Fancy imported fence from the United States of America

You're gonna laugh. I keep giggling about it, it's so ironic. What is the commonest fence in America? Tposts, right? The universal cheap, easy to install, metal horse containers.

Like I said, they're unheard of here. I've driven all over Germany and never seen a single Tpost bordering a horse field. Wood posts are cheaper. Oak trees are everywhere, and the city turns the old oaks into fence posts and practically gives them away.

Well, we're not completely satisfied with the professionalism of the horse sport firm we've hired to install our fence. They keep upselling us, despite our money limit, and they keep making little mistakes.

I was paging through a competing horse firm's catalog and came to a page marked "NEW!" with Tposts on it. Fresh from America, I assume. They go into great detail describing what a Tpost is, because, you know, only Americans don't need to be told this.

I looked at the price, yes, higher than wood, but supposedly easier. I admit, I've never put in a Tpost in my life, but if they're really easy.....hey, look, we could do our ENTIRE 5 acres and have tons of money left for nice things like a flat screen TV, trips to Chicago and Oregon this summer, and that new bedroom set we've been drooling over at Ikea.

My man took a look at the Tposts, and asked me if they're safe. I answered, "Capped, yes. Uncapped, no."

The catalog lists the caps right there. As if it's not an option to think about buying a Tpost without a cap.

My man called the original company we've hired and said, "We're thinking about putting in our own fence using Tposts. We's still like you to do our wooden rail fence at the barn and road." The owner gave us some trouble. Normal electric rope/tape is UNSAFE for horses, he said. Horses get caught in it and strangle themselves TO DEATH. Good grief, really? Tposts don't last, they don't stand up long.

My man took his comments very seriously. He started to research Tposts online. As expected, in Germany, Google returns NOTHING for Tposts. They just don't exist here.

I whined, "Go to the American Google!" Voila, results. Lots. My man spent some time reading. I did too, on another computer. Are they really safe? Do horses die on electric woven rope?

My man seemed convinced that they're a low risk fence, but doesn't believe they'll hold up here. It's very wet. I said "They rust, but even rusted, they'll be standing in the ground long after we're dead and buried in the ground."

I sound like I really want my Tpost fence, don't I? Crazy.

My man suggested I go out there and get some Tposts, and try putting them in and we'll see what happens. Exciting.

Well, I got a tour of "Rick Steve's West Germany" (*lol*) as I drove out to Nuembrecht to get them. At one point, I crossed a street called Humperdink Street. (HUMPERDINK!!!) Hours later, I arrived and the owner came to greet me. I introduced myself as the American. I told him we'd installed his Pasture Tent last summer and it held up very well, even with the large amount of snow we had this year. I said, "Show me your Tposts."

He said he just got a big order in, and people are slowly discovering them, and ordering large quantities. He handed me the caps and ring insulators for 20 posts, and a 500 meter roll of the highest quality electric rope they have. I don't want to mess around with cheap electric components!

The boys put the Tposts in my tiny car, after they lined my car with cardboard to protect it. I sat in the owner's office with him and told him our story, and how much money his competitor would like from us. He shook his head. He said if we need an entire pallet of Tposts, he'll give us a good deal, and his installer works or 8 Euros per hour, if we need help. (The competitor was 40 Euros per hour, plus 70 an hour for the posthole ramming machine.) I told him we're city folk, and we've never built a fence, and we want to get something safe, and we may need help. I noted that the entire time we were there, he didn't try to upsell us. He didn't push us into the fancier posts, or costlier solutions. I wanted to hug him for that. He didnt' have a Tpost ramming pole on hand, so he loaned me a big rubber hammer (really, really big) to use. He didn't charge me for that.

I raced home with my American fence posts and American fence accessories. Tposts are heavy, I can only carry 3 at a time. We ordered the mid-height ones, cuz I can't imagine switching from Arabs to Warmbloods. I think what we have are 170 cm?

Anyway, I took the measuring tape and lay it out on the hang's fenceline. I got a little step stool cuz I'm so short, the Tposts are taller than I am. I took my first post and stepped on the little spike thingy near the bottom to get it into the ground. It went in very easily. After I did this 20 times, every 3 meters (I started with 2.5 meters but that seemed ridiculously close together), I got on my little ladder and took that enormous hammer and tapped the top a few times. They went straight into the ground, as deep as I chose. I did a bit deeper than necessary, cuz the ground is so soft. Getting down, each post comes up to my nose. (Just under 5 feet.) It seemed quite tall to me...

I couldn't believe how easy it was. My man called and I said "A child could put up this fence." He was worried, "Well, how easy will the fence come down, if they go in so easily?" I honestly don't know.

I found it funny that the instructions on the packages for the ring insulators and caps are in English, French, and Spanish. Just like home! No German instructions at all. On each pack, it said, "Made in America" with a little American flag.

I lost daylight and was putting up the electric rope in pitch blackness.

Now I have to admit something to you. I get scared down there in the dark. Down by the ponds, with no one around, only big treacherous looking stumps, blacker than the black of night, every little noise makes my heart race. I had to talk to myself, and do my special "Bear warning whistle" to make myself stay down there. Just look at the fence, don't look behind you at the blackberry brambles that could hide anything!

I wonder if I'll always be nervous at night on my own land. Probably not if Baasha were there. How silly to be scared of the dark!

Thankfully the white rope is very thinck (6 mm) and easy to work with even at night.

I did two strands, cuz it seems adequate. 28 inches from the ground, and then 24 inches between the two strands. I read somewhere that this is correct.

I see now that the first post is not perfectly straight, from me pulling hundreds of meters of rope through the rings on it. We'll definitely be buying the stabilizing sets for corners and starting points.

Today my man and I will go out there and he'll decide whether we'll be doing most of our field in Tposts. He doesn't trust them yet. I see that our ground is so soft, we should buy the tallest ones, and drive them in further. That hammer works perfectly for that.

Now, isn't it ironic, that I've got an American fence? And really, it's practically one of a kind around these parts?!

I took a few pics in the total darkness - I'll get better ones today.

We'll see what happens. I still want my wooden fence by the road and barn, but we think we have found a contractor who will work for much less than the original firm, wouldn't that be nice? Patience is so hard for me, but this is how I learn.