The best horse fencing is the kind your horse can see, can't get tangled in, and won't lean through when the grass looks better on the other side. What that means for your paddock depends on your horses, your ground and your budget, and Hampshire has plenty of variety in all three.
Most paddocks around Winchester and the wider county use one of three systems, or a combination. Each has a place, and the right choice often comes down to how your horses behave rather than how the fence looks.
Whatever you choose, avoid barbed wire and standard sheep or pig netting. Barbed wire causes serious lacerations, and the large square holes in stock netting are just the right size to trap a hoof when a horse paws or rolls near the line.
Hampshire soils vary a lot over short distances, and that affects how posts go in and how long they last. On the chalk downland around Winchester, Alresford and Stockbridge, flints can make driving posts slow work and sometimes mean pre-drilling or digging in by hand. The upside is good drainage, so treated posts tend to last well.
In the Test and Itchen valleys, and on the heavier clay in the north of the county around Basingstoke and Hook, ground stays wet for much of the winter. Posts in wet clay rot faster at ground level and can loosen as the soil swells and shrinks. Longer posts, set deeper, and a good quality pressure treatment rated for ground contact make a real difference here. Poached gateways are also worth planning for, as that is where fences take the most punishment.
For most horses a fence of around 1.2m to 1.4m is sensible, with taller or more athletic horses and stallions needing more. The bottom rail or wire should sit roughly 400mm to 500mm off the ground: high enough to avoid trapping a leg, low enough to stop a foal or small pony rolling underneath.
Posts for post and rail are usually set around 1.8m to 2.4m apart, with rails fixed on the inside face of the posts so a horse leaning on them pushes against the post rather than popping nails. It is a small detail that saves a lot of repairs.
Check what is growing along the line too. Sycamore seeds and seedlings cause atypical myopathy, a real risk in autumn in parts of the county, and yew, oak and ragwort along hedges should be kept out of reach. A line of electric tape set inside an existing hedge is a common and effective fix.
Prices depend heavily on access, ground conditions, length of run and how much old fencing needs removing, so treat any figures as rough guidance. As a broad range, supplied and fitted post and rail often falls somewhere around £25 to £50 per metre, horse mesh with a top rail can be similar or higher, and a well installed permanent electric system is usually a fraction of that.
A common and cost effective approach is to use post and rail or mesh on road frontages and neighbouring boundaries, then electric fencing to divide the interior. A tape offset on the inside of timber rails also stops horses chewing and leaning, which extends the life of the timber considerably.
Fences under 2m generally do not need planning permission, dropping to 1m next to a road used by vehicles. If your land sits within the New Forest or South Downs National Parks, a conservation area, or near a listed building, check with the relevant planning authority first, as extra controls can apply. Keeping horses purely for grazing is usually treated differently from recreational or livery use, so if you are converting land to paddocks it is worth a quick conversation with Winchester City Council or your local authority before you start.
Yes, when it uses wide, visible tape or braid and a correctly sized energiser. Avoid thin wire horses cannot see, and check the voltage regularly, especially in wet Hampshire winters when vegetation touching the line can drain it.
Good quality pressure treated timber typically lasts 15 to 20 years or more, though posts in wet clay or valley ground may need attention sooner. Keeping horses from chewing and leaning on the rails helps a lot.
Often, but hedges have gaps and may contain poisonous plants such as yew or sycamore. Most owners run a line of electric tape or a post and rail fence inside the hedge to keep horses back from it.
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