Drafts and fences - need advice quickly

I am going today to look at a Belgian mare. I have wanted a draft since I was a little kid. Anyway, I've never had a problem with horses not respecting fences. Our wood fences are old and rickety, but it has never once been an issue with my QH or my pasofino. I've been reading threads here though about drafts sitting on gates and crushing them, walking through wire fences, etc.

Am I asking for trouble? Do most drafts present a problem with fences? Am I in for major fence replacement? What should I ask the current owner about this???

Thanks!

The issues I've had have been "accidental" in nature. My geldings are still young and don't really have a sense of space. Consequently they bump into things or try to turn in a small space and knock stuff down. I'm in the process of running a strand of hot tape along the top of my fence just as a precaution even though they have never pressed the perimeter fence.

We have two large drafts at my barn. And we have electric ribbon tape for all the fencing.

One of the drafts plows threw the fence like its nobody's business about once a month. Atleast. The other draft, is fairly new to the barn and respects the fencing. For now at least. =)

Here is a picture of the mare that plows threw the fence..



And in the back, you can kind of see the fence. Its 4 strands of 2' wide strips.

We have the hotwire ribbon fencing, too, around our small pasture. It holds 2 clydesdales, 1 percheron, and 2 shires. They stay far away from it. Part of our pasture has vinyl fencing, so we strung a strand of hotwire along the top cross 'beam'.
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Thanks for your quick replies!!

The area around the barn, about an acre, is electric taped.

My concern is that I like to turn the horses out in the front field - 4 acres of good grass. It just has a barbed wire fence around it. I know, not so great, but the grass is excellent, and I've never had an issue with other horses. Most of the fence is hidden by brush and trees, so the horses tend to just hang out in the grass and eat. I'd really hate to not make that available for a hungry draft.

I'm worried that I'd end up with a mud-hole with little grass right around the barn if that's the only place I can keep her.

I have English Mastiffs (draft dogs!) Their size makes them "bump into things" too, and the tails are like baseball bats! No delicate things on tables at my house!

I guess it totally depends on the horse and what her tendencies are. I'll ask the current owner what her experience with the horse is with respect to fences.

Other comments are sincerely welcome!!

I've done fine with hotwire

Just reinforce it with a strand of hot tape.

Drafties are pretty simple- if there is food in the pasture, they will usually stay in the fence.

If the food is better on the other side of the pasture, nothing will keep them in the fence.

=)

Hot rope and hot tape work just fine for my draftie. It kinda depends on the horse. If you keep them well fed, they shouldn't have any reason to try to plow through the fence.

We have a draft and I don't even have the electric fence on...no issues with my girl....good luck.

I have mostly hot wire around the pasture but right near the barn there is a small paddock make out of split rail. My 17hh belgian cross has broken through a few times but luckily stays in the back yard. Right now we have a length of rebar in the usual spot he goes through alongside the new rail and it seems to have put him off trying to walk through it. It was always the same spot for some reason.