There are pros and cons to every fence and a lot depends on where you are at as to how long a fence will last and wether it will work or not. Horses do a lot of damage to fencing - reaching thru, over and rubbing on it if they can. Hot wire is wonderful!
For your case, I would recommend hot wire on the inside of the fence to keep your horses from rubbing on it. In our ground here in NC, even if you cement them in, posts move due to weather, horses rubbing and leaning on the fences. We are constantly maintaining even "maintenance free" fencing!
I have used chainlink - but have larger ponies - and they've used it for a "hammock" (literally - I came out to the barn to find a 450 lb Shetland mare suspended off the ground in a section of chain link she'd been rubbing on the day before - quite funny but difficult to get her out of. We'd installed it stapled to wood posts and with about 6" of empty space below the bottom - which allowed it to twist and "grab" her when she leaned into it and rubbed). We got her out, re-tightened the fencing and went about our business. She must have liked the "hammock" effect - as it wasn't the last time we found her like that! Eventually she damaged/stretched all the chain link in every 10' section between wooden posts! But we weren't in a position at the time to run a hot wire (no electric and couldn't keep the solar charges working well enough) and we used the chain link as long as we could (someone else had been throwing it away, so we had no cost in it other than time to install - most of it had never been used before we put it up). Our other larger ponies and horses have destroyed chainlink fencing that was around the dogs' area - by reaching over and rubbing on it. Bends the top rail and permanently bends the chainlink. It's both time consuming and costly to replace.
Over 40 + years of having big horses, ponies and the "B" sized minis in different states and on different properties and layouts, we've had the most injuries with wood fencing - board, privacy, post & rail and wooden stall doors and diamond meshed "horse fence". Don't know why - just the way it's worked for us. Those are supposed to be the prettiest and the safest for horses! We've had the least injuries with the 16' stock type panels and those were caused by a large pony that "climbed" the fence and a yearling horse that was running and tried to jump a panel section and didn't make it. We've also only had one major injury with hi-tensile wire (used since 1997), though we were told that that was the worst fencing you could have for horses (especially minis).
Honestly the best fence we've ever had? A 4 strand smooth wire fence (before hi-tensile wire) that had a 5th strand of cattle barb wire at the top! It was a perimeter fence only at first and then we changed two of the interior fences to the same - and then had NO problems for almost the whole 10 years we lived there! The snow didn't shift the posts or the wires - though one winter they were able to cross the top of the 5' fence when the drifts packed down hard over the top of the fence. The smallest "horse" over the 10 years we had that property, though, was a 12 hh pony/horse X and the new born foals when we had them. We also only had up to 12 full size horses at one time on that property - right at 5 acres. Not sure if that made a difference... But then again, in Colorado, we had the least bug/rubbing/skin/chewing issues and good quality hay available even when we didn't have good pasture... In MT, the "skeeters" were almost big enough to pick up a mini foal and fly off with it! Deer were more of a problem with all fencing than the ponies/horses were for the 2 years I was up there. Mom and Dad had/have (step Dad pass in 03, Mom sold the last horse in 06, i think) a variety of fencing on their current 20 acres (since 1994) - ranging from smooth wire (barbless, not hi-tensile), 16' stock panels and post and rail - both the inserted kind and the kinds made from bolting a landscaping timber (partially rounded 4x4) to a post, and privacy (not around the horse areas). Since they dealt with deer and range horses, they've never used a board for fencing around the horses - too easy to break even the 2x4s. The original fencing from 1994 still stands!
I can't stand having a horse or pony reach thru a fence as "Breaker" is doing in that one photo. Drives me crazy with broken boards, rubbed out manes, shifted posts and chewed on equipment (or people). I've also had ponies get stuck when putting their heads thru a fence or a gate, some have caused injuries. Someday, I will have all fencing and gates that have no way for a horse to put it's head thru anywhere!
My best way of describing fencing here in NC -
- no matter what you choose or use,
'Ain't no such thing as "maintenance free" either!