Temporary Paddocks, Corrals, and Exercise Areas.
Most of these small portable electric horse fences are designed for placement inside much larger areas enclosed by a permanent barrier or electric fence–or else for use with horses well-accustomed to the arrangement. That’s because these fences impose a mostly psychological barrier, and horses that surmount this barrier and escape from an equine area can pose a hazard to people, vehicles, and themselves.
Kits: We offer complete portable paddocks/corrals that are easy to set up, take down, and carry from place to place. To find out more see About Our Portable Paddocks and Corrals
Component Parts
Posts: These need to be pretty minimal, because the electric fence must be easy to transport, install, and break down. The posts best-suited to this task are plastic step-in posts (like product 09-14), which have the added advantage (because they have slots and holes for conductors) of requiring no insulators. Spacing of the posts should not exceed 40 feet. Some modest tension is needed to keep the polyconductor in the fence from sagging, and that will cause all of the corner, end, and gate posts to tilt–either to one side or inward. Counter this tilt using tent pegs (product 09-105) connected to the posts with twine such as product 09-105A
Chargers: Choose a charger suited to the size of the enclosure. If the fenced-in area is very small (surrounding a paddock for example) use a low-key battery-powered charger such as 01-23 to avoid panicking a horse. If the enclosure is larger and you feel the need for a more powerful charger to keep horses apart or deal with horses unaccustomed to the fence, consider chargers like 01-26 (a battery-powered charger a little stronger than 01-23) or 01-15 (a solar-powered charger that is quite a lot stronger). Keep a fence tester like 04-02 on hand to make sure the system is working properly. (Regardless of the charger’s power, which is measured in joules, there should be 4,000 volts on the line.)
Insulators: No insulators are needed with the plastic step-in posts. Splicing buckles like 18-21 should be used to establish sufficient tension to keep the conductor from sagging, and tent pegs (as described above) should be used to keep the step-in posts upright.
Conductors: Visibility is definitely important, so use half-inch or three-quarter-inch polytape (products 02-49 thru 02-55).
Grounding: If grounding conditions are good (at least marginally moist ground, no frozen ground) use one or two lines of actively charged conductor and a little portable ground rod (06-01C). More complex arrangements able to cope with dry or frozen ground are described in the Ground Rods section of the catalog.
