Homemade water trays/spook busting inspiration needed!

montanna

montanna

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Right, I need some inspiration!

I have a lovely little 4yr old who is just getting out and about doing her first teeny weeny clear rounds. She is very looky at everything going on around her, so I want to make sure that we are totally prepared for anything that may be thrown our way jump-wise.

At our first show last weekend at Brook Farm they had all their (super spooky!) fillers in the arena which was fab experience for her. As the jumps were so small they were at the side rather than underneath so she was happy to go over, if a little looky at first! She needed her first round to trot round and stop and look at everything then walk over. The second time round she flew over everything :)

Soooo I want to create some homemade spook busting filler type things/water trays/scary ditch looking obstacles so we are prepared for anything that is thrown our way right from the beginning.

The jumps we have at the yard are very basic (it's predominantly a hunt yard) ie black plastic pole type wings with plain wooden poles. We have one set of white wooden fillers but nothing for her to even blink an eye.

Does anyone have any ideas on some cheap homemade ideas? I can't paint or do anything to the current jumps so it would have to be things I can drape over/put underneath...

Was thinking about buying this water hopscotch as a water tray type thing http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1458039.htm - if I could secure with something either end?

Or does anyone have a better idea with regards to a water tray? I was even thinking of a paddling pool but that may be a little wide lol.
 
In the dim and distant past I just used an old piece of canvas - may event have been a tarpulin or an old tent which was bright blue and stuck that on the floor under the fence. Could either have it really narrow to start off with then open up wider to proper water tray size.
 
I made a 'water tray' out of a strip of blue carpet. Luckily I had the *perfect* strip at home - about 10ft long & 15 inches wide. To start with, I put a jumping pole along each long edge as it seemed to be less spooky as a teeny tiny 'coffin', then took the poles away.

Horse had a hissy fit in a lesson & wouldn't go within about 3 strides of a water tray, so I put out my bit of carpet in the school at home on a day when I had plenty of time... & he jumped it first time as if it wasn't even there!

T x
 
Years ago we bought a shallow plastic tray from a garden centre. It was very cheap,wasn't huge but was big enough pop under a fence for something different for the horses to look at. I've also know people use something like a Alfa a bag turned inside out then secured at the edge with poles.
 
Water trays can be done really easily with a piece of old sheeting or a blue towel with a pole along either side to weight it down. the upshot of doing it this way means you can start off with it really narrow and then widen it as your horse gains confidence...

Other things that make great fillers that can easily be found arounnd the yard include bales of alfa a, bales of shavings, bales of hay etc etc....Ive even used lines of those feed buckets made of rubber tyres before under fences - not high, and safe to use. You can pretty much go wild with your imagination as long as the things you choose to use are safe. Have fun!
 
I bought a piece of blue tarpaulin from the range to practice water jumps http://www.therange.co.uk/pws/Produ...keywords=Tarpaulin&redirect=true&lng=&ctry=GB

Before that I used feed bags.

You could use rugs or coats over poles to make it a bit scary. Or just do a random trolley dash somewhere like poundstretcher or home-bargains and get stuff to dress your fences. I go to a local working hunter show and they dress their fences really well, at Halloween they had rubber skeletons and pumpkins, at Christmas they just wrapped up some cardboard boxes (which my pony thought was terrifying) and has tinsel everywhere. Now they've splashed out and invested in 2 3foot garden gnomes that you can currently buy in Asda and 2 black water trays from a garden centre which cause carnage on a regular basis! And of course there is the obligatory bits of conifer!

I think just go for anything you can get your hands on, I knew someone once who just got some large bits of cardboard and painted them bright colours and patterns and just tied them to the poles.
 
As others have said, blue plastic bags, weighed down with poles, I've used rugs before too...anything to make them look. And one rainy bank holi weekend i spent all day painting a massive piece of cardboard as a scary filler, did the trick...just couldn't use it in the wind!
 
Our local pound shop had tarpaulins about 3 ft wide that I have as a water tray practice. I have square poles that I weigh each side down with and then you can make it as wide or narrow as you want.
 
Couple of ideas below

Plastic ducks in the water tray - took 20 mins to get my chap within 20 ft of it lol.
Plastic flower pots filled with sand & fake flowers make good fillers
Hi Vis jackets over centre of a fence
Flags/bunting tied to poles
Tinsel
Traffic Cones
And tie ballons to arena fence ,
 
Nothing to add other than the likes of Home Bargains and Poundland usually do tarpaulins for very little money - all the ones I've got from there are blue as well.

ETA. such shops also sell 'muddy boot trays', which are very shallow black plastic trays - they aren't huge, but about 4 of them would probably do the width of a jump. If you were feeling flash, you could slap a bit of blue paint on them and fill with actual water.
 
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I like testing my lot, I used a blue kayak as a jump, supported at either end by tyres, I tied balloons to a wheelbarrow, note you need helium for them to float,I fixed a string door cutain to bamboo canes accross a gateway and watched who was brave enough to go through, (the baby) I offered them a treat from under a golfing umbrella, opening and closing it, my trotter x was first under it, I intend using brollies as a jump this year, I tie plastic bags to gates/fences, have tarpaulins down in the barn on windy days, people are only limited by their imaginations.
 
We made water trays with a basic wooden frame made from struts and stretched a cheap tarpaulin over it. They were made years ago and are still fine today. They are light and easily moveable and can be put on the ground or lent against something as a filler. Really useful. We also bought some cheap artificial grass from Amazon. Its great as it doesn't move around. You can use it to walk over or jump or you can drape it over a jump. Nice and spooky, but safe.
 
Two poles and a blue plastic Tarpaulin.

Lay the tarpaulin out and place a rail at each end, roll up the tarpaulin from each end until both rails touch each other.

Once horse is happy with the poles together start unrolling a bit at a time until horse will jump the full width.

Then place jump stands over and put up a jump.

Using a different colour tarpaulin you can change the design.
 
I used to fill water buckets and put them under a fence. My horse used to find it terrifying. I also had a 'For Sale' sign from when I moved house. That was leant against the poles as a filler or under thejump like a water tray. Also terrifying.
Black platsic bin liners, opened out and weighed down by poles, then with a little water on top also work well.
 
Yesterday Pie was jumping an old plastic dustbin, barrels, a piece of blue rubber matting and some traffic cones. He's spooky so when jumping at home I always stuff spooky things under jumps.
I also have a set of fillers made from sawing a pallet in half, getting hubby to attach feet and attacking with luminous spray paint.
We've also jumped rugs, wheelbarrows, plastic garden chairs and carpet off cuts.
 
Lionel Dunning used to have a box of old curtains that e would drape over the poles for fillers.

I used to have four/five square blue carpet tiles that lived in the lorry. Very easy to sling them down under a practice fence, or when schooling at home :)
 
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