i currently have electric tape fencing, because thats what my horse was used to at her old house. recently she has found ways to push it and stretch it out so its snapping hooks because she leans on it [even though it has an electric current running through it].  we are looking for a more permanent, but easily affordable, and heavy duty fencing. Does anybody have any suggestions?

I think the electric fencing is the most affordable but my first choice is wood post and rail fencing with a strip of electric around the top rail to keep the chewers back.  Looks good, last a long time. 

PVC and vinyl fencing looks fantastic, no maintenance, however it is quite expensive.

First thing I would do, is get a fence tester and make SURE there is a current going through the fence! It might not be grounded well, or the current may be weak.

Other good fencing options for horses are woven wire fencing (make sure it's a good heavy gauge wire; the red top stuff is good) and smooth wire. I have had horses in smooth wire fences for years, and not had any injuries. It is basically barbed wire, without the barbs. Any farm supply store or co-op should carry it. When you use steel posts on the lines and wood posts braced for the corners, it is very cost efficient. I use four or five strands of wire, and if you have a horse that is a leaner (which it sounds like she is), you can either make the fence tall enough that she can't lean over it, or run electric wire or tape along the top. As far as putting up a good fence in a short time for not a whole lot of money, smooth wire is the way to go. Good luck!

I 2nd the test the fence--you'd be suprised - seems like we're always fiddling with ours. good thing we have 2 lines of the barb-less smooth wire with the electric tape on top plus one strand of elec wire in the middle on the main pasture it's 12 acres and took us around a week to do--- well that was weekends/evenings etc...  I had a leaner til we put in another ground you want them to get a good "jolt" so they stay off it, sorry but that IS the idea. :)))     the smooth wire can be put up pretty quick (it is great stuff and no injuries here either) my husband, daughter and I did our lot: around 150 x 200, with metal t-posts,  wood corner posts & 2 gates in 3 days, and that was getting the materials too. we ran 4 strands on the smooth wire and an elec tape on the top for the lot.  keep us posted!! good luck and get a good pair of gloves!! OH JOY!!  one thing too i've found the better the pasture inside the less they want outside...like when i have to keep mine off the hay field--boy they like to watch it grow heheheee

Ditto checking your fence. If she's pushing on it, it's not hot!  Also, the filaments in the hot tape will wear and break over time, especially at the insulators.  That will short out the fence as well as numerous other things.

We have high tensile for our perimeter fence.  While it's not ideal, I can keep it HOT!  I hate a horse that reaches through or leans on the fence.  I have everything cross-divided with electric tape or rope.

thanks for all the suggestions... we check all the wiring in our fence, and found that one had come unhooked, so she hasn't been leaning on it much. Also, we are leaning towards getting the smooth wire fencing for our permanent pasture. THANKS!

Checking the fence is a must.  I have found that for us electric tape works best.  In the summer we use one strand 2ish feet of the ground.  The horses totally respect it (we came home one day and part of it was literally inches of the ground) until it is no longer electric.  However, the current is not nearly as strong when it is very dry so that may be a problem.  In the winter our horses are kept in a 3 strand barbed wire (please don't kill me) fence and a 3 plank wooden fence.  If you build a fence put the planks, wire, etc. on the inside of the posts.  It wrecks less easily when horses lean on it and believe me it is a lot easier on the knees when you ride in it!!

You should definitely look at Electro-Braid fencing too.  That's what I use and I have never had a problem with it.  In fact, I had a 1500 lb. horse bounce off of it and it never lost its tension or snapped or anything. It stands up in the winter and looks pretty good as well.

We have ElectroBraid, too and we love it. Their ad says it's one of the AAEP's favs for safety. Once we got the wood posts in and the ground rods driven in (which took forever because the ground is like a rock) the actual fencing went up in 2 days. That was 2 years ago and we haven't had to do anything to it!

I also like it because from the house it looks like there's no fence there to block my view of the horses! 

"...the current is not nearly as strong when it is very dry so that may be a problem."  DUH! I don't know why that slipped my mind! Yes, if the ground where the grounding rod is, is very dry, it will cut the effectiveness of the current. One (temporary and labor intensive) fix is to pour buckets and buckets of water around the grounding rod, and keep it moist, and that will help the current. I had to do that one very very dry summer. It was a pain!

We're in the Mojave desert and have never had a problem with low current. We have three 6-foot copper ground rods. The ElectroBraid installation manual said the current should be 5,000 volts or better and our readings are constantly in the low to mid 9,000's, even in August-September. It drops to the high 8,000's when it below freezing but I don't know why that is. Hey, I should be gatting paid by ElectroBraid for saying this!! LOL

Maybe it depends on the soil, like metal content?