What to consider!
A beautiful horse should be surrounded by a quality fence to protect it and keep it safe from injury. The fence should be strong and sturdy to survive the attentions of the horse for example: biting, chewing, kicking, pawing, barging etc.
So what should you consider when selecting a fence for a horse paddock?
- Safety and suitability for the stock
- Temperament of the animals
- Number of horses or ponies to be kept in an area
- High enough to deter jumping over
- Low enough (at the bottom) to prevent foals or small ponies from rolling or crawling underneath.
- Strong enough to prevent break throughs.
- Discouraging to animals to lean through to graze .
- Reflect the surrounding landscape and environment.
- Financial budget for the project.
A suitable fencing option is a post and rail wooden fence
The posts should be sturdy and set sufficiently into the ground to prevent them from falling or leaning over.
The treated or creosoted softwood rails should be strong and well maintained placed 1.5m – 3m apart with ideally three or four rails, with the lower rail running approx. 0.5m above ground level. Generally, for horses, a fence should be 1.08m – 1.38m high and for ponies 1m – 1.3m high.
Planning permission* should be considered and a general rule of thumb of when it is required for fences is when they are over;
- 1m in height when adjacent to a highway
- 2m anywhere else
A timber fence is generally considered the safest and if they are well-constructed and maintained they will last a good length of time.
