chicken wire/stock fencing

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otter2

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What are your opinions of it? I've always been taught it's dangerous for horses but I've recently moved areas and all the stables I'm looking at seem to use it?! I'm quite adamant to not turn my horse out in a field with this fencing but atm it's looking like my horse will need to live in my garden if i stick to this!

I've heard of peoples horses rolling and getting their leg stuck and cut in the wire but all the yards, when I raise concern say they've never heard of anyone having any problems?! help!
 
My ponies fields have stock fencing at the bottom and two lines of electric at the top. Been turned out like this for 5 years, never had a problem... Fence looks like this....
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There is a big difference between chicken wire and 'normal' stock fencing. Chicken wire would not be a problem as the holes would be far too tiny for a horse to put its leg through, however it can be made of quite lightweight wire. The square stock fencing as seen in the pic above could be more of a problem. I have this at the bottom of one of my fields ( it fences the pig paddock). I have not had a problem with it but would not put a foal in the field with it and TBH have been considering putting link fencing on the horses side of it.
 
I have stock netting to keep the sheep in but I run an off set electric high tensile wire so they cannot actually get to it and it is the type with the lower holes very close together.
 
TJP said:
There is a big difference between chicken wire and 'normal' stock fencing. Chicken wire would not be a problem as the holes would be far too tiny for a horse to put its leg through, however it can be made of quite lightweight wire. The square stock fencing as seen in the pic above could be more of a problem. I have this at the bottom of one of my fields ( it fences the pig paddock). I have not had a problem with it but would not put a foal in the field with it and TBH have been considering putting link fencing on the horses side of it.
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oh right, it's stock fencing then, it's exactly like in the picture but with two strips of barbed wire rather than electric wire (i also won't turn my horse out with barbed wire fencing if i can avoid it too.. haha i bet the livery yard owner hated me, because she said she can put my horse in a different field thats all barbed wire and i said i didn't like that either!)
 
The fence in the pic above looks quite high which should reduce the risk of horses legs going through as they cannot reach over / chest the fence. Normal stock fencing with barbed wire above it would usually be a lot lower than the fence in the picture.
 
TJP said:
The fence in the pic above looks quite high which should reduce the risk of horses legs going through as they cannot reach over / chest the fence. Normal stock fencing with barbed wire above it would usually be a lot lower than the fence in the picture.
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the overall fencing was lower than in the pic, there were ponies in the field and it probably came up to well below my hip, but a bit above my knee. my horse is 16.1 approx though
 
I used to have stock fencing like that but 5 foot high so they did not try and lean over it. I never had a horse stick it's foor through, but they could where leaning on fence or trying to get to grass or a horse on other side.

With any doubtful fencing run an inside strand of wire (not tape) and electrify it - you can use offset holders from fence or temprary electric fence posts. You want a good zap. Wire works better than tape as it maintains a better current, and needs less manitenance.

Our fences are mostly wire strand fencing with timber posts. The wire is electrified, some of our boundaries are still barbed wire, we electrify a wire that runs on outset riggers about 6 inches inside the fence line.

I love electric fences as the horses soon learn to leave them alone, (but I do forget sometimes if it is on or off and get zapped).
 
Had one put her foot through, the wire caught between her shoe and her hoof,fortunately she was very sensible and just stood and waited till we noticed and cut her free.
 
i do know what you mean but if it is installed properly and kept tight then i think it is ok and with some top strands so they cannot lean over.
the other thing that has crossed my mind is if a rugged horse rubbed along the fence and caught the T of the rug strap on the fence and then pannicked....hopefully the strap would break.
i like to run electric fence around the inside of fences anyway to keep them off it.
 
I knew a horse that dislocated its fetlock after getting a leg through stock fencing while rolling and he had to be destroyed.

My neighbours horse also used to put its leg through and get its shoe stuck on it, I was forever cutting it out.

I currently have stock fencing on one side of the field and I run electric fencing inside that.
 
Hi

I have this type of fencing due to sheep being in field previously. I would like to change it at some stage for post and rail(which I had a pony fly across and ended up with it embedded etc etc injured......mind you if it had been wire or barb would have been hell of a lot worse due to it not breaking). I havent had any problem with this type of fencing in 8 years but yes I think a horse could easily get a hoof stuck.

With all fencing I electrify it anyway to stop rubbing the posts out so mine dont go near any of the fencing. If I didnt electrify he would be out on the road due to knocking posts out!

But for safety I would ideally have post and rail(have it in one field not in other)
 
stock fencing/rylock fencing can be fine... can cause problems...!

its all dependant on the quality/state of the fence in question and your horse! for the first half of my horses life the fences were all rylock. she was a bit accident prone, and managed to pull a couple of front shoes off. but nothing too serious. saying that it could have been much worse. ;)

all fences have since been changed to post and rail, or three strand wire fencing. ;)

i wouldnt not put my horses in a field with rylock fencing... but then thats mainly down to knowing my horses are sensible with fences, and that the only one that occasionaly isnt will wait quietly to be rescued!!
 
we have one horse that can not go out with stock fencing as just pulls his shoes stright of and ive delt with many horse at an old livery yard that have had there feet stuck in it i wouldn't go near it personally! just not worth it think how much damage it could do and youd never forgive yourself if something did happen after you've had doubt about turning out in it in the first place
 
TJP said:
The fence in the pic above looks quite high which should reduce the risk of horses legs going through as they cannot reach over / chest the fence. Normal stock fencing with barbed wire above it would usually be a lot lower than the fence in the picture.
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The fence is high as its put up for horses, mine are only ponies. (we no longer have big horses at the yard this is pure coincidence everyone was always happy, and very sad to leave) the main reason for the Stock fencing is because we have sheep which rotate fields with the ponies. before the sheep we used to have 2 or 3 strands of electric rope/tape again put at a hight to keep horses and ponies in. I actually prefer the current fencing as I dont have problems with cheeky ponies escaping whereas in the past they would find a way out...
 
otter2 said:
A local YO put her horses out in a paddock with sheep netting, ie lots of holes, we don't know how long the colt was stuck[overnight], but it was lucky to live.
Same yard, badly maintained sheep netting, another one, fortunately it did not panic, and was still standing, I always have tools with me so was able to cut the wire. In this case the horse had run up into a dead end, which should have been blocked off as narrow triangles are bad news in fields. Most instances are due to slack wires, and or poor field design, but not many are "freak accidents"
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shadylady69 said:
we have one horse that can not go out with stock fencing as just pulls his shoes stright of and ive delt with many horse at an old livery yard that have had there feet stuck in it i wouldn't go near it personally! just not worth it think how much damage it could do and youd never forgive yourself if something did happen after you've had doubt about turning out in it in the first place
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yeah, i'm going to stick to my guns! :)

my horse definitely wouldn't stand still if she did get caught, she's such a flighty/panicky horse she'd end up injuring herself even more
 
I think if it is new, taut wire, and the horses are sensible, not youngsters, then its ok. We have it in all of our fields - sheep area, and would have every flock in the surrounding farms in out fields if not... One of our fields has a line of stock wire that is old and needs replacing, and my husband's horse gets his shoes stuck in it regularly and has to be cut out. He walks on the bottom and flattens it, while leaning over to talk to the mare next door. Again, he is not a panicy type, and just stands there until rescued.. The rest of the fields, that have new stock fencing, have not caused any problems at all. In fact we have had more issues by far with the strands of plain wire that we had put on fence lines within our land - this they just bulldoze through, leaning over until it snaps, and then the ends of the snapped wire scrape legs etc. One edge of our land was fenced by our neighbour with stockwire and barbed wire strands above. This seems to be the fence that they never mess with or lean on. Stock wire and strands of elec fencing above works well too. Obviously post and rail or stone walls are the best option (although our bulldozers have also knocked down post and rail leaning over fences!)

OP, not meaning to sound rude, but I would have looked at the fencing before I moved onto a yard.
 
Honey08 said:
I think if it is new, taut wire, and the horses are sensible, not youngsters, then its ok. We have it in all of our fields - sheep area, and would have every flock in the surrounding farms in out fields if not... One of our fields has a line of stock wire that is old and needs replacing, and my husband's horse gets his shoes stuck in it regularly and has to be cut out. He walks on the bottom and flattens it, while leaning over to talk to the mare next door. Again, he is not a panicy type, and just stands there until rescued.. The rest of the fields, that have new stock fencing, have not caused any problems at all. In fact we have had more issues by far with the strands of plain wire that we had put on fence lines within our land - this they just bulldoze through, leaning over until it snaps, and then the ends of the snapped wire scrape legs etc. One edge of our land was fenced by our neighbour with stockwire and barbed wire strands above. This seems to be the fence that they never mess with or lean on. Stock wire and strands of elec fencing above works well too. Obviously post and rail or stone walls are the best option (although our bulldozers have also knocked down post and rail leaning over fences!)

OP, not meaning to sound rude, but I would have looked at the fencing before I moved onto a yard.
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i haven't moved onto a new yard yet, sorry if that wasn't clear, she's still at her original yard with good old post and rail :) i posted because i refuse to move until i find a yard without stock fencing or barbed wire but all the yards i've looked at so far seem to have them so i was wondering if it was normal in some places. I've moved house recently you see and where I was before stock fencing was unheard of, but where I am now it seems quite common
 
I have stockfencing with a line of plain wire above topped off with a line of electric rope and standoffs with a further line of electric fencing a foot off the ground at each side. I have had no problems.

If you are so very worried about this sort of fencing why don't you buy a pack or two of standoffs and a couple of reels of tape and upgrade the fence to your requirements.
 
A friends shetland had to be put down as it damaged itself so badly in pig wire (stock fence ), he got in a real mess & the Vet had to be called straight away.. I always put electric tape between the wire & the horse. better safe than sorry, never happened yet doesn't mean it won't.
 
Horses are prone to self-harming whatever type of fencing you have and most people will have a fence horror story to tell. I saw a horse staked through the heart after jumping through a wooden post and rail fence.

We have stock netting and two strands of barbed wire on top, finished to a height of approx 4'4'' and pulled up tight. I went through a period of replacing some of the barb a few years ago and had far more trouble with plain wire as the horses have no respect for it. We're back to barbed again now. If we are concerned about a particular horse we put electric fencing inside the fence.
 
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