7 Mistakes in Fence Installation that Affects Horse Racing Training

Fencing is a major capital investment that you should carefully and thoroughly plan before you start installation. It keeps the horses on your property, avoiding any nuisances like stray dogs and other animals.

It’s considered the most important facet in ensuring the safety of the horses you’re training for horse racing. It ensures that the horses don’t get loose or tangled up and minimizes the chances of injuries.

You must aim to have well-constructed and installed fences as they provide your horses’ safety and enhance your facility’s aesthetics. You must always remember not to repeat the seven mistakes other horse owners made when they installed fences, as these affect your horse racing training.

Wrong Location

It’s critical that you choose the right location when identifying the areas where you’ll be installing the fences.

You must ensure that the soil base in the area is stable and firm enough to be used in the different horse racing training you’ll be conducting and for the fences to stand. The nature of the ground will determine how much effort you’ll need to exert to create that firm and stable base you need.

If the soil base isn’t firm and stable enough, you can crush some stones. You’ll need to roll these stones to create the maximum hardness and evenness you need. In addition, determining if the location to frost heave is vital since you’ll have an additional workload of extra heavy rolling the area to keep the soil base in place.

Knowing this information about the location and addressing the concerns immediately will improve your Fanduel horse betting experience. Your horses will have a much safer and more suitable area for horse racing training since the fences are correctly standing, and the soil base is firm.

Late Drainage Installation

Another mistake others made when installing their fences was installing the drainage last. There will be more changes to the areas where you’ll be installing the fences since there are areas where your drainage cannot be placed.

You also don’t want to create a pond at the center of the horse racing training ground. Delaying the installation of drainage will increase the likelihood of this. It will soften the ground base and cause the training ground unsuitable for horse racing training and for the fences to fall due to the soft soil.

Poor Fence Layout

Having a good fence layout is essential. You need to have a well-thought and well-planned layout of how you’ll place your fences and where the horse racing training and relaxation areas will be.

You must ensure enough space for both the training and relaxation area. It would be dangerous for the horses if you just hastily crafted a layout that doesn’t consider specific details like the size of the gate, specific locations of the equipment needed, the height of the fence, and the type of fence to be used.

Wrong Type of Fence

There are a lot of types of fences that you can choose from. Just ensure that the fence you choose to use is highly visible, durable, safe for the horses, and resistant to damage caused by the horses. Among the popular choices are:

Rail or Plank Fence – This type of fence is very popular among horse owners since they’re highly visible and relatively safe. The horse will not get badly hurt when it runs into this fence.
Rubber Fence – It’s very soft and can yield easily. It prevents injuries to horses when they hit it but would need a lot of maintenance to keep them tight since they sag with time, and the horses tend to nibble at it.
Electric Fence – This type of fence is highly visible and effective in controlling horses.
Mesh Wire Fence – It’s firm and durable. It’s considered the safest fence for horses since it has no exposed sharp wire ends that cut the horse’s skin and tiny openings that prevent hooves from being caught.

Not Enough Height

Since horses are very athletic and are likely to jump over the fences, you must ensure that the fences you’ve installed and constructed are high enough. The minimum recommended height for horse fences is 60 inches.

At this height, most horses will deter horses from jumping and reduce the temptation of people to get horses undergoing horse racing training. Anything lower than 60 inches would not be enough to keep the horses in place and safe.

Wrong Paint Color

Scientific discoveries have discovered that horses cannot see the color orange. You must ensure that you don’t paint the fences with that color. You must choose the colors like white, neon yellow, or light blue, as research shows that horses can see them.

It lessens the chances of horses hitting the fences, keeping them free from injuries that can derail their horse racing training.

Skimping the Budget

Using shortcuts in fence installation might save you money, but there’s also a big chance that it will be costlier to fix than doing it correctly. You should never skimp your budget or materials to install the fences.

Some alternatives, like using local materials and knowledge, would yield a reliable fence without you having to skimp.

Final Thoughts

By looking at the seven mistakes that previous horse owners made when they installed their fences, you have now learned what you should avoid and what you should do. You must take time to plan and craft the process and material you’ll use to install the fences. You must ensure that such a fence is safe, functional, and suitable for horse racing training.