Electric tape or rope?

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Marv99

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Hi,

I am putting an electirc fence round the perimeter of our field to keep the horses away from the wire fencing. I will be running the electric a good 10 inches or so inside and this will be fairly permanent. I was going to use 20mm electric tape but someone I spoke to said I was better off using electric rope as this doesn't stretch as much in the wind and is better for a permanent electric fence. So I just wondered what everyone thought? Can the horses see the rope as I had always thought that white tape was a good deterrent as it is very obvious to horses once they have zapped themsleves once or twice!

Also where would be the best place to buy this from?

Thanks for your help and advice as always!
 
Don't know if this true or not so please correct me if I'm wrong

I use tape over rope because

Horses can see it better
It has a larger surface area so the horse is more likely to get a zap
It breaks easier than rope
It's easier it use with poly posts
 
We live on a hill it's very windy so use electric rope never had any problems with it just make sure you buy good quality not cheap but will be in the long term!
 
If there is no way your horses can get tangled up in or run through rope then yes, it has its advantages however tape has a much lower breaking strain so if there is any chance your horses may get tangled or run through the fence then tape will be much less likely to cause fatal injury.

As for where to get it from. A reputable supplier will advise you but may not be the cheapest, a better quality and probably more expensive product will last longer. Best to do some research for yourself and then look at whether it's cheaper on the internet or locally.
 
I have always used tape. however there are several horses on our yard that just break it. It then has to be tied together.

Yard is switching to rope, at one time this would have bothered me as it doesn't break so a horse can get injured in it easier. however having got sick to death of other horses breaking the tape I am now happy for yard to switch.

Easy for me to say as my horse doesn't leave the field even when the fence is down :p
 
If this is permanent and you are attached to the existing fence, then I would use wire

This will give the best shocks and have the longest life (20+ years)

Tape breaks down, although is good where there is no fence behind. We used thick (3") tape to make a fence, but have had to replace it around 4 times where the wire is still going strong.

My preference is rope for shocking ability, and for our temporary fencing we use thin polywire. The reasoning is that if they run through it, it will break (unlike 5mm rope), and it gives the best conductivity whilst being dead easy to use and move.

I've got 4 horses kept in with one strand, but then our fencer is a hefty mains one!!
 
Tape breaks in the wind and you'll be forever changing it or tying it together with looks awful and will only break if pushed by the horses. We use rope which although more expensive to buy lasts a really long time, conducts well and is easy to re-use!!

GOOD lUCK!
 
Another vote for rope, having used both I would never waste my money on tape again! The rope has far better conductivity and we have ours on slim wooden posts as a permanent fence, 4 strands on external fence and 3 strands inside the boundary fences. Ours is used for stallions and has been incredibly effective, we also use high tensile wire for the hen pen but I will be replacing this with rope when it is ready for re doing as I find the rope far better.

The rope also looks far tidier than tape, doesn't stretch the same and doesn't collect snow, rendering it useless, as tape does.
 
Tape rather than rope - Its breaks easily - less chance of fatal injury.
If it breaks - get some more, rather buy more than lose another horse.
Have read that horses can see green better than white (it was on an electric tape website selling green tape - so may not be 100% accurate)

NB - I havent had any tape break in the wind.
 
Having used both, I prefer rope, I use it as a top strand and the bottom strand are polywire. It doesn't stretch and sag in the wind, it looks neater and delivers a better zap. It's much easier to tension, too.
TBH, my horses have occasionally gone through the fencing, it's never the rope that gives way, but the fixings do and apart from a minor rope burn (and I mean minor as in a bit of fur removed) I have never had any injuries.
 
Sov-n-Dom said:
A member on here suggested that there should be breaks in rope i.e. cut the rope and join back together with joiners for safety.
Click to expand...
As much as I understand the concern over injury, and I don't want to sound horrible, but I would much rather a fatal injury on fencing that didn't give way, than for the fence to give way and the horse to kill itself and some poor innocent sod driving their mini down the road :o
 
if you live somewhere windy defo use rope. It lasts well anyway so is better providing you havent got a suicidal horse! tape is hard to get tight and generally flaps in wind which sometimes means horses wont come to the gate as after crowding round it one of them will get zapped. I use rope myself and have never had a prob with it. The most important thing is that its always electrified so I recommend a solar powered unit :)
 
I had always been taught that rope was dangerous but then I suppose if tape gets loose a horse could get stuck in it or spook and hurt itself.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for good quality rope/tape?
 
If you use rope it must be kept electrified at ALL times.

It's much more hardwearing than tape, if you are worried about safety putting breaks in it with connectors is a great idea.
 
I use rope and would never use tape again, I've seen some terrible injuries from tape. I have semi permanent fencing with a combination of wooden and plastic posts. I also use joiners intermittently so that if the horses do go through it, it just pulls apart. These are not boundary fences though just paddocks within fields. Touch wood I have never seen a serious injury from rope but I would not use it without joiners.

I buy more or less all my electric fencing stuff from farmcareuk on ebay
 
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