Pvc “Hot Wire” Holders Keep Horses From Damaging Fences
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Pvc conduit “insulator arms” up to 4 ft. long can be used to hold a single strand of electric fence wire to keep horses from damaging wooden fences. The long arms are a great improvement over commercial long-shank insulators that put the “hot” wire 5 or 6 in. away from the fence, because the animals can’t get close enough to chew or rub on wood rails. They also eliminate the need for multiple wires.
The longer arms are especially helpful for fences that serve two horse pens, where adjacent horses might try to bite or kick one another. A hot wire on both sides, well away from the wooden fence, keeps the horses at a safe distance from each other.
We have several horse pens on our ranch, and for many years we nailed 2 by 4’s to fence posts at strategic intervals and then nailed insulators to them to position the hot wire a couple feet from the fence. It worked fairly well, but over time the boards often came loose from the posts or drooped down because the nails didn’t hold.
In recent years we’ve been replacing the boards with pvc conduit which is lighter weight, more durable, and less likely to sag. We cut the conduit into 2 to 4-ft. lengths, or longer if one piece serves two pens, with a portion sticking out from each side of the fence. Holes are drilled through the end of the conduit, and any kind of braided electric fence “wire” can be threaded through them after the conduit is attached to the fence.
The conduit sections can be quickly screwed to the posts using a cordless drill. If you ever want to remove or re-position the conduit, the screws can be just as quickly removed.
We also use this idea to protect the net-wire fence around our calf and yearling pastures. It keeps cattle from rubbing on and stretching the netting.
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Pvc “Hot Wire” Holders Keep Horses From Damaging Fences FENCING Miscellaneous Pvc conduit “insulator arms” up to 4 ft long can be used to hold a single strand of electric fence wire to keep horses from damaging wooden fences The long arms are a great improvement over commercial long-shank insulators that put the “hot” wire 5 or 6 in away from the fence because the animals can’t get close enough to chew or rub on wood rails They also eliminate the need for multiple wires The longer arms are especially helpful for fences that serve two horse pens where adjacent horses might try to bite or kick one another A hot wire on both sides well away from the wooden fence keeps the horses at a safe distance from each other We have several horse pens on our ranch and for many years we nailed 2 by 4’s to fence posts at strategic intervals and then nailed insulators to them to position the hot wire a couple feet from the fence It worked fairly well but over time the boards often came loose from the posts or drooped down because the nails didn’t hold In recent years we’ve been replacing the boards with pvc conduit which is lighter weight more durable and less likely to sag We cut the conduit into 2 to 4-ft lengths or longer if one piece serves two pens with a portion sticking out from each side of the fence Holes are drilled through the end of the conduit and any kind of braided electric fence “wire” can be threaded through them after the conduit is attached to the fence The conduit sections can be quickly screwed to the posts using a cordless drill If you ever want to remove or re-position the conduit the screws can be just as quickly removed We also use this idea to protect the net-wire fence around our calf and yearling pastures It keeps cattle from rubbing on and stretching the netting
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