Are Electric Fences Healthy for Horses?

After having our house tested for dirty electricity and any other electromagnetic dangers, it spurred me to wonder if enclosing my horses inside an electric fence was creating stress for their physical bodies?

This post is for those of you who understand that all beings have an electromagnetic field – this is hard science. If you yourself are electrohypersensitive (EHS) then you already know a lot about the various forms of electrical and magnetic fields that can negatively, or positively, affect the body.

At the most basic level, we all understand that certain materials ground or neutralize electricity – like rubber, or soil. And we know that certain substances conduct or channel electricity – like water or metal (lightening rods).

So if we have our horses enclosed within an electric fence, are there any possible negative effects to the horses’ health?

Dirty electricity

I asked this question after my own family’s experiments with electrical fields at our house. We hired a consultant who’d been trained by Bau Biologie, along with his experienced electrician. They went through our entire house and found insane levels of dirty electricity in the kitchen (2,000 times higher than the safety limit), and a few other places.

After fixing all the issues in our house, they determined that the biggest problem was coming from our city electricity box. So we called the city and sure enough, their technician had not done a good job with the wiring from the main box to our house, and so they fixed things on their end too. Your city electricity provider will be motivated to fix things at their end because dirty electricity costs them money.

A common problem in houses is the wiring at the plugs is not tight enough. If there are gaps between two wires (that should be twisted tight together) then the electricity can arc or jump between the wires. In our house, all the plugs at waist level or higher were done properly. The plugs near the ground were all poorly done. They explained this was likely because senior electricians don’t want to work down on their knees – so they give that job to the junior electrician, or sometimes just a ‘skilled worker’.

Our bodies have their own voltage

The other test that made a big impression on me, was when he had us stand up, holding a short rod of copper hooked up to his body voltage testing device. He was able to read my body’s electrical field as transmitted through the copper rod with wires leading to his meter. Then he had me lie down on my bed and tested me again. My body tested fine in both positions.

But when we tested my daughter – keep in mind we had unplugged everything in the room – as soon as she lay down on her bed, her body voltage jumped significantly. Now, sleep is a time of rest. You do not want to see high electrical or magnetic activity when you are resting/sleeping! So what was causing the huge increase in electrical voltage in her body?

Remember we established that metal conducts electricity? Well, she did not have metal coils in her natural latex mattress, but as we took a closer look at her wooden bed we discovered that the wooden slats were held in place by a metal ledge that ran the entire perimeter of the bed. We removed the bed frame and put her mattress on the floor in exactly the same spot, and her body voltage stayed nice and low. Wow.

So now you can see why I wondered if enclosing my horses inside an electric fence was creating stress for their physical bodies?

When we look at electric fencing, we need to look at both electrical activity and magnetic activity, because both “electric and magnetic fields are generated by the presence of electricity. The intensity of the fields is high close to the source and usually decreases quickly with distance.”

Read this next section if you want to understand the science, or skip it if you just want the story. The article goes on to say:

“The magnetic field (MF) is generated by electric current (measured in amperes), i.e. by the movement of the electrons. As a result, when a device is on, it creates a magnetic field. When it is turned off, it has no magnetic field. Unlike the electric field, there is no effective and inexpensive screen that can act as a shield against a magnetic field, which can easily cross through matter.

The electric field (EF) is associated with voltage. It is generated by the presence of electrical charges (electrons) and is measured in volts per metre (V/m). Near high-voltage lines, it is generally measured in kilovolts per metre (kV/m). The higher the voltage supplying the equipment, the stronger the electric field. A cable connected to a device that is plugged in generates an electric field even if the device is not turned on. The intensity of an electric field can be substantially reduced by the presence of objects acting as a shield: trees, fences, buildings, etc.”

Okay, so when we look at electric fencing for horses, what are we looking at in terms of amps (magnetic) and volts (electric)? What are these readings and are they likely to affect the horse negatively?

Do electric fences affect horse health?

Here’s some relevant info taken from an electric fence manufacturer:

“Amps are what kills. Voltage gets your attention – it hurts.

Electric fence energisers put out high voltage (around 8,000 volts) this makes a very clear mental imprint that really gets the attention of the target. However they also reduce the deadly amps to a very low amperage of around 120 milliamps (it varies with manufacturers). This is 120/Thousands of an Amp (normal home electricity is 13 Amps). It should not even kill a squirrel.

This output is made safe in two ways, firstly by releasing the flow of electrons from the capacitor in regular pulses of about 1/300th of a second approximately a second apart. The amperage component of the electrical charge is greatly reduced to figures in the range of 15 – 500 milliamps (the majority of units operate in the 100-150 milliamp range).

Warning: In 1991 an accidental fatality occurred when a young child’s head contacted an electrified fence while the child was crawling on wet grass. The fence was correctly installed and functioning properly. The energiser was an approved unit. As a result, we strongly advise against allowing toddlers access to any electrified fences. Also, due to this incident and others, experts now suggest that human contact by an energised wire to the head and neck may be the most dangerous point of contact. We urge all to especially avoid this kind of contact with electric fencing.”

Hmmm… this is not encouraging when the main way that horses explore electric fences (when they don’t know what they are) is with their super-sensitive muzzles. We also have data that the hairs (whiskers) on the muzzle actually function more like a sensory organ – so what capacity is being damaged in the whiskers when they get zapped by an electric fence?

This article also gives some good comparison definitions, and towards the bottom of the page, features a video where the engineer shows you his meter readings as he measures different types of fields (electrical, magnetic and microwave/cell tower) around his town.

But here are the relevant stats for our discussion:

• 5 volts per meter is precautionary for sleeping areas. Electric fences put out 3,000-8,000 volts.
• 1-2 milliGauss (magnetic field) is the precautionary level for human exposure. The only time that an electric fence would radiate a significant magnetic field is when current is flowing through the wire i.e., when there’s something getting shocked by the wire, and even then since the current is limited, the magnetic field would be very weak and have only a very short range (inches).
• Standing near the high voltage power line, it measures 14 milliGauss (magnetic field) and over 1300 volts per meter electrical fields.

Note that there are people living in this same area with the high voltage powerlines. So don’t expect electrical companies, government agencies, your city/town etc to provide you with unbiased data regarding electrical, magnetic, or cellphone radiation fields. It is 100% not in their interest to do so.

Electromagnetic effects on the body

Although we don’t have much safety data on animals and electromagnetic fields, we do know that the human body contains free electrical charges (largely in ion-rich fluids such as blood and lymph) that move in response to forces exerted by charges on, and currents flowing in, nearby power lines. The processes that produce these body currents are called electric and magnetic induction.

The currents induced in the body by magnetic fields are greatest near the periphery of the body and smallest at the center of the body.

Electric field intensity exposure of about 1-10 mv/m in tissues interacts with cells, but has not proved to be harmful. But strong electrical fields do cause harmful effects when their magnitude exceeds stimulation thresholds for neural tissues (central nervous system and brain), muscle, and heart.

A fence, irrigation pipe, pipeline, or electrical distribution line forms a conducting loop when it is grounded at both ends. The earth forms the grounding portion of the loop. Interestingly, if you’ve got high voltage powerlines running above any of these conducting loops, then the magnetic field from the powerline can induce a current to flow in such a loop, if it is oriented parallel to the line.

An interesting perspective on this phenomena is provided by this forum discussion from Australia where someone is wondering whether their animal’s electric fence is disturbing their DSL Internet? The solution was to ensure the electric fence was properly grounded (earthing) and the fence kept in good repair (with no grass etc touching the lines) so the current was not jumping or arcing:

“I know from practical experience of an issue with an electric fence and DSL. On a property north of Melbourne, the fence ran parallel to the underground Telstra cable for over 600 meters. It did indeed cause havoc with the line. Actually, calls to Telstra were helpful and they did send people out to look at the problem. 0In the end the solution was simplicity itself (and has already been mentioned above). Some routine maintenance on the fence and a decent earth point (grounding) fixed it up.”

Would I use electric fencing for my horses?

From all the data above, my personal opinion on using electric fencing for horses is this:

1. Of primary importance is to make sure the entire electric fence is properly grounded. TIP: If you’ve done everything right and your fence is still not working, dig a hole around your grounding rod and pour water into the hole, so it seeps down into the earth around the rod. Remember, water conducts electricity, and if your ground is dry as a bone, it cannot ground the electricity from your fence.

2. Also very important is to make sure the electricity can run cleanly along the lines (you don’t want arcing or dirty electricity); this means regular maintenance to ensure there are no plants or grass stems etc touching the electric wires. Here’s what your electric fence should NOT look like! You can see the vegetation has been stomped down around the wires, but this is not sufficient. You really need a week whacker for something like this:

3. Since the electrical charge is strongest at the wires, I would not use electric fencing to create narrow walking tracks. I would try to leave at least 20′ width between electric wires for the horses to pass towards the middle of the ‘free zone’ if they like.

4. If using electric fencing to create a paddock paradise or walking track, I would make sure I have at least one eating and resting area that does NOT contain any electric fencing. Remember, health is about balance, and allowing horses to choose where they stand, rest, and eat allows their body wisdom to be expressed. Watch your horses and they will show you whether the electric fence is a concern or not. Of course, you must have a non-electric fenced area for them to be able to show you their preference.

I electric-fenced off a large portion of my field every Spring to allow the grass to grow up – you can see what the entire field would have looked like (on the left) if I hadn’t done this:

This is an example of giving horses an electricity-free area so they can choose where to be. This is the section of the field that was electric-fenced (which is why the grass is so high). The barn and paddocks at the back are not in the electric fenced area and they also have slow feeders so there is no food pressure or stress. If this was a permanent setup, then the horses could choose to leave the electric-fenced area and go rest or eat in the barns and paddock whenever they wished. The fencing around the barns is barbwire on wooden posts, or arena panels.

5. If my horse showed any of the known human signs of electromagnetic (EMF) ill effects, then I would remove electric fencing. Or move them to an electricity-free zone for 1-3 months to test and see what happens:

• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Prickling and/or burning skin
• Rashes
• Muscle pain
• Cancer
• Children living within 650 feet of power lines had a 70% greater risk for leukemia than children living 2,000 feet away or more. (British Medical Journal, June, 2005)
• Miscarriage (Epidemiology, 2002 Jan; 13(1):9-20)
• Several studies have identified occupational exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) as a potential risk factor for neuro degenerative disease. (Epidemiology 2003 Jul; 14(4):413-9)

This is a very brief overview on what is actually a huge topic with thousands of pages of data. If you need an expert consultant (for yourself or your horses) then I can highly recommend former silicon valley engineer, Jeromy Johnson.

And as per usual, if you have any thoughts, experiences, or stories to share, please leave them below. You can also comment anonymously if you like – either make up a name or just put “Anon” in the Name slot.