Horses are such amazing creatures, and we don’t have to tell you how intelligent they are, you already know! You also know that some are too smart for their own good. Horses will sometimes try any means possible to escape their paddock. Sometimes over, sometimes under, sometimes straight through. From fence to gate, they’ll take it on if they have to.
We believe that a safe horse paddock doesn’t just stop with the fence. It includes the posts, water troughs and very importantly, the safe horse gates. There are so many different gates available today, but many are not suitable for horses.
Why you need safe horse gates
Watching horses run around the paddock you’ll notice they regularly come back to the gate. Sometimes sliding into it stopping mere millimetres away, leaving you cringing at what could have just happened. Horses see the gate as an exit point (obviously). It usually looks different to the rest of the fence, and they are more likely to take on a gate than your Flexible rail fence. Because of this, we felt we had to design a gate that was safe. We needed something to suit all the horses on our property, not just the adult Thoroughbreds but also the foals and other young horses all the way through to the kid’s ponies.
Many gates available are basically farm gates. Large mesh, thinnish frame, low height. Not the best for horses.
There are a few ‘half gates’ that stay high off the ground which appear safer for horses legs however we’ve actually seen a 16.2hh Thoroughbred get down on his knees, and pop underneath and trot happily off with his tail in the air! These types of gates are also easy for foals to duck under, causing stress for mum, bub and owner.
The perfect horse gate
Horse gates need to be high to match the top of your rail fence. Our gates are 1.2m high. The gates also need to be low to ground level to stop them sneaking (or sometimes sliding) underneath. They need to be a solid looking structure but with a smaller mesh to stop those delicate little hooves getting stuck through.
We’ve used our oval rail as the top and bottom of the gate frame to give more strength and to match with a similar width as the flexible rail. The mesh is reinforced with multiple supports throughout with the mesh welded securely in place. Our gates are all hot-dipped galvanized and we have a powder-coated black option.
Our Horse Safe gates are available in 3m, 3.6m and 4.2m and we are able to build to a custom length if required.
We believe our gates really complement our flexible fencing and are just another option to give your horse the best and safest possible option for its paddock.
