Well, the title gave it away, but I’m pleased to announce the fencing around my barn is up! This is an exciting day for me, and therefore, the world.
Putting up the second part wasn’t hard. Perhaps it was just the humidity and heat the first time around that made it so miserable. This time, it was super easy. I did discover that to get the maximum tightness, attach the fence to the post in the middle first. The top and bottom stands do not stretch, so it’s hard to get them tight. Starting with the middle makes it as tight as it can be when doing this solo without a fence stretcher. Too bad I figured this out on the NEXT TO LAST POST. At least the end looks good. The fence isn’t done, of course. It needs a top rail, and then the posts cut down to line up. It will look way better then, but I don’t feel it’s a priority right now. The point of the fence was to keep the horses away from the barn so I can repair it, and that has been accomplished. Looking good can wait until the barn has been fixed and ready for winter |
Sadly, there was a casualty. I finished the basic install of the fence, and I needed to remove all the sharp edges. The horses could really hurt themselves on those. They are really sharp! Well, I decided to demonstrate how sharp they are, and was casually flailing my hand about, as I often do, and sliced my finger open. Definitely the worst injury I’ve had in a while. It didn’t hurt that bad, it felt like a scratch, but looking down on it I could see it was pretty deep. I only abandoned my task because of the amazing amount of blood that came pouring out (although if it had been in a horse accessable area, probably would have kept going.) I did not go get stitches, and instead just wrapped it up tight. Vet wrap is just so useful. The cut is over the joint so it does keep splitting open when I rewrap it, but seems to be healing. I think I’ll be okay. Later, I went down and hammered that sharp end into oblivion (aka, bent it back into the post). It had it coming. |
Nicole
I’m VERY impressed. So far I’ve only installed very, very temporary fencing for my chickens and it’s just welded wire propped up by t-posts and held on by baling twine. I hate it, but I know it’s coming down in a bit, so can’t spare the time to do something better.
I’m not sure how permanently you intend for this fence to stay up, but if you’d like it to stick around a while, I suggest adding a high tension wire to the bottom of the no-climb. If your horses paw (or stamp on it), the bottom will get stretched and loose and curl up, and a high tension line there will help you keep everything vertical. I’m pretty sure your round posts will support it just fine!
Courtney
NicoleAw, thanks! I’m glad I made the leap and did it, I was a little worried.
Now that you mention it, I know what you mean, I’ve seen the curl before. Not a great look haha. That’s really smart, I’ll have to look into that.