Electric fencing tape vs rope

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Becki1802

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Hi,
I have always used electric fencing tape with no issues but my friends horse is a nightmare and marches through the tape even when it's on and he is not rugged. If we zap him he respects it for about 5 days until he 'forgets' that it hurts.

The rope is meant to be stronger but I am slightly concerned it is only 6mm so might be hard for them to see.

I wondered if anyone had any experiences good or bad with the rope? I'm not sure whether to just stick with what I know!!!

Thanks!!
 
We use both tape & rope and tbh I haven't noticed a difference with either, apart from I cant see the rope well even from short distances so I'm constantly going down the bottom of the fields to check it's still there!

If the current is low have you checked other things such as battery is running correctly and is well earthed, also that nothing is touching the tape (overhanging bushes, weeds etc)
 
Thee are lots of differing opinions on tape and rope! I use rope, I like it a lot as it is easy to use and reuse, it doesn't get caught by wind like tape can. But, it is a lot tougher than tape and will not break if a horse tries to go through it. You would need to build in some weak points (I use the metal rope connectors) so that if the horse goes through it, it will come apart. I have seen some rope burns (minor) on horses going through rope but have seen some awful lacerations with tape. The horses see it fine.
 
I use rope as am in a windy area ... in both cases though the better the quality the better the conductivity. You really do get what you pay for.
For difficult horses, I tend to run two separate circuit, one at knee level and one at face level. The middle I might leave off if they're wearing rugs. They tend to touch top or bottom first and then assume the rest is on!
 
Thanks for your help guys!
La Fiaba - I don't think there is lack of current just the pony is a little ***** & doesn't care as he marches through it but thanks for the suggestions.
I like the suggestions of combinations and will have a look at that.
I think for now I'll go with the tape - found some premium stuff that isn't too much more but does have more wire through it so more of a kick! & then will add in the rope later if he is too naughty!
I must have spent hours looking up tape and gates last night... how dull am I?! lol!
 
Be very very careful with the rope I know of one dead horse and one seriously injured from it! It has far too high a breaking strain and causes horrendous injuries when wrapped around legs, so much so that it detached the skin form the horse that was PTS's leg which would not heal.

I use the tape backed by wire, the thin wire that they use for cattle, the trouble with the tape is that the wire filaments running through it are too thin and break in the wind but the wire alone is not very visible so thin tape with wire will break in an emergency and cause no injury but the wire conducts a really good charge. I have used this system for adults and youngstock for more than ten years and apart from the odd joining back together of the wire and tape there have been no injuries.
 
We use the electric tape for cattle as thats what we have as well as my horses and the horses never bothered it at all. I think they sense when electric on so dont go near it but cattle seem to sense if battery flat and take it down grr! My experience with poines at my last riding school was that you just end up spending all day putting them back where they are supposed to be so we ended up havin to free up the smallest field we had and put them there in summer for laminitics saved a lot of time and hassle lol.
 
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