Electric Fencing 101

Most equestrians come into contact with electric fencing at least once or twice in our lives. It’s one of the most popular choices for equines because it’s fairly cheap compared to other methods and it’s also fairly easy to install….if you know what you’re doing!

I just completed my second installation of an electric polyrope fence for my horse’s pasture and I’ve definitely learned a lot of things the hard way! When I’d run into trouble, I would Google every phrase and keyword I could think of but hardly ever found what I was looking for. So I just tried things, asked neighbors, my trainer, the people at the tack store and anyone else I could think of until I figured it out. This is not an ideal solution for most of us, so I decided to compile a guide with tips/tricks/weird things I encountered and whatever else I can think of so that you guys don’t have to go through all the effort I have in order to get your fence up and running.

Some important things to consider:

• Before you order your supplies, check to see which way your t-posts are facing. This never occured to me, but I learned the hard way that I had backward t-posts when I tried to put my polytape insulators on and they didn’t fit the right way. Backwards insulators are only available for polyrope. So, I now use polyrope!
• If you are using t-posts, it is wise to purchase t-post safety caps to prevent injury to your horses.
• Solar chargers have come a long way and there are some great ones out there. I use, and highly recommend, the Parmak low impedance solar charger. It charges up to 25 miles of fence and is easy to set up. Just make sure you place it in an area that gets full sun for at least 80% of the day.
• If you’re fencing an area larger than a normal riding arena, you will most likely need 3 ground rods attached to your solar charger. They should be at least 8ft long. (Tip: soak the ground where you plan to install them and wait about 20 mins before trying to put up the ground rods. T-post fence drivers work great for these too) Most electric fencing problems can be traced to the ground rod, so be sure this is installed properly.
• Thinking about using polytape for your gate and polyrope for the rest of the fence? Or maybe a thinner version of polyrope for the gate? Or a spring gate? Well, think again!! I don’t know if this is true for every situation, but I haven’t had any luck with mixing different types of electric fencing.
• Don’t leave long leftover strands of fence hanging off the gate handle or corner insulators. If those strands touch the gate, t-post or other objects, it can prevent your fence from working.
• If you’re using a solar charger, or even if you’re not, you may have problems with your fence during the cold and snowy winter months. My fence sometimes stops working overnight if we have heavy snow and then comes back on when the sun comes out. Ground rods/solar chargers work best in moist, unfrozen ground. However, most horses won’t bother the fence if they’re used to it being on.
• Try to keep the snow & ice off of your solar charger – this helps it keep a stronger charge.
• If you live in a windy area, consider using polyrope instead of polytape as it stays in place a little better because it’s heavier.

I’m sure there are other great tips out there, but I hope these will help anyone out there who is installing electric fence for the first time! If you have any other tips, post them in the comments below!