[QUOTE=The Centaurian;8923059]
I always thought it would be cool to fence 10 or 12 feet inside the property line, leaving a track to ride around the property on the outside of the pasture. I don’t compete, but I’m sort of a nerd for conditioning. Yes, you would want to have a lot of land to make this happen![/QUOTE]
Ideas for the strip between your property line and your no-climb horse fence.
Exercise Track: Like The Cenaurian said, it would be cool to have. If you make an exercise track, you won’t have to put up a boundary fence at all, you could rely on the neighbors, or you could put up something to just give a visual mark of your property boundary like an occasional tree or a few shrubs, or you could mark your boundary with something which provides a more substantial physical boundary, like a simple inexpensive fence. You have options for the boundary fence and could do it in phases.
Privacy Space: One of the nice things about having a large property is that it separates you from your neighbors, visually, physically, and sometimes it can even be enough space to mitigate noise issues. You could plant the space with shrubs and/or trees which would give you a lot of privacy. We planted Spearmint Junipers (a tree with a max height of 20’) around part of our suburban property when we moved in. They were on sale at a nursery for some really cheap price, like $2 each in gallon pots, and they grew rapidly. Now we have a complete screen which is beautiful, drought tolerant, non shedding (important with a pool) and fragrant. I can even trim branches and sprigs for arrangements at Christmas. We planted them five feet apart, but eight would have been better because they got quite thick and bushy.
Garden: You could plant something pretty like roses, or something useful like raspberries. Long areas are great for cutting beds, like long rows of asiatic lilies, roses, tulips, etc. Massed plantings are gorgeous. You could have a series of vegetable beds, both in-ground and raised beds and combine that with no-maintenance native plants farther down the fence line. Of course the garden might need to have a sturdy boundary fence to keep out the neighbors cows, since the neighbors may not step up and do what they should with fortifying their own fences. Unfair, but reality.
Fun Space: There are several games which require long, narrow spaces like Horseshoes, Shuffleboard, putting greens. If your property layout lends itself to making some outdoor rooms anywhere along that narrow space, you could incorporate some of those ideas.
The space doesn’t have to be a long, straight, narrow space. It could be wedge-shaped, or widen at some points along the length to create useful spaces, either to accomplish an aesthetic landscaping effect or to accommodate an area for some other purpose, like the aforementioned games or gardens.
