Conference noted::equitation

    ON YOUR FENCING, IF YOU CAN PUT TWO STRANDS OF ELECTRIC WIRE INSIDE
    OF YOUR WOODEN FENCING, THIS WILL KEEP THE HORSES FROM REACHING
    OVER AND UNDER, AND IT WILL SAVE MANY REPAIR HOURS!
    IF I WERE TO BUILD ANOTHER BARN I WOULD MAKE IT ALL ONE FLOOR,
    INCLUDING THE STALL SPACE AND STORAGE AREA.  A TWO STORY BARN MAKES
    FOR DIFFICULT LOADING OF HAY AND BAGGED SHAVINGS.  HAY ELEVATORS
    ARE EXPENSIVE AND IF YOU HAVE YOU HAY DELIVERED THERE MAY BE AN
    EXTRA CHARGE FOR THE ELEVATOR TO LOAD IT.  IT DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH
    STORAGE YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED.  LET US KNOW WHAT YOU DECIDE.

    We did our own fencing (2 acre pasture) with post and board.  We
    got the specially treated yellow pine (comes out green because of
    the chemicals used to preserve it).  It costs a lot but is guaranteed
    not to rot for 30 years.  I think the company's name was Everdure.
    I can probably find more info if you're interested.
    
    Our boards are 1" by 4" (I'm pretty sure, they are not big enough
    to be 6") and are rough cut.  We haven't had any problem with horses
    breaking any boards, but they do chew occasionally (mostly in winter).
    
    I have heard that both locust and cedar are good for posts, but
    don't know anyone who has any experience with them.  Our posts are
    also 8' with 3 1/2' to 4' in the ground.  They are half round about
    6"-8" in diameter.  The corner and gate posts are full rounds with
    a little sawed off two sides to make flat surfaces for nailing.
    For corners and gates you need larger posts or posts every 4 feet
    on both sides and some bracing, too.
    
    Our boards are also treated pine.  Are you considering oak so the
    horse will have a harder time trying to chew it?  (Our horses are
    beavers, I mean Morgans, too.)  Ours don't usually chew the fence
    due to the treatment on it, unless they're super bored (like in
    the winter when they've eaten all their hay).  We will probably
    need to replace one or two boards this year for the first time in
    6 years.
    
    As for the barn - make sure it has good ventilation in the stalls!
    We put in windows (the windows slide open and are between the siding
    and inside wall when open) so the horses can look out and they love
    them.  If you do have windows put wire on the inside so the horses
    can't break them when they're closed.  We did our own wiring in
    the barn off of the house electricity with a separate fuse box in
    the barn.  We buried the cable between the house and the barn. 
    We had a water line run from the house to the barn and have a
    self-draining hydrant faucet in the barn (it drains the water out
    of the vertical part of the pipe so it ends up 6 feet below the
    ground and doesn't freeze up in the pipe).  We have had some problems
    with the hydrant in very cold winters since it needs to be adjusted
    exactly right for it to drain completely.  We can't use heat tapes
    on the pipes since we have dogs running loose in the barn.
    
    If you need more info on what we did, send me mail.  Also there
    is a back issue of EQUUS on fencing that you might like to read.
    If I can find out which issue it is, I'll let you know.
    
    						Jan
    

    I was going to recommend the article on fencing that Jan mentioned;
    it covers types of material, spacing between boards, height of fence,
    etc.  Well worth looking for.
    
    We use locust posts, which are increasingly hard to find.  Our source
    is a lumber mill in southern Maryland.  The posts are bought green,
    4x4x8 and sunk about 3 feet.  Mares and foals generally need four
    boards wih a fence 4' high; stallions need five boards, 5' high.
    Gate posts should be at least 6x6x8's.
    
    Oak boards are great if you buy and use them while they're green.
    Make sure to nail them completely before they dry out, otherwise
    they turn to iron!  One one fence, we made the mistake of nailing
    only one nail per end of board, just to get the fence marked and
    up.  We put off putting in the rest of the nails for a few weeks
    and had to re-drill the holes through the oak boards to the posts.
    Drilling the nail holes saves a lot of time and bent nails, by the
    way.
    
    With our two-stall barn, we also had a line run from the house for
    water with a frost-free hydrant installed.  The electricity comes
    from the main barn, with a line also buried in the water-line trench.
    We built a bump-out behind the barn (the barn is built inside the
    paddocks; the bumpout extends into the roadway.).  That means that
    when hay and grain are delivered, some can be put inside the new
    barn without having to interfere with the horses or enter the paddocks
    at all.  I can feed the horses from the bumpout -- which has a raised
    pine floor -- and water them from there, too.  I plan to put a
    door/gate in the fence which separates the inside of the stalls
    from the bumpout, so I don't have to climb the fence anymore.
    
    Your county extension offfice should have plans for barns and fence,
    too.
    
   Horses don't seem to chew the oak fence boards, but they certainly
    like pine!  Good luck!!
    
    Merrie
    

    I forgot to mention that the oak boards we use are rough-cut 1x6x8's
    and cost 90 cents per.  Using 16' boards is faster, but the cost
    is generally $3 per 16' board.  The locust posts we get are $3 each.
    
    I don't know what to use when my supply runs out.  I definitely
    won't use oak post, though.  I helped pull down a 5-year-old fence
    last weekend; all the oak posts had rotted off.
    
    Merrie

    Just a curiosity question, but a few years ago I read an article
    that stated that pressure-treated wood should never be used as animal
    fencing because it was toxic if chewed or burned. Is this still
    the case?
    
    Thanks in advance for any info!
    
    Linda

    Pressure-treated wood can be toxic if ingested in sufficient amounts.
    So can creosote which many of us use to preserve wood exposed to
    the weather and/or discourage chewing.  
    
    The question is which is more toxic--
    
    A horse filling his stomach or gut full of splinters from chewing
    un-treated pine (and risking complications from impactions or
    perforations)  OR  
    
    a horse chewing briefly on treated wood (until he decides it doesn't
    taste very good.)  
    
    All forms of fencing have many advantages and disadvantages and
    must be evaluated according to what each individual feels is most
    important.  (I knew someone who put up barbed wire because he thought
    the horses would learn to stay away from the fence if they got hurt
    enough.)

    I have metal wire fencing (panel type) with electric on the top,
    the only place I have wood are the rails at the gate openings, the
    horses chew on the untreated boards but won't even look at the 
    pressure treated oak  that I have.
    
    -M-
    

re: Fence Posts

The farmers in South Carolina swear by cedar posts.  If you cut the
posts about 9 feet and use a chainsaw to sharpen the point, you
can drive them with a pile driver attachment on your tractor. It 
makes for short work (I drove 50 posts in under an hour)! 

They seem to be nearly indestructible. This summer it took me all 
afternoon to remove 6 posts that had been in the ground for fifteen
years. They were in such good shape that I recently reused them on 
another section of fence.

Down here, cedar is plentiful and you can normally make a deal with 
a local farmer to cut and haul your own (sometimes as cheap as $.75 a post).
I used them round, but some people square the faces as they nail up the
boards.

re: Water and Electric

If you are on well water, you should consider running your well pump
on an entirely separate circuit from your barn/house lights. Many
people pu it on a separate meter, that way, you can use the well pump 
in the event of a fire.

/ed

    I am in the process of changing our current fencing from keystone
    2 X 4 (a type of wire fence) to 4" X 4" pressure treated post and
    1" X 6" X 16' rails covered over again with the Keystone to prevent
    chewing.  Turns out that it is only chew resistant since the horses
    spend most of their time trying to chew through the little 2" by
    4" holes in the wire.  The wire solves the problem of horses sticking
    their heads through the rails.  I could have used electric wire,
    but when you have nearly a mile of fence and six feet of snow a
    year you learn quickly that wet snow will quickly short out the
    fence.  Besides I already had all that Keystone.  For my money 16'
    rails are the best because when you stagger them every eight feet,
    you don't have some many weak spots for the wind to take your nails
    out for you.  I've had 2" X 6" rough cut before and find that the
    1" X 6" rough cut is just as durable and lots easier to work with.
    They both break pretty easily when kicked or rammed.  Its probably
    best to go looking at other peoples fences first, especially if
    they are falling down.  Then you can see where the weak spots are!
    
    Bob