barbwire fencing

No worries Ester!! :) Yeh, I have seen some pretty horrific slices and 'burns' from electric tape/rope as well.... it doesnt tend to break as easily as wire surprisingly enough - if wire has enough tension on it, it will snap..... the electric tape tends to snap at a knot way down the end, then wrap itself around the leg burning as it goes..... ick.....

The thing is, horses are horses and are walking accidents waiting to happen! lol..... You could put them in a padded cell and they would manage to damage themselves immensely!! Silly twits of things they are really arent they?

I cringe every time I go to a show or event and see horses in electric yards - stand ins and tape loosely strung between them..... those ones dont actually worry me so much that they will injure themselves, but more that they will get out, run in front of a car, or bowl over some kid in a pram......

The best thing we did with one of our stallions one year was when we had cattle panels surrounding him with him tied to the side of the truck as well :) There was no way anything was going to happen to have him get loose - which wasnt actually our main worry, it was some numpty with an in season mare who might go park their mare under his nose, or have their mare get out of their crappy tape yard during the night and visit him! lol.....

Heck, we will occasionally throw the horse back in the float rather than leave it tied to the float at a show if we are not going to be right there with it for even 10 mins or so.... much safer than relying on the lead rope or other people to have common sense! lol
 
Oh good lord - you lot have school holidays there??? Gawd..... they are the same world over..... lol We have some interesting threads and posters pop up during school holidays here too on forums..... lol... Always good for a laugh though! lol
 
ischa said:
why does every one get all defenceless when a person starts a post on something they dont like ?
if you dont agree with what im saying dont post . i expect there are plenty of people that have had bad experiences with this that simply agrees with this . just because unfortualy you havnt experienced bad experiences with it __yet____
doesnt mean you wont
i can understand cattle use which i will remove but equestrian
so your basicly saying everone that had a horse injured by this fencing has no commen sence please?
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I don't think people are being defensive when they point out barb isn't the spawn of satan! It's not ideal admittedly but P&R isn't economically viable for most yards, it's d*mn expensive to install especially on large areas and both expensive and time consuming to maintain. I wouldn't keep mine on a field that was purely fenced by electric without a secure perimeter for 2 reasons, one of mine knows how to remove electric posts and drops the fence to short it:eek: and it would probably be nicked within a week if anywhere near a road. Stock fencing is slightly more affordable but they do tend to lean on it. I've never used plain wire for the reasons above so while I will use barb and run a single strand of electric a foot or so inside it.... I can afford to lose that to thieves:mad:if I have to.

ANY badly maintained fencing is lethal IMHO, be it stock, plain, barb or even P&R - but what about when you run cattle on the grazing after or with the horses?
 
ischa said:
why does every one get all defenceless when a person starts a post on something they dont like ?
if you dont agree with what im saying dont post .
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Think it might be an idea to read that back again as the point of this forum is............discussion so if you don't want an answer that might disagree with you, the same applies, don't post it.

You asked if there was a law against it and were told there wasn't and some people have said why they do not want it banned. Just because they don't agree with you because you had not considered the use of barbed wire in the agricultural sector where it is totally necessary is no reason to get huffy, it's just called debate.
FWIW, I've never had a problem with correctly fitted and maintained barbed wire, I've seen a lot worse accidents from other types of fencing in the 50 years I've been around horses. The secret is in the word maintenance, make sure it's checked and tensioned regularly.
 
We have barb wire at our yard, we have never had a problem with it as it is well maintained and kept tight, its when its hanging down and loose there is a problem.

The worst accident I have ever seen was with a post and rail fence where a horse leant over, snapped the rail and got it caught in the x straps of the rug, the horse then impaled itself and split its stomach from front to back and was dead in seconds.

I have also seen a horse impaled on an electric fence stake and have a hoof caught in sheep netting.

There are pros and cons to all fencing- its how you maintain it that counts.

In an ideal world we would all have top of the range flexiable horse friendly fencing but how many of us live in an ideal world?
 
Those of you who run a strand of leccy fencing inside your stock fence - do you use the stand-off insulators into the stock fence posts, or run a line of electric fence posts inside?

My youngster has a nasty habit of lying down next to the stock fence and has put his leg through it before now.
 
It's BARBED wire. Not good except for keeping cows at the other side of it and shredding rugs, jackets, and horses. But evil or no, can we please call it by its proper name? It is wire with barbs = barbed wire...

Thank you.
 
I have had horses in fields with barbed wire fencing in the past. I normally fence it off with electric fencing, and try to use as much of the natural hedges as possible. My yard is a working farm and so I do not have a choice in the type of fencing the farmer wishes to use and can afford to use.

Accidents can happen with anything involving horses :( and I have seen nasty injuries from post and rail and electric fencing as well as poorly maintained barbed wire. I think your intentions are good but I do not think it will ever be banned as such. Who will police it? Farmers are poor enough as it is without having to switch to post and rail. We have cattle and it is the only thing to contain the cows. With just electric tape the cattle would have ran through and let the horses loose...causing accidents.

I think it is just more common sense and if you do not wish to use barbed wire then don't. I would not use it if I had the choice, if I had my own land I would be using natural hedges, post and rail, electric tape etc.
 
xena_wales said:
Those of you who run a strand of leccy fencing inside your stock fence - do you use the stand-off insulators into the stock fence posts, or run a line of electric fence posts inside?

My youngster has a nasty habit of lying down next to the stock fence and has put his leg through it before now.
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Both - it depends on how long the run of fence I have to keep them off. A short (100m) I use posts and a single strand of rope, any longer and I use the insulators on the fence itself with tape.

Luckily,about 10 years ago we planted hedges inside the fencing so 90% of the fence lines are safe for horses but it wasn't a quick fix IYSWIM
 
I hate barbed wire with a passion. It is not suitable for horses IMO.

Apologies to those that have seen these photos before. The fence was stock fencing with one strand of barbed wire at the top. The fence was well maintained and tight. The wire did not snap and the only reason that the injuries were not worse is because the posts were pulled out of the ground.

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These only show the injuries from the front after about a week of healing. She also had several long (think chest to hip) cuts on her off side.
 
Nothing is 100% safe. You will always get accidents no matter what type of fencing is used.

In response to the OP's question, if your going to ask for Barbed wire to be banned, you might as well ask for all types of fencing to be banned.

My horse had 9 months box rest and is scarred for life due to an injury caused by STRAIGHT WIRE.

Someone I know had a horse PTS due to being impailed on a POST & RAIL fence.

A long time ago, a horse was PTS after getting its leg caught in STOCK FENCING at a livery yard I used to be at.

I also know someone who lost part of her finger from being caught up in ELECTRIC TAPE.

I know of a car accident caused by a horse escaping from a field with HEDGE BOUNDARIES.

One of my liveries has a scar from pawing at BARBED WIRE!

So, just because you havent had a bad experience with a certain type of fencing, it doesnt make it safe! No matter what it is.
 
Those photos actually make my point from earlier very clear....looks like hell but is mostly superficial, just a couple of deeper areas that were easily stapled.... Now had it been the 2.5mm high tensile plain wire you would probably had one nice clean and tidy cut that looked very tidy...but would have been very deep severing muscles, tendons, nerves and blood vessels....and a dead horse for a result...

Honestly, in 90% of cases it's like gravel rash and a stab would... the gravel rash hurts like hell, looks horrible but won't kill you... the stab wound is nice and tidy but youre still dead.
 
For the last 18 odd years my horses have been kept in fields fenced with barbed wire and rylock. Hand on heart, I have never had an injury due to it - nor have any of the other 40 odd horses on the property.

The fencing is well maintained and taught. It's not the wire that causes the injuries - it's poor maintenance.
 
Barbed wire, plain wire and stock fencing in my view has no place in a horses field. I have turned down plenty off yards because off the fencing and no way would I turn my horses out in a field with barbed wire and can't believe people do, it's a accident waiting to happen. I use a safe purpose horse fence which is made off very small triangles with rails on top. Never had a accident.
But you can't ban it as it's very useful for the farmers.
Also what about your insurance with regards to barb wire!!!! My friends horse was frightened by fire works and ran blind through the hedge, unknown to them it had barbed wire deep inside the hedge. Injuries were horrid but insurance would NOT pay out because off the type off fencing used!!! May be worth looking into.
 
Monsters said:
Barbed wire, plain wire and stock fencing in my view has no place in a horses field. I have turned down plenty off yards because off the fencing and no way would I turn my horses out in a field with barbed wire and can't believe people do, it's a accident waiting to happen. I use a safe purpose horse fence which is made off very small triangles with rails on top. Never had a accident.
But you can't ban it as it's very useful for the farmers.
Also what about your insurance with regards to barb wire!!!! My friends horse was frightened by fire works and ran blind through the hedge, unknown to them it had barbed wire deep inside the hedge. Injuries were horrid but insurance would NOT pay out because off the type off fencing used!!! May be worth looking into.
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Monsters, you are very lucky. This is simply not realistic for us. If I turned down a yard because of barbed, plain wire or stock fencing, I would have no-where to keep my horse.

We have well-maintained barbed wire along the top of post & rail fencing, along one side of the field. We have never had a problem with any of our horses in 10 years. There is no exclusion in my insurance policy regarding barbed wire.

It may not be ideal, but I can think of many worse things...
 
quirky said:
I have known 3 horses put down due to fencing injuries.

2 were post and rail and the other was just straight wire. The straight wire was horrific, it degloved the lower fore limb and poor horse had to be pts there and then.

Post and rail injuries were due to breakages, one careered through it and was stabbed in the chest to quite a depth. The wound didn't kill him, the infection did. The second one was rubbing on the post and rail, got a splinter in the wither area that turned into a fistula. An operation to cut this away was successful but again a resultant infection that affected the spinal cord finished the horse off.
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ohmigod - it never ceases to amaze me how much can go wrong with a horse!
 
ShellCoburn said:
Do you know that most injuries caused by barb wire that are 'life threatening' are caused by wire that has been incredibly slack and not well maintained????

We have 40 horses on our property. All our fences with the exception of three paddocks have barb wire on the top strand with stock lock below it.

We have NOT had a serious injury thanks to barb wire. Our fences are all tightly strung, the horses respect the fence and stay off it.

Our horses are not rugged either - with the exception of one who is clipped - and he is a shocker for leaning over it and ruining his rug if given the chance, so he is in a paddock without barb.....

Barb wire is a LOT safer than plain wire. Plain wire cuts like a knife through butter....

Barb wire has the barbs that poke in, and it doesnt slice.... it just skips along and causes superficial wounds for the most part :)

Barb is a necessity on farms and where you are keeping livestock. Cattle do not respect anything else.
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Agree with this post.

I live on a dairy farm. The areas of my fencing that are post and rail are demolished by the cows as they all lean and push on it. So much so, the fence has had to have barbed wire put in it to keep them off it.

I also have one side of my summer paddocks fenced with barb wire in places to keep the cows out. I have a double strand of electric rope running a metre inside the fence though, to keep the horses away from it. This is because my field is higher than the cow pasture and I worry about my horses leaning over this fence to get at the longer grass the other side.

In the winter my horses are moved onto cow fields, as the cows are housed during the winter months. They move from field to field, all fields being over 10 acres in size. There's no way my hubby is going to re-fence those fields with something deemed more "suitable" for horses.

The farm has every metre of fencing checked, and repaired where necessary, each Spring, before the cows are turned out. Any fencing that is damaged during the grazing months is swiftly repaired. Our fencing is strung so tight that I am sure you could strum a tune on it! The amount of pictures I see posted with poorly maintained, loose sagging wire and stock fencing always make me cringe. That truly is an accident waiting to happen.

There are injuries to be had with ANY type of fencing. Wooden rails can break and "stab" into horses, plain wire cuts like butter as the poster above said. Stock fencing can trap horses feet, electric tape doesn't always snap and can caused injury.

What I've long since realised is that IF a horse wants to injure itself, it generally will find a way. :rolleyes:
 
ischa said:
why does every one get all defenceless when a person starts a post on something they dont like ?
if you dont agree with what im saying dont post .
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I think you mean defensive, but I understood your emotion.

Surely you're not naive enough to post on an open forum and expect to only receive replies from people who 100% agree with you? ;)
 
Wooden rails can break and "stab"
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Actually the worst injury I have seen is a horse that was staked by a post. You could put your whole arm inside the poor creature. It survived, amazingly.
 
amymay said:
Actually the worst injury I have seen is a horse that was staked by a post. You could put your whole arm inside the poor creature. It survived, amazingly.
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^^ this.

I worked as an equine vet nurse for years and have seen serious injuries caused by all types-barbed, plain (the worst IMO), electric (electric tape not connected up to a decent power supply is so dangerous), and post and rail. Two horses put down because of staking injuries form post and rail and one to plain wire.
 
Where I keep one of my horses there is a lot of barbed wire. I have known the yard for 15+ years and had horses there on/off for all of that. I do agree that in an ideal world you wouldn't use barbed wire but we are not in an ideal world. For me the general rule of thumb when using barbed wire is the following:
Most suited to larger areas of turnout and perimeter fencing
Must be maintained
Make use of electric tape running inside if appropriate
Do not have horses able to 'talk' over a barbed wire fence ... this is the only time I have seen anything other than very minor superficial wounds caused by this type of fencing (squeeling, lifting front leg and hooking over fence)

I wouldn't not go to a yard because of barbed wire but I would want unsafe areas taped off, no horses talking over fence, taught wire. If it were my own yard I would personally run electric inside all of the fenceline.
 
I personally have no prob with barbed wire if it is maintained properly and like most people my age the only fencing in most horse fields when we were young was barbed wire.
The worst injury 2 injuries i have ever seen was from post and rail fencing, one horse got impailed in the chest and was at the vet college for months and still had to be pts and the other popped his head through the fencing and when brought it back snapped the rail and slit this throat open and died instantly.
So before you decide that you dont like a fencing and want it banned do your research and see how many fatal accidents are caused but other fencing and how many by barbed wire
 
Sorry but I won't be signing your petition.

There are better things to worry about in the horseworld than worrying about barbed wire. If you don't like it then it is your choice to put your horse in a field where it is used.
 
eggs said:
Sorry but I won't be signing your petition.

There are better things to worry about in the horseworld than worrying about barbed wire. If you don't like it then it is your choice to put your horse in a field where it is used.
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Ditto!

Our field has barbed wire round the perimeter (on top of p+r), stopping the horses getting into the allotments next door (which would cause chaos!). We simply put electric fencing in front of it.
 
ischa said:
why does every one get all defenceless when a person starts a post on something they dont like ?
if you dont agree with what im saying dont post . i expect there are plenty of people that have had bad experiences with this that simply agrees with this . just because unfortualy you havnt experienced bad experiences with it __yet____
doesnt mean you wont
i can understand cattle use which i will remove but equestrian
so your basicly saying everone that had a horse injured by this fencing has no commen sence please?
Click to expand...

I almost lost a 12 week old foal that was playing with his dad and somehow ended up 'dumped' over the barbed wire fence, hanging by his back legs! I immediately went out and bought an electric kit to keep him safe, for the next 3 years he grazed outside the fence like it was his own personal grazing that mum and dad couldnt get to! Ours are now back in fields surrounded by barbed wire, it is not ideal, it is on a livery yard, if the fencing was banned they would simply close because they would not have the money to re-fence acres and acres of land in one go, that would be 2 owners and 17 horses homeless in an area that is short on livery spaces! At one yard I was on I re-fenced the old school in post and rail, so 20x40 paddock, nearly £1000 in timber and we did all the work ourselves!!

We have to be realistic, farmers are turning their fields over to horses in diversification because they can't afford to run their farms, they are not going to be able to afford to replace the fencing, investing thousands and thousands of pounds that they will not get back for possibly many years. Everyone knows that barbed wire and horses do not go together but you don't always have a choice. There is not a lot of available space in the country for livery, if loads of them closed down because they couldn't/wouldn't replace all their barbed wire fences that would a lot of homeless horses and distressed owners.

I don't know what your situation is but in the last week alone I have just spent £850 on fencing rope, posts, insulators etc, not including the energiser to fence a field of approx 3 acres, admittedly £250 of that is to erect poultry fencing with the same field, that is only a fraction of the acres that we have our 13 horses on. If you have your own land then the outlay for fencing is different but most people dont.

BTW, I have seen a horse almost remove its hoof on sheepwire, and even a horse blinded by a hawthorn hedge. Horses tend to get into trouble with fencing, they don't like to be contained.
 
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