Horse jumps for kids

[AnnaFiveTowns]

My dd has just started to do some small jumps on her pony. We've set up a mini course of 3 jumps in the field and she's really enjoying it.

I've bought one plastic jump pole that I've propped on two buckets and then we've lined up a row of old metal milk urns. My DH said he'd make some more using wooden poles.

I'm just a bit concerned that if she falls off (as she did today!) she might land on one of the harder jumps - the wooden pole or milk urns - and hurt herself. For this reason, I'd rather use the plastic poles but they're so expensive.

Does anyone have any advice / an opinion on? Do you think the harder jumps are more dangerous?

Has she got a body protector? Even if she doesn't wear it all the time, when she's jumping it's a good idea - won't hurt half as much if she lands on her ribs/back! If poles are wooden get rounded not rectangular - no sharp edges! Good luck

I personally think a good plastic pole is just as painful to land on as a wooden one - if your going to fall you will fall - you don't always hurt yourself.

Body protector should go without saying but if she hasn't got one get one and let her crack on!

Make jumps fairly easy to knock down while she is learning, round edges, not to challenging and she will have a ball!

Thanks for your advice.

She always wears a body protector and the wooden poles would be the rounded ones; they cost about a tenner each rather than 40 quid each for the plastic ones, although they're obviously heavier to move around.

I'll ask DH to get cracking then!

A friend went to the local recycling shop and bought a huge piece of foam rubber which was hacked into blocks and wrapped in plastic sheeting and is now the "wall" - it's terrific for training ponies to jump spooky 'solid' showjumps but totally safe to hit/fall on!

Show jumps are designed to have poles that get knocked over and are less likely to cause a serious accident. I have seen someone break a rib on a pole of the ground but accidents can always happen when we ride.

If you start creating cross country jumps, I.e. Jumps without cup holders and poles that can fall, be very very careful. Jumps that are not secured to the ground, even tiny ones, can cause a rotational fall which is one of the worst kind of falls there is. The BHS run course builders courses if you really get into it. You can make great jumps from tyres, tree trunks etc but you need to know what you are doing.

Wooden poles hurt no more than plastic ones - promise

If you want some budget poles you can go to a timber merchant and order some 10ft deer fencing poles. They cost about £4.50 and the timber merchant will usually cut the point off. I tend to leave someone the point on as they are squared and it means they balance better on cones :)

Cheap tin of white acrylic paint to seal and you're good to go :) I avoid painting in gloss as the finish never seems to be any good. If I'm doing fancy jumps I use emulsion and then finish with a couple of coats of wood varnish

we have milk crates and car tyres in the fields that we are lucky enough to use, like car tyres threaded along a pole?

Please make sure you secure the milk crates/car tyre jumps. This is exactly the sort of jump that can cause a rotational fall and it does not need to be high to be lethal.

If you can stomach it there is a horrific video of a young woman dying from a rotational fall over an unsecured fence on YouTube. Her family have left it on there to help inform others of the dangers. The jump is small, the approach is good, the horse is competent, just bad luck he leaves a front leg behind which causes the whole jump to roll forwards, which trips up the horse which rotates on the rider.

Thanks for all your replies.

Booboostoo, I'm not quite sure what you mean? What I've now done is propped two cross poles using a small bale of hay at each side. I've also put a pole going straight across propped up by a tyre, flat on its side, at each end. I'm pretty sure the poles are fairly easy to knock down. Do these sound ok?

The horse is likely to hit the middle part of the jump, I.e. poles, tyres, tree trunk. In SJ the poles fall easily from the wings, in XC if the jump is poorly constructed or unsecured instead of falling straight down the middle part or the entire jump rolls forward. The horse's front legs are then caught up in the jump so the horse somersaults and lands on the rider. Such accidents are the most dangerous for the rider.

Frangible pins reduce this risk and are used in competitions. When the horse hits the jump, the pin breaks and the middle part of the jump drops down like a pole. Obviously frangible pins are not available to most of us but there are other ways to make secure XC jumps.

My rule is, either place poles in cups or learn about XC course building. Something like this may be helpful.
www.britishhorse.com/products/design-and-build-a-cross-country-course--2nd-ed--2.html

I am not a course designer so can't really comment but I would be a bit worried about the fence you describe. If you have created a solid fence whose middle will not collapse you need to make sure it is secured to the ground when 500kilos plus of horse hits it.

Thanks for that booboo, good info

Yes, thanks for that - I shall bear it in mind. My neighbour has offered to lend me her jump wings (she rarely jumps now) so I might take her up on the offer, just to be on the safe side.

Booboo - she's hardly building solid xc jumps. She's talking about poles, not solid jumps.

Anna - we need cute pics of them jumping them :)

Well, to be fair, I did say that I'd also got some old milk urns turned on their side. I've removed them now - I hadn't seen the danger there at all, so I'm grateful for the info.

I'm going to get some wooden poles, as well as the plastic ones I've already bought, and put them on my neighbour's wings.

I'll do my best to get some pics!

Anna - if you want budget poles don't forget my idea of deer fence posts :)