Begin With Your Paint's Personal Escape Style
Paint Horses share a breed name, not a temperament. One is a quiet grazer who never touches a fence; the next is herd-bound, clever with his lips, and convinced the grass beyond the gate is better. Start your inspection by listing how your Paint actually behaves: does he lean and rub, paw at gates at feeding time, pace the fence facing his companions, or work at latches? Then walk the perimeter and grade every section against that behaviour, spending your closest attention where his habits and the fence's weaknesses meet.
Fresh hair on a post, a rail polished smooth at hip height, and hoofprints churned along one run are his written report on your fencing. Read it before you decide the line is sound.
Boards, Strands, and Hardware That Can Wound
Work along each board or strand with your eyes at horse height. Cracked boards flex under a hip and splinter when they finally go; replace them rather than sistering a patch over rot. On wire or tape, look for sag between posts, broken filaments in woven strands, and insulators popped off so a live line lies useless against a post. Sight down long runs, because a gentle overall bow is easy to miss standing in the middle of it.
Run a careful check for protruding nail and screw ends, torn metal edges, and broken board stubs on both faces of the fence. A Paint who pushes through a weak stretch can be badly cut by the hardware that held it, so removing sharp projections is both an escape fix and an injury fix.
Gates, Lanes, and the Companion Fence
Test every gate the way it is actually used: lead a horse through in your mind at feeding time, buckets in hand, daylight fading. Does the latch catch one-handed, every time, without lifting the gate by its frame? Sagging gates teach everyone on the property to wire them, prop them, or skip them, so rehang a dragging gate promptly. For the fence that separates your Paint from his companions, double your scrutiny: separation pressure is steady, emotional, and applied at the same posts daily. A second strand or a reinforced section there is worth more than perfection on a quiet back line.
Check lane gates and any gate opening toward a road with particular care, and confirm each has a chain or second fastening in case the main latch is left half-caught in the dark.
Ground Line and Seasonal Changes
Finish at ground level. Pawing at gates digs dips that lower the effective barrier and can trap a hoof; fill and pack them. After storms, walk for fallen branches resting on strands, washouts under the bottom line, and gates left strained by wind. When pastures are rotated or a new horse arrives, repeat the full inspection, because a fence that held a settled herd may not hold one renegotiating its order.
A Photo Record Worth Having Before You Need It
A Paint's markings are a gift for identification, but only if you have photographed them. Capture both sides, his face, and any leg markings while he is clean and standing square, and keep the set current as his coat changes with the seasons. Should he ever push through a stretch you missed, KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System can send a free alert to nearby Circle of Love members, and someone who finds a loose Paint in a lane can message you directly through KinsLe instead of guessing at the nearest barn.