North Idaho Dream Ranch

We don't build a lot of barn stalls, but when this customer gave us a call, she needed stalls for an amazing dream barn—one she had dreamed about since she was a little girl.

We looked at several stall designs from Noble and settled on the specific one she chose. We also brought in floor mats and corner feeders to help finish out the stalls.

But the project didn't stop at the barn. It eventually became a three-phase project: the barn and stalls, the barn paddocks out from the stalls, and finally the pasture fencing.

For the paddocks, we talked through doing longer runs versus shorter runs. In the end, they decided the shorter runs would be the better choice—and I'm glad they did.

The barn sits on a pad with the ground sloping away from it. Rather than putting fence all the way down that slope, the smaller paddocks allowed us to keep that area open, green, and grassy.

I love a good fence, but it needs to be done in a tasteful manner to really add the most value to a property.

For the pasture fencing, after some discussion and comparison, our customer settled on black Buckley Steel Board in a four-rail configuration.

The project ended up being about 1,500 feet of fence with quite a bit of detail throughout.

One of the important considerations in North Idaho is getting the posts deep enough to handle frost heave. We typically want fence posts at least 30 inches deep, with gateposts going deeper.

Buckley Steel Board has a nice advantage here because the system is designed to sit at about 54 inches tall while using posts that go more than 40 inches into the ground.

The ground on this property was anything but flat. The front of the pastures also followed the neighboring driveway, which was one long curve, so getting the fence to follow the property correctly took quite a bit of attention.

Some of the post holes were so wet that we had to pump the water out before we could set those posts.

On concrete day, we had a team of about four people plus the concrete truck. Once we got going, we were able to set a lot of posts in a short amount of time and get them plumb, straight, and sitting at the right height.

If you want to read about some of the earlier projects that taught us lessons along the way, see Lacey Avenue Contour & Arena and Rugged Rocky Ranch Near Stites, Idaho.

Then comes the fun part: getting the top line to flow correctly.

This is one of those things that can make or break a quality fence install when it comes to the finished appearance, especially across changing terrain and around curves.

Before the concrete sets, you still have an opportunity to make those finishing adjustments. With a good block, mallet, and a set of trained eyes, you can make the small adjustments that really finish off the fence.

What I really like about this project is that the fence adds so much flavor to the property. The barn, paddocks, pasture, driveway, and existing terrain all had to work together.

The shorter paddocks under the barn lean-to gave the horses defined spaces while allowing the sloping ground beyond the barn to remain open and grassy. Then the four-rail Buckley Steel Board fence continued out along the driveway, providing a strong, clean boundary around the pasture.

Good fencing should serve a purpose, but it should also fit the property. It adds the most value when it's designed and installed in a tasteful way that works with the property rather than simply covering every available space.