Jack Leg / Buck n' Rail fence?
There have been a lot of developments around these parts in the last few weeks. I've been so busy, that in fact I haven't had much time to day dream about in-utero foals or broodmares. This is a good problem to have!
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| For Sale! |
- House Update:Our house is fully on the market, and we've had several
showings already. Which is shocking as it is the middle of winter; we've
had a week of arctic weather, followed up by massive amounts of perfect
skiing powder. Oh wait, the showings all happened before that...but none
the less three showings already, so that is encouraging at least.
- Land Update:We have been seriously looking a piece of property that is not yet on the market. We were introduced to the land owners through a friend. It's a beauty. 4+ acres, year round creek, flat, mature trees, and....1/4 mile to one of the best k-8 schools (public!) in our district. The asking price is a little high, but it is almost impossible to find property like this. So we are currently trying to figure out if with the higher priced land we can still build the house, shop, barn & fencing. Right now everything is a numbers game. So, very exciting stuff!
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| Photo by Peggy W |
That brings me to my big question.
We are looking at building jack leg (buck and rail) fencing, mostly because it
is half the cost of building post & rail...which is what I was always
planning to build. Also, we are building a farm house with natural wood siding and it will go well with the architecture. I don't have an issue with the look or function of the fence, and in Montana it is suiting. However, I have no personal experience with jack leg fencing and
horses, so I was wonder what you all think in terms of horse safety? It would
be the perimeter fencing for the pasture (3-acres for 2 horses & 1 pony),
as well as the arena fencing. The dry lot area would have hot tape along the
top rail as well. Curious to hear the pros (aside from cheap and easy build)
and cons!
•Renee•
I know nothing about the fencing, but I am really, really excited for you.
ReplyDeleteThat fencing is excellent, but normally runs more expensive then post and rail, so you must have a special area? You will still need to string it with electric fence still to ensure the horses don't push on it. I would ensure the installers are professionals and check out some of their work if you can.
ReplyDeleteAlso - keep in mind wood siding on your house will bring your home insurance costs up.
Thanks T! We will have to put in a call to some fence contractors and ask about the price, although we would be building the fence ourselves. We were just going off what is supposedly "common knowledge" for our area. It could be way off! Hubs of course thinks we could just drive up to public land and harvest our own rails from dead trees. I think that sounds like more work than it is worth!
DeleteI'm so excited for you that things are moving forward! I know nothing about that type of fencing (in fact I had no idea there was a name for it, although I have seen it before).... but to me it looks like it would be way too easy for a horse to get a leg caught in it.... I guess if they did it's possible they would just pull one rail loose and everything would be fine, but I also can't help thinking worse case scenario and envisioning broken legs. However keep in mind I don't know anything about it...it's just speculation.
ReplyDelete