I need feed back on the use of corral panel for a perimeter fense. The fence will eventually be used to hold horses in. I took a look at some at TSC and at a local place that makes then locally. The type i was looking at come in 10 foot sections. I was thinking about linking them together then attaching them to t-post driven 2 to 3 feet into the ground. As far as the corners I was thinkin of using 4 x 4. I have seem them used in my area, people sometimes slip pvc pipe over the t-post and cap them to make it look like a steel pipe. I am forced into not using barb wire due to restriction in my area. Plus I can't afford to have a pipe fence.
Although many people use these tubular steel panels for horses I would highly recommend against it from personal experience. If you do decide to use them anyway make sure you get the kind that are constructed completely of tube stock. Be especially weary of the kind that use sheet metal rail stays as these act as cutting edges if a horse gets tangled up in this fence.
We had a horse turned out in a round pen made of these panels. This was an older extremely docile QH mare. For some reason unknown to us to this day she got tangled up in this fence, freaked out, and took the whole round pen for a 150' walk. Two entire panels of the round pen were a complete twisted wreck. She shaved just about all the fur off all 4 of her legs and had one pretty nasty cut which fortunately turned out to be superficial. We were extremely lucky with this incident, it should have turned out a lot worse than it did. From that day on we will not use that type of fencing and will not let our horses near it.
We currently use wood fencing and are planning to put some off that PVC high tension rail fencing this year. It is supposed to be very safe and moderately priced.
Are you talking about the panels made from steel pipe that hook together at the ends and are free standing? Or the stuff welded up out of round bar stock about as thick as a pencil that looks like regular fencing, just real heavy duty? The latter I believe comes in 10' lengths and would require T posts or some other support. I thought the pipe stuff was supposed to be free standing. You see it used alot in small round corrals. The bar stock stuff is used around here for pigs.
I like corral panels for fencing and rarely have a problem with them. Get the kind for horses that they can easily pull their legs out of and you will have no problems. Personally my favorite are the prieferts. I turn my $60k stud out in one daily and have no fears at all about him.
I think the key word here is "perimeter" Panels around here start at $5.50 a foot, post will come in at least .50 a foot. I would price out woven 2x4 mesh or diamond weave 4' wire with a sight board on top. Not really necessary. [I use 2x6 PVC. NO Chew] Use 4x4 treated posts. This set up is a lot safer with mares and foals, because they tend to bounce off and you have no heads and legs sticking thru. Also the corners are a bear trap if a horse gets cornered in one. Then inside that you can use the panels and move things around as needed. Just my 2 cents worth. bcs
I use corral panels all the time for stall pens, round pen training , perimeter fence and working cattle too......With horses, just make sure you get the kind with square corners at the top...The kind they sell at the TSC stores usually have the rounded corners and are dangerous because a horse can slide down inbetween where they hook together.
Reply With Quote
