Build a Horse Jump
Building a horse jump means constructing a jumpable obstacle from the ready-made components. The main components are wings and poles, and there are numerous different designs, from professional purpose-built designs to makeshift. Other types of components include fillers and water trays.
Contents
Steps
Basic Construction
- Check your equipment. You need to make sure that each article has no nails or sharp pieces protruding outwards, and is sturdy and undamaged. Equipment should include only safe obstacles, such as pre-built jumps, cavaletti, etc. You should use old tires, buckets, bales or anything that can hold up a jump bar. Remember that the jump you construct for training should be safe and come down easily if the horse should hit it.
- Lay a pole on the ground in the position that you want the jump to be.
- Place the wings on either side of the pole. If they are makeshift, you may have to position them forward of the pole and slightly closer together so the pole overlaps by a couple of inches.
- Line up another set of wings directly behind the first wings, if you want a spread. If the wings are not identical, it can be difficult to line them up accurately with the first jumps. In this case, use another pole to measure the correct distance between the wings.
- Attach the cups to the wings at the required height. Do not add more cups then you will be using. Not all types of wings have cups and some that do aren’t removable.
- Position the poles and other components depending on the type of jump you want. You can keep the pole you use to measure the distances between wings, where it is as a ground-line or use it to construct the jump.
Types of Fence
- Decide on what you want to make, you might like to read about a few of the typical jump designs and styles so you can decide what would best suit your riding.
- A Cross Rail: This is a type of upright fence. The jump is made with two poles, each with one side resting on the ground so they form a cross at the centre. It can be used to improve straightness as it encourages the horse to jump in the centre of the jump and are therefore useful as the first element of a spread or combination. It makes the horse want to jump in the center and it helps get your horse ready!
- Ascending Oxer (Staircase): This is a type of spread fence. This is can be double or treble bar, with need 2 and 3 pairs of wings respectively. On each pair of wings, an upright fence is constructed. The bar(s) in front must be lower than the one behind it. This is a nice jump for the horse as it follows the shape of the jumps. This jump must only be jumped one way as it has a false ground line the other way.
- Pyramid (Tiger trap): This is a type of spread fence. This will have 3 or 5 wing set closely together. On each pair of wings, an upright fence is constructed. The middle bar must be the highest and the bars either side ascending or descending similar to the ascending oxer. This is a nice jump for the horse as it follows the shape of the jumps.
- Upright (Vertical): This is a type of upright fence. This consists of a jump with a vertical bar along the top. If the jump is very low, only one pole is needed, other poles under the top one will fill in the gap and make in jump look more solid. These jumps may or may not have a pole as a ground line.
- True Parallel (Square Oxer): This is a type of spread fence. This has two or more pairs of wings. On each pair of wings, an upright fence is constructed.
- Combinations: These can be doubles, trebles, or quadruples. They are a set of two, three or four jumps respectively, set a few strides apart, more than three strides. They can include any of the other jumps.
Distances for Combinations
- Measure the distance between jumps in a combination in strides. Each horse's stride will be different. If you don't know your horses stride you can use {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} for a horse and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} for a pony.
- Measure your own stride and pace the distance from the middle of one fence to the middle of another. You can measure the distance with a tape measure if you prefer.
Adding Other Components/Ground Poles/Fake Wings
- Put a pole on the ground in front of the jump to make a ground line. Horses look at jumps from the ground up, so a ground line helps the horse work out where the jump is.
- Lean a pole against the wing to make false wings. If necessary, you can bring the end of the pole forward. Proper wide wings help guide the horse into the jump and avoid running out (the horse going around the jump instead of over it.) False wings do the same.
- Add Fillers and planks to make the jump look more solid. Colourful fillers also help desensitize the horse to the type of jumps he might see at competition. An old carpet over the jumps can make it look very solid too.
Warnings
- This is best attempted with the help of a qualified instructor.
- Approaching ascending oxers from the wrong direction also creates a false ground line.
- Never put a pole behind the jump, this will create a false ground line and make the horse think that the jump is further back then it really is.
- If you want to jump spreads from both directions it should have a ground line on both sides. However, if you are trying to establish your appropriate landing spot by using a ground pole, ensure that it is set at the take-off point of the stride that follows the landing. This will allow the horse to land before the pole and continue in stride over it.
