| Electric Fencing was once snubbed in | | | | |
| equestrian circles, everyone who owned | | | | 2. Mains Electricity. 220volts at 13 Amps |
| livestock knew the basic rules: cattle and | | | | and constant, unpleasant and regularly causes |
| sheep needed to be enclosed with electric | | | | death. This sting (similar to a "thwack" |
| wire, but horses were best off behind wood | | | | from a riding crop) is what creates a |
| planks, poles or hedges. | | | | psychological barrier within the horses' |
| | | | brain and it is this that fences him in. A |
| With the advancements and improvement in | | | | fence with a voltage as low as 2000v is able |
| fencing technology in the last ten years that | | | | to create an impression with a horse but this |
| has outstripped the advances made in the | | | | low voltage has other problems. Horses' |
| previous sixty years and electric fences now | | | | hooves and hair are insulators so 2000v will |
| come in forms well suited for horse | | | | be insufficient to bridge the insulated gap |
| properties. Modern electric fencing is the | | | | (particularly if they are on dry ground). A |
| choice of a growing number of horse owners, | | | | more viable fence should run at 6000 volts to |
| who find that many of the old opinions that | | | | be effective. Never a truer word may be |
| electric fencing is painful, unsafe, | | | | spoken than "A wimpy energizer gives you a |
| expensive, unreliable and difficult to | | | | wimpy fence. " This higher voltage will also |
| maintain no longer hold true. | | | | help when the horse has a blanket (a very |
| | | | good insulator) but a second line aimed at |
| Safety is, of course, the foremost concern in | | | | the horse's knees will be as effective. |
| any fencing decision. But what exactly | | | | Utilizing bait on the line will also work. |
| constitutes a safe fence can become a | | | | |
| complicated question. In some ways, horses | | | | Animals are the intended targets of electric |
| are among the easiest animals to keep secure: | | | | fences, but anything else that comes in |
| They are domesticated and if they have all | | | | contact with both fence and ground will also |
| the food, water, shelter and friends they | | | | complete the circuit. Very small items, such |
| want, most horses aren't likely to try to | | | | as blades of grass, allow a small amount of |
| leave their familiar surroundings. On the | | | | power to travel from the fence to the ground |
| other hand, horses do pose a special | | | | rods, but not enough to drain the entire |
| challenge if it is determined to escape. | | | | system. (It's like a series of small holes in |
| Short of a 3 metre concrete wall, not much | | | | the fire hose, allowing some of the water to |
| will hold in a 500 kilogram animal. You are | | | | dribble away, weakening the pressure in the |
| after all simply fencing in the desire, the | | | | hose.) A short circuit occurs when an object, |
| stronger the desire to escape - the more | | | | such as wire wrapped around a tree, reroutes |
| robust the fence needs to be. | | | | all of the power from the fence to the ground |
| | | | system. Beyond the tree limb, the charge left |
| Electric fences offer a barrier that horses | | | | in the fence is reduced to zero. |
| respect, and the newer materials and erecting | | | | |
| techniques that are lighter in construction | | | | There are a wide range of conductors |
| and designed to flex and have a "rubber band" | | | | available in the form of standard wire, poly |
| effect. This ability to yield under pressure | | | | twine, tape or rope. The first consideration |
| is less likely to injure a kamikaze pilot or | | | | should always be the conductivity. This is |
| aspiring Houdini. | | | | quoted in Ohms/meter (or O/m). The lower this |
| | | | figure is the better and should be linked to |
| Touch an electric fence once and you'll know | | | | the price of the material. |
| why it works; it's not very painful -- about | | | | |
| the equivalent of a sharp slap -- but you'll | | | | To illustrate this; an energiser capable of |
| remember the sensation, and you won't want to | | | | charging a fence 9 klm long with a conductor |
| repeat it anytime soon. Horses, too, learn | | | | of 0.15 Ohms/meter will only be able to |
| quickly that they don't want to bump, push | | | | charge a fence 1.5klm long when using a 10 |
| through, rub against or chew on electric | | | | Ohm/meter conductor. |
| fences. | | | | |
| | | | The physical format of the conductor you |
| The energizer is designed to send out a high | | | | select is up to personal preference. There is |
| voltage (about 6000volts), low amperage | | | | a lot of research results available showing |
| (about 100 milliamps) electrical charge for a | | | | that horses see different materials just as |
| very limited time (about 1/300th. of a | | | | well as if not better than humans. In my |
| second.) every second. Compare this with two | | | | experience they are fenced in by plain wire |
| other scenarios. | | | | just as well as tape and although there are |
| | | | reports of horses getting torn to shreds by |
| 1. Static Electricity when you touch a door, | | | | wire these are more likely to be with barbed |
| about 20000 volts at 5 milliamps for 1 | | | | wire. (Barbed wire should not be used with |
| 1000th. of a second, unpleasant but not | | | | electricity. |
| lasting. | | | | |