I'm considering moving and I looked at property today that might have barbed-wire enclosing the (small) pasture.  I wasn't able to go out and get a good look (too muddy today). The realtor is going to find out from the owners what kind of fence encloses the back pasture (the front is wood).

 If it is barbed wire, I'm trying to figure out how much it will cost to make the property ok for horses if I do decide to buy it. I already know I'll have to build shelter of some sort (there isn't anything in the pasture currently).  If the fence is barbed wire, I'll have to have it replaced. That can't be cheap -- just having it taken out will be a big job.

 Which brings me to my question: has anyone ever tried running hot tape inside the barbed wire, to keep the horses away from it?  Is that effective? Is that safe?

 I don't have my heart set on this place. The house was really cute, and the wood-fence enclosed part of the back yard is really nice, but it is a little small and has other issues. However, the location is nice and it would be great to have the horses at home, so I am trying to find out how much work I'm going to have to do at the outset. 

If you put hot wire inside the barbed wire you'd need something to hold the hot wire up, a fence post of some kind. I have a friend who runs hot wire from those tee bars: one put in the ground every ten feet or so. You could put them say 6" or a foot inside the barbed wire. I would not hang the hot wire from the same posts from which the barbed wire is hung. I'd also get the barbed wire removed eventually, and if you did it a bit at a time you could do it yourself.

 that's kind of what I had in mind -- coming in about 3-6 ft from the barbed wire and putting posts in to hang the hot wire/tape from ... then eventually having the barbed wire removed.  

 I wasn't sure if that would be safe enough. I'm really tempted to go for this place, but I think I'll have to talk them down several thousand (it's overpriced anyway) in order to be able to afford all of the changes I'd have to make. 

 Yes, you can do that -- if you know your horses respect hot tape and you keep it hot.  How big are the pastures?  Obviously, the smaller the area is, the more often your horses will "encounter" the fence.

Your most secure bet is to run hot tape on capped t-posts -- which can be a pain to drive in, so expect a serious shoulder workout unless you pay someone.  And do it when the ground is soft.  But it can work very well, my horse lived in that for about a year before wooden fencing was built and had no issues as long as as the fence was kept tight and hot.  He would run through saggy bits, even if they shocked him, so you need to keep it all in good repair.

Fencing is very very expensive, so if you really want to fence it, find out the acreage you'd want fenced, get a quote from a couple fencing contractors with the type of fence you would want (wood, vinyl, diamond mesh, whatever) and then use that as your bargaining chip.  It's going to be more than a couple thousand, I'd bet, unless it's just a very small place.  Don't sell your horse's safety short, as I'm sure you will not!  :-)  

You might also be able to use lack of shelter to drive the price down -- in many states it is techincally illegal (although not always enforced) to have livestock with shelter, so that could be a bargaining chip.

If it was me, this is exactly the way I'd go about it -- drive price down, run hot tape inside the wire, then slowly remove wire and replace with appropriate fencing.  Good luck!

ETA -- Remember you, the buyer have ALL the power.  Don't let emotional want drive you.  Be prepared to walk away, but leave an offer on the table.  You'd be surprised how often buyers change their mind about an offer they initially reject, especially in today's crappy market.  Don't let anyone (even yourself) rush you into a deal until you are fully satisfied.

 when I first got my horses their initial pen was free of barbed wire but the cow pasture that they would eventually be going into did have 2 strands of barbed wire with a hot electric wire on top.  We have a strong fencer that runs through (it sends out about 4J/pulse) and the horse's pen was powered by the same fencer.

When we went to put the horse's out in the pasture we hadn't gotten all of the barbed wire out (115 acres fenced with 2 strands of barbed and for each strand we pulled we had to replace and everything is fenced on stone walls and goes through the woods).

Needless to say we never had an issue with barbed wire and the horses during the time we were pulling it out, but what we did was we put flagging tape on the electric wire both in the pasture and in the pen.  The horses hit that hot wire only once, and they never even went near the fence when they were out in the pasture.  We've had one of the horses for 10 years now and she has only ever touched that fence that one time, she always has about 3 feet between herself and the fence at all times.

Personally I'd pull the barbed wire myself if I were you.  It's hard work, but I know from experience that it will break and I've worked with others who've pulled wire and they don't always pick up all the pieces and will leave wire in the field.

 

 

lovmyhorses:

Personally I'd pull the barbed wire myself if I were you.  It's hard work, but I know from experience that it will break and I've worked with others who've pulled wire and they don't always pick up all the pieces and will leave wire in the field.

I definitely agree with this statement.

I wouldn't let my horses within 20 feet of barbed wire. I've personally seen what it can do to even to the calmest of horses. I know there are a lot of horses kept in barbed wire without a problem, but I can't help but feel it's a ticking time bomb. IMHO it's just not worth the risk.

We have a one-acre paddock fenced with ElectroBraid. We used wood posts set in concrete, but they have other posts you can atach it to which would be easier to install. There are several nice things about it: the posts can be set 50 feet apart so it taks less time to install & you don't have a lot of fencing blocking your view of your horses; if a horse runs into it, it stretches and comes back into its regular shape; when it's gotten weighted down with snow, it popped right back up when the snow either fell off or was brushed off. I cannot say enough good things about this fencing. We installed it ourselves in early 2006 and have not had to tighten it or do anything else to it. The hardest part was digging post holes throught the hardpan which is under our clay soil and pounding in the three 6-foot long ground rods. Also, it was one of the least expensive types of fencing, and I did A LOT of research.

 

 That's great to know.  I'll keep the electrobraid wire in mind.

 The fencing around the property ended up being square wire -- which I still don't love, but at least it isn't barbed wire.

 In the end, I opted to pass on the house -- there was very little closet space, no barn, no run-in shed, no garage,  and it wasn't going to shorten my commute at all. So, there were just too many negatives even though it was really cute. I would have needed to build the run-in shed and a storage shed before I could even move in, and then eventually a barn.

lauralite:

In the end, I opted to pass on the house -- there was very little closet space, no barn, no run-in shed, no garage,  and it wasn't going to shorten my commute at all. So, there were just too many negatives even though it was really cute. I would have needed to build the run-in shed and a storage shed before I could even move in, and then eventually a barn.

That just means there's a better place waiting for you! Keep in mind that the good thing about buying a property with no existing horse facilities... you can build exactly what you want, where you want it. That's what we had to keep in mind. We now have the perfect barn & paddock right where we can see the horses from the house. The bad thing is it's a bit of a hassle having to keep your horses someplace else while you're building the run-in or barn. Good Luck in your hunt! Oh,one more thing; if you do find a place with an existing out-buildings, check to see if they are permitted. In some areas, a lack of building permit can create a hassle, and sometimes the lender will back out of the deal or require that the building be torn down.