape the colt and probably would have injured himself just as badly.
 
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