Anyone want to vote on a horse fence color?

[HollowOfWisps]

My husband says that I need to make up my mind soon so we can order the new fencing, but I keep going back and forth on the color. Anyone want to vote on if we should go with white or black? It will be a 4 rail fence and the same type as pictured below.

Option 1: White 4 rail fence

Option 2: Black 4 Rail Fence

 

[Chicks in VA]

white rails look fashionable for about a year then you have to power wash them to look good again black fencing is better for looks over longer periods of time


and for other reasons i would go with black

 

[Isadora]

Black.

 

[Summer_]

Black fencing. White gets stained over time, its more noticeable than on black.

 

[WingsysRoost]

I do really like the look of a white fence, but, as others have mentioned, any dirt or stains will be much more visible than they would be on the black fencing. The black looks great and will not show dirt as much, so I also vote for black.

 

[1cock2hens]

White all day! It makes things look crisp and neat, just paint with a high gloss oil and it will last. Farms can get dingy and rough looking, I feel like the black would just make everything look blah. It's nice for pics but doesn't pop like white. Plus white can be seen easier at night, I wouldn't want one of my animals getting spooked at night than slamming into an invisible black fence.

 

[littledog]

How they're constructed makes way more of a difference than the color alone. Your first picture, vinyl posts with pre-drilled holes to accept vinyl rails, is expensive crap in my opinion. They're nice-looking when you first install them, but don't hold up after a couple years of UV rays, horses pushing against them, the ground freezing, thawing, getting waterlogged, etc. My neighbor put up one like that, and it wasn't even a year before the posts were leaning or bending every which way, causing the whole fence to look really bad, and creating gaps between the rails so the animals could get out easily if they pushed against it.
The second picture looks better, it looks like treated wood round fence posts painted white, with some sort of flexible poly rail product attached to it. The only thing that's objectionable here, is that the rail product is attached all around the outside of the posts. Rails should always be attached to the inside, so that animals can't detach it by pushing against it. For continuous, flexible rail products that have to be stretched, such as wire field or no-climb fencing, or creative options like surplus fire hose, the best way to attach it is to brace the corner posts and roll the fencing on the outside of those, but roll it back to attach to the inside of the posts along the straight stretches.
The third picture looks just like the first, except black, so just as bad.
The last picture looks the best, in my opinion. Treated wooden round fence posts, painted black, with the rails attached to the inside.
The only reason color makes a difference depends on the climate where you live. Where I live here in the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain and moisture hangs around forever, so white vinyl fences quickly get green and algae-covered, and water soaking into the ground for most of the year moves fence posts that are too light or not concreted in. There's a reason why all the fancy racehorse places in Kentucky have black fences - there's less maintenance needed, plus they're easier to see if there's snow.

For safe and long-lasting fencing no matter where you live:
Use heavy posts, like treated wood, not those light vinyl things. Put 1/3 of the posts under ground, like if you want a 4-foot fence, use 6-foot posts and bury them 2-feet deep.
Always concrete the corner posts and brace them. If you live in a place where the ground is mostly sand or silt, concrete all your posts, but if you live where it's rocky or gravelly you can get away with only concreting the corners and using metal T-posts in between. Distance between posts should be closer (like 8 feet apart) in sandy or silty ground, you can get away with up to 16 feet in more solid ground. Whatever you use for rails, install them on the inside, except for a continuous, stretchable product, which goes around the outside of the corner posts, then inside all the other posts.
Once you have a safe, solid and long-lasting fence, paint it whatever color you want!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

How they're constructed makes way more of a difference than the color alone. Your first picture, vinyl posts with pre-drilled holes to accept vinyl rails, is expensive crap in my opinion. They're nice-looking when you first install them, but don't hold up after a couple years of UV rays, horses pushing against them, the ground freezing, thawing, getting waterlogged, etc. My neighbor put up one like that, and it wasn't even a year before the posts were leaning or bending every which way, causing the whole fence to look really bad, and creating gaps between the rails so the animals could get out easily if they pushed against it.
The second picture looks better, it looks like treated wood round fence posts painted white, with some sort of flexible poly rail product attached to it. The only thing that's objectionable here, is that the rail product is attached all around the outside of the posts. Rails should always be attached to the inside, so that animals can't detach it by pushing against it. For continuous, flexible rail products that have to be stretched, such as wire field or no-climb fencing, or creative options like surplus fire hose, the best way to attach it is to brace the corner posts and roll the fencing on the outside of those, but roll it back to attach to the inside of the posts along the straight stretches.
The third picture looks just like the first, except black, so just as bad.
The last picture looks the best, in my opinion. Treated wooden round fence posts, painted black, with the rails attached to the inside.
The only reason color makes a difference depends on the climate where you live. Where I live here in the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain and moisture hangs around forever, so white vinyl fences quickly get green and algae-covered, and water soaking into the ground for most of the year moves fence posts that are too light or not concreted in. There's a reason why all the fancy racehorse places in Kentucky have black fences - there's less maintenance needed, plus they're easier to see if there's snow.

For safe and long-lasting fencing no matter where you live:
Use heavy posts, like treated wood, not those light vinyl things. Put 1/3 of the posts under ground, like if you want a 4-foot fence, use 6-foot posts and bury them 2-feet deep.
Always concrete the corner posts and brace them. If you live in a place where the ground is mostly sand or silt, concrete all your posts, but if you live where it's rocky or gravelly you can get away with only concreting the corners and using metal T-posts in between. Distance between posts should be closer (like 8 feet apart) in sandy or silty ground, you can get away with up to 16 feet in more solid ground. Whatever you use for rails, install them on the inside, except for a continuous, stretchable product, which goes around the outside of the corner posts, then inside all the other posts.
Once you have a safe, solid and long-lasting fence, paint it whatever color you want!

I have installed many fences and I completely agree. On all of our prior fencing installations we have only ever used the round pressure treated wood posts, cemented corner posts that are cross braced and have the correct tensioners based on the fencing used. 10-12 ft post spacing (clay soil) and the fencing is installed on the inside of the fence posts. The pictures were customer pictures and I only included them to show the Centaur Cenflex rail product that we will be using. The construction and other materials used in the pictures are to be disregarded. The product itself cannot be painted and the color ordered is what you get for the entire life of the fence which is why I made this post to help me decide on the color.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

I would do black fencing white fencing you would have to either repaint a lot or wash a lot.

 

[littledog]

If it's all about color, go for white if you live in a warm, dry climate, and go for black if you get a lot of snow or a lot of moisture.