Electric Fence and Safety

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Opinions please on this as I am quite concerned:

My horse is on a farm that has diversified into taking on horses.

They want to section off a very large field with an electric fence, which will stretch a good way across the field, over uneven, hilly terrain. The farmer wants us to try the horses in the field with the electric fence, WITHOUT the battery, so that there will be no current running through it, basically it will just be a dummy barrier, because he is afraid that the battery will get stolen! I am concerned as in the past I have seen my horse walk through and snap the plastic post of a fence that wasn't electrified, and this was just covering an area a few metres long.

Earlier in the year the horses were in this large field without it being sectioned off and I'm concerned that as they know there is more grass beyond this fence they will push it down.

Surely electric fences are NOT mean't to be used without a current running through them?
 
I moved my horse from a livery yard that thought non - electrified fencing was ok. It was on the mains but even I could touch it, anyway my horse kept escaping and after continuous complaining it still wasn't fixed - its a shame I did not move him before he injured his back leg on the inside of his hock causing 8 weeks off work.

I would never risk it again......................and see too many injuries caused by electric tape ( I was lucky ), its just not worth it.
 
I think it does depend on the horse - out of our 5, 2 of them wouldn't dare go through any fencing, electrified or not. The other 3 however do not have the same type of respect!

We have done this in our field the last few years and it sounds similar to this one terrain wise. We have not had the battery or electric fence thingy stolen. It's a risk you take but, rather that then have electric fencing strewn across the field and/or wrapped round some horses legs! Paint the battery/pack in some bright pink colour or something 'imaginative', less likely to look so appealing then!! :)
 
My lad tests electric fencing, he must hear the charge and leaves well alone, if it's not on he mouths the gate section until he gets it loose, our mare isn't so sutble, she just barges through an un charged fence, hence having one battery on charge at all times
 
None of ours would stay in. They all test the fence and within an hour of being off they've all realised and crashed through.
I know a yo who did this but reassured everyone "it's pretend electric to trick the horses" I got to sit back and piss myself watching them all sneak out instantly.
 
My mare susses out fencing without a current within the day. That's normally how I know there's a problem - I see it caught on a bit of permanent fence or under the barbed wire it's meant to be protecting the ponies from!! I wouldn't risk it, myself.
 
Agree with everyone else - electric fencing is definitely dangerous without a current and I've heard of so many horrible accidents due to them not being electrified - horses are clever and know when they can barge through without getting zapped.
My horse once got herself in a right mess, I'd popped her out in the field, she'd been going in there every day for weeks - it had a line of electric fencing across the middle of it to keep her in the one side, and it was always on. For some reason the electric current wasn't working that day, the battery must have suddenly gone - but I'd been in a hurry so just flicked the switch and dashed off without waiting to hear it make the ticking sound. Came back an hour later to see her bombing round the field in a total panic, so ran down to see what had happened and have never seen anything like it! She'd obviously attempted to get through the fence but must have got the tape caught on her fly rug buckle (??), and it had split into hundreds of tiny strands of wire and because she'd panicked, she'd dragged it all around the field - it looked like hundreds and hundreds of cobwebs strewn and criss-crossed around the field. She'd got her legs caught up in it and because it was so fine it was cutting into her and so tight - I somehow managed to untangle her and she miraculously wasn't hurt, but it took hours to take it all up and clean the field and make sure it was safe. And that was all because the current hadn't been working for about an hour!
 
Thanks all, I'm sure I will be branded a worrier and a fusspot, but now I know I have to say something. Good idea, as someone said, to buy a battery myself, although I am pretty disgusted that the farmer is putting the risk of theft/money before the horses's safety by not using the one he has. We pay enough for pretty rough facitilies as it is. Problem is the farmer is a cattle farmer and has limited knowledge of horse care and none of livery standards.

Personally I don't like electric fences at all, electrified or not.
 
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A lot of horses will test and go through an electric fence if it isn't on so your farmer could spend money on putting up a fence that WILL get broken. IMO electric rope is far more dangerous than tape as tape tends to snap more easily.

You can get solar chargers or depending how far the field is from an electric point you can have a mains energiser and use runout cable to attach it to the fence.
 
Thanks Egg, that's a good point to put to him, fence will get broken = wasted money (and of course more importantly potentially injured horses), maybe that will get through to him. He's a lovely man, but not really horsey wise.
 
I don't have current running through my fences if its just mine out, but he won't go near it all. Even if it was just a rope on the ground he will point blank refuse to go within metre of it. But I guess most horses would take the mick and cross it!
 
Interestingly ours will go through tape (possibly because it goes slack and often blows down in the wind anyway, so they don't even have to do anything half the time..) but won't go through rope or the elastic gate, which is always taught. Ours are currently on a electric roped hard standing with a single strand elastic gate. We don't often have it on,despite them leaning over to get at the grass on the other side. They probably have had a zap apiece in the past.

If it is going to be a long exposed fence, I would want some wooden posts every few stakes, and either wire or rope to electrify.
 
Having been on a yard with a huge hill field divided in two with electric tape, I don't consider it safe at all. A horse panicked and bolted in the field, running into the electrified fence which got wrapped round her head/neck, causing her to fall and roll to the bottom of the hill. She was PTS for a broken leg. Can't help thinking a more solid fence may have prevented that disaster because even if she'd become caught in it, it wouldn't have been shocking her.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
Having been on a yard with a huge hill field divided in two with electric tape, I don't consider it safe at all. A horse panicked and bolted in the field, running into the electrified fence which got wrapped round her head/neck, causing her to fall and roll to the bottom of the hill. She was PTS for a broken leg. Can't help thinking a more solid fence may have prevented that disaster because even if she'd become caught in it, it wouldn't have been shocking her.
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Oh god, poor thing, that's horrendous.
 
Newseeker, I know :( . I don't think it helped that the tape was green and was only put up the day before the accident. Though since she bolted she may well have gone through a solid fence anyway, but I feel a proper fence would have slowed her down and she may have got up on the other side even if she didn't escape injury completely. It was very very sad and has really put me off electric fencing altogether, though white tape on level ground is probably less dangerous.
 
It is the white tape and plastic posts type, but electric fencing of this type isn't suitable or sturdy enough for this kind of terrain and gradient of the hill and the intended long term use, or so I've gathered from the safety instructions I have just read online.

My horse once pushed one of these posts and snapped it, and that was just a short section filling in as a temporary measure (not my idea, it was another small yard I was on at the time), that wasn't electrified either, and he seems to have no fear of the tape or posts.
 
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