Arenas - hedge or post and rail?

We have a tall thick hedge around ours. It's thick enough so that you can't see through it, and high enough so that you can't see over it when mounted.

Advantages are that it acts as a great windbreak, and offers privacy, but some horses are more spooky in our arena than in other arenas.
There's a carpark and a yard over the hedge, and there have been a number of incidents in the school caused by horses spooking at sudden noises from behind the hedge.
 
I worked in a yard in Italy years ago, and when I got there the school was just kick boards. We used to have riding school horses and ponies going awol back to their stables all the time, although it was great for us schooling the event horses. They later moved the school and put a post and rail fence in!

We have bordered our drive to the stables with trees that are related to leylandi but don't grow so tall. They don't drop leaves, and provide shelter without growing too tall. I used to hire an arena that had hedge/trees round it, and they were really tall. The owner used to strim as high as he could, but you ended up getting swiped in the face now and again!
 
Can anyone recommend suitable hedging/shrubs to put round an arena. Ive been racking my brain.
I dont like beech as it is very rustly when it is brown and most other obvious choices are toxic. Is it likely that horses would eat laurel bushes?
 
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