What Are the Best Fence Materials for a Horse Farm?
A lot of upkeep goes into owning and running a horse farm. While maintenance can help preserve your farm and infrastructure, nothing lasts forever. When it’s finally time to replace important parts of your farm’s infrastructure, like your fence, you have a lot of information to consider. What are the best fence materials for a horse farm? How durable is each supposedly “best” material? How visible is each fence option? Keep reading to learn the answers to these questions as you consider what material is best for your farm and animals.
Wooden Fences
Wooden fences are one of the most popular choices for horse farms. They’re aesthetically pleasing to us and visible to the horses, meaning no one runs into the barrier by mistake. You can build them high to prevent jumping and leave space at the bottom so that feet and hooves have somewhere to go.
They also have a fair amount of give, so if a horse accidentally runs into it, the fence likely wouldn’t injure the animal (although they may get their fair share of splinters). Unfortunately, wooden fences require a lot of maintenance, so using this material for large areas may not be cost-effective or efficient.
Plastic Lumber Fences
Plastic lumber fences offer almost the same aesthetics and visibility as wooden fences while providing other key benefits. This type of fence can improve your horse’s quality of life through its sturdy construction and can improve your quality of life since it’s so easy to maintain.
Plastic lumber is water-resistant, unlike traditional wood, which means if it gets dirty, all you have to do is hose it off to restore it to its former glory. However, depending on your budget, you may find this type of fence to be out of your price range.
Electric Fences
While electric fences offer nothing for aesthetics, they are quite effective in keeping your horses in. They’re durable, as horses will never chew or lean against them, but they aren’t easily visible, which can be an issue for panicked horses.
It’s best to combine an electric fence with a more visible type of fence so that you can increase the durability of one and the visibility of the other. Luckily, electric fences are affordable, so combining two fence types is realistic.
The best fence materials for a horse farm are wood and plastic lumber. Adding an electric fence to one of these fencing materials increases the visibility of the electric wire and the durability of whatever material you choose to mix it with. No matter what fence material you choose, make sure it’s something you can easily keep up as you run your farm.
