Customer Reviews

Fi-Shock HC-100 Portable Paddock

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love portable electric corrals. They are a fantastic option for containing horses while camping, etc. They are easy to use, give your horse some walking around room, don't require a level set-up area, are flexible for size/shape, and are small enough to keep handy in your trailer's tack room. I much prefer using these to portable panels, high-lining, tying to the trailer, etc.

There are many portable corral kits on the market, all very similar with the same kinds of components. (Except the Zareba EZEE, which is a different animal.) So I'll give you a component-by-component rundown on the items in this kit.

CHARGER - This kit comes with a charger that takes 2 D batteries. I was leery of this, having had less-than-stellar performance from a 2D charger in the past. But this one works pretty good, producing a reasonable strength zap with 100 feet of electric tape (with good grounding in damp, solid soil). If your horse is already accustomed to and respectful of electric fencing, this should be sufficient. The charger is easy to use, with the fence and ground terminals clearly marked. The on-off switch is very accessible, and a light and an audible sound tell you when it's on.

ELECTRIC TAPE -- This kit is advertised as coming with 200 feet of ˝" tape. My kit had only 100 feet. 100 feet is enough for one horse. I don't know where they're coming with up the statement `perfect for containing 4-5 horses for short periods of time'. No way, not even close, even if I had received the full 200 feet. Of course, it's easy enough to pick up more electric tape at the farm store. But beware that the more tape you add on, the less zap you'll get from your charger. So I'm not sure if the 2D charger would be strong enough with 200 feet of tape. The tape in this kit comes with a handle pre-installed. It's a nice handle with a good feel to it, but it doesn't connect nicely to the posts. I rigged up an extra little tape loop to hook the handle to.

STEP-IN POSTS - These are my favorite kind of step-in posts. Each post has numerous clips to slide the tape through, so you can set at the right height. It's very quick and easy to insert and remove the tape from the clips, making set-up and take-down easier.

CORNER GUY LINES - This kit comes with some very nice corner guy lines and metal bracing stakes. Honestly, I'll probably never use them. With this style of fence, there usually isn't much (if any) tension on the posts, so I've needed corner guy lines. Why add to set-up and take-down time? But if you prefer to use the corner guy lines, I think you'll like the ones in this kit. They are nice quality adjustable lines, with metal stakes.

WIRES, GROUND ROD, ETC -- Of course this kit contains the necessary wires to connect the charger to the fence, and the charger to ground. The ground rod is a 12" pointed spike. Nothing special here.

CARRYING BAG - Oh my gosh, A+++ for this carrying bag! The bag has one long skinny section for the posts, and a separate snap-off zipper tote for the other components. Within the smaller bag, there are separate compartments and elastic holders for each piece. No more jumble of stuff!!! I love it. (One quibble - one of the step-in posts had pierced the bag during packing or shipping. The bag is made of pretty heavy-duty fabric, but not quite heavy-duty enough to stand up to a pointed spike. And the ends of the bag are not reinforced to avoid this problem.)

All in all, this portable fence kit is about as good as any I've seen and would be a reasonable choice for anyone wanting a camping corral. Just don't expect it to "contain 4-5 horses ", unless you're rotating those horses in and out one at a time.

Although I think this pen is great...I didn't receive the entire roll of polytape..even after calling customer service...and I think the height of the posts is misleading..hence the 3 stars. If I wanted to buy a new energizer and more polytape then it would be great to own, as my review below states:

Easy one-page instructions and everything fits nicely back inside the bag, without struggling...

I needed this portable paddock for my goats because I have a lot of unfenced acreage beyond the barn area. I was worried about the fence being suitable for goats so I called Customer Service...The rep went to a lot of trouble and checked this for me and said it would work fine for goats as well. However, several days later, I called back and spoke to another rep and he said that goats needed much higher voltage. This particular energizer is 3,000 volts and that goats needed 5,000 to 8,000 volts. But he said I could just buy another pulse type energizer and it would work with the tape that I have. I have older, very mellow goats so the 3,000 volts are working so far.

I have different breeds and therefore different heights of goats and one concern was that the clips on the post wouldn't be low enough to the ground for my mixed breed goats but on the post, it has clips all the way down so that the tape can be hung at various heights. However, even though the post is listed as 4ft high, I measured and they are actually 47 1/8 inches tall and after you push the metal tip into the ground, you are left with a height of 38 inches. The tape rests at the bottom of the top clip which holds the tape at 35 inches off the ground. Seems awfully short for horses but I don't know anything about horses either.

The instructions are clear and has helpful diagrams, making it all very easy to put together. I did have problems at the end tying it to the last post. I had to call Customer Service, and the rep said that you CANNOT unroll the whole spool of polytape if you are hanging it to the last post via the spool, which is per the instructions. Since I had already unrolled it to the end, I had to tie the end of the polytape to the post or to the empty spool container, which he said was okay, but then it's not easy to untie that knot.

In lieu of posts, you can hang the guy wire around trees and then slide the electric tape through the loop. Guy wires, which are similar to tent stakes give the posts extra stability, but I saw no need for them at all since the clay soil held the posts very well.

My ground is hard clay but the fence posts sunk in easily, despite that. It had rained within the last week though so it may be different depending on the dryness of the soil. The posts are sturdy, and strong enough to not break with normal use. I did have gravel in some spots which made me have to relocate a few posts, since the tips would not go past them.

There is no mention of the tape being allowed to touch weeds and grass, so I called Customer Service back to find that out. He said that that only a low impedance energizer can be used near grass and this energizer is NOT low impedance. So, I had to mow where I wanted to put the fence to avoid any problems with grounding. Not very practical when out on the road.

Planning the fence was harder than I imagined because I couldn't make a perfect square and I thought I had measured correctly but still fell short of where I wanted the fence to end. I then discovered that I was only given 126 feet of polytape rather than the 200 feet. Doing a trial run of setting the fence up is recommended.

I wanted something that was easy. I'm a small middle-aged female and needed something that wasn't too much trouble so I could move it around without a lot of sweat and tears. This is perfect for my goat situation if they had just sent me the correct length tape. It seems too short for horses but I posted the measurements in case it helped someone who has horses.

This product is both effective and convenient. We were able to assemble it and have it working within 30 minutes. It worked great as a "maternity ward" for our alpaca millay and her new cria. We were able to give them some private time while not feeling as though they were separated from the herd. I highly recommend this product and will have many uses for it in the future! Please view our pictures we have provided in the customer photo section!!

This kit pulls together several standard components rather nicely. I am using it for supplemental grazing of horses, particularly to get small areas that are not permanently enclosed as pasture, but that get overgrown and/or delicious.

I like it. Setup time, once you figure out the components, is about 15 minutes. It has all the pieces to make a very reasonable temporary electric corral - tape, posts, charger, ground, and gate hook.

The 8 step-in posts are fairly standard: they have nice pointy metal stakes at the bottom that make them relatively easy to insert in moist ground. You probably can't get them into rock hard dry ground, but that's not a surprise. There are clips to give you flexibility in the fence height. But - you've probably seen them at the feed store - this kind of post is pretty short and will feel quite short compared to a normal horse fence.

The kit is supposed to come with 200' of 1/2" electric tape. Mine (as a Vine kit) only had 100'. This is enough for one very well behaved horse in a 25x25 square. The tape is not much of a visual barrier, especially with only one strand. This is not a fence I'd trust for a problem horse or for long unattended periods. 200' would be enough for either two strands or to have a 50x50 square and would be a much better value of time spent to grazing time. 50 x 50 is still quite small and the fence is still not substantial. It would be straightforward to add tape, but adding distance also increases the load on the charger.

The product description says 4-5 horses. I would not feel safe doing that. Two quiet horses who know each other well and are already familiar with electric fence, maybe three for very brief periods, if you had the 50 x 50 and were nearby or had a secure outer fence. For grazing, three horses would have the area mowed in just a couple of hours.

The charger - which uses 2 D batteries - has plenty of zap new. I was pleased by how easy it was to work with. It has its own spike, allowing you to set it up away from the fence. The connections are long enough that you can put it out of nose range. The grounding nail was easy to set up and pull out.

I like that it comes with a simple corner bracing system. You can set it up without the corner braces, depending upon how tight you like your fence and how stiff the ground is. But when you need the braces, you're glad to have the option.

The tape comes on a handy small spinning jenny, which is designed to hang on the fence when it is installed. It's a simple thing, and thoughtfully done. It makes it easy to unroll the fence when setting up, and easy to reroll when putting it away. There is no problem doing the whole setup and takedown by yourself.

The hook for the gate isn't quite a match for the brackets on the posts. A little bigger hook, or some sort of metal bracket, would be nice, to give a sense of a more secure latch. Still, you're counting on the fence never being touched, so it's not a big problem.

The bag for the kit is amazing. Everything fits inside beautifully, with thoughtful pockets - even a special pocket for the instructions. It is easy to carry and extremely organized. I was very impressed to see the thought and effort put into the bag, which makes the kit much easier to use and deal with than just a pile of fence parts. The bag is big enough that there is room for extra items in both the long post compartment and the smaller bag section.

This is a very nice and handy kit to have around if you have quiet horses that respect electric fence.

I don't have horses, so I am not using this in the traditional way.

Our backyard is being redone and all the fences are down. With a pool there, though covered, I was concerned about the wanderers etc. So this came in handy and it was so easy to set up.

I haven't owned a portable fence for horses until now, but I am impressed and liking this product very much. Upon opening the package I was happy with the portability of the carrying bag, and shocked at how lightweight and compact this system is. It's a great accessory to throw in the trailer when taking the horses out, or just to have around in the event that we need a temporary corral for a couple horses. Once set up, it won't hold more than two of our horses comfortably. I don't think we'd ever try and manage to get 4 inside like the product advertises!

The instructions were surprisingly simple and it set up easily between myself and my husband working on it. I can see how this would be great to have for other animals as well (such as alpacas), but we only have need for it with the horses and have had success in containing them. The step in posts are fantastically designed, the overall design makes the fence very versatile, setting up easily pretty much anywhere your horse an go.

We're very happy with it's design and portability and will get a lot of good use out of this system, I think!

I am always impressed when someone tries to solve an old problem in a new way. And I have never been happy hobbling my horse - I'd rather she could escape from a dangerous situation, and something unpredictable is far more likely to happen on the trail than at home. Sooo - here we have this device that is compact and weighs only 15 pounds, thus is easy to pack for trail rides. And since it operates on easily-obtainable D cells, no problem being "off the grid".

The Fi-Shock HC-100 Portable Paddock showed up in a nice durable red Cordura nylon case. The long part contains eight molded, reinforced plastic stakes with foot push tabs to make it easy to get the metal spikes at the bottom, into the ground. Their working height seems to be just about 3 feet. Multiple slots allow a variety of configurations in set-up.

A smaller bag attaches to the pole bag with snaps. It contains 100' of conductive tape on a reel (no, I don't know why the product description says 200'), the transformer of nicely molded, durable-looking green plastic, a transformer stand to be tamped into the ground, a shoulder strap, and two D cell batteries which I promptly put in a safer place so they couldn't accidentally contact conductive material and discharge.

This proved easy enough to set up in an area that is clear of tall brush that could cause trouble when contacting the live tape. Properly set up, the paddock's batteries did not drain. Of course I carried extras. I also chose to guy the corners which I am used to with tents. Of course I had to bring extra rope and tent stakes for that purpose. No problem.

This worked... for ONE not-huge horse who is trained to electric fences, so she doesn't challenge them. Sure, any beast of her size could easily break out, but I'd want her to if in danger. No, I can't see how the stated 4 or 5 horses could be contained in this enclosure. But this a viable solution on the trail, for my mare.

Got this to take along on backpacking trips with the horses. It works fine for that purpose, the size is perfect and worked like a charm. The two horses didn't attempt a getaway, at least.

Easy to put up and easy to take down, along with the portability makes this a camping winner!

This is a great temporary fence for 1 or 2 horses. It is kinda unwieldy and you may need a little help setting it up if you are a smallish person but it works great after setup.