Ideas for homemade/cheap jumps and poles?

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LibbyL

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Looking for a project over winter to build some jumps and get some poles so I can really school at home this year- only have a field for schooling and it is slightly sloping so must be stable and hard wearing. Brighter the better I suppose but would also like some that I can increase the size accordingly.
Or does anybody know some bargain websites where I can buy them?
Thanks!
 
I made some fillers from old pallets (when I say 'I', I mean my husband!). Think we sawed them in half and screwed feet on. So they would stand up. Ultra lazy painting - I slapped some undercoat on then attacked them with a few cans of spray paint for a graffiti effect (Pie is very spooky so at the time I was making all our jumps at home bright and garish to desensitise him).
 
I cut pallets in half and attach feet like Pie's Mum, but I took an artificial Christmas tree apart and wedged the branches along the back of the filler, and duct taped in place. (Could do with more to actually "fill" the jump!)

IMG_1104_zpsuj0cutdr.jpg
 
I made 5 pairs of wings plus some basic fillers for less than £100. B&Q for the wood and used hardware and paint that was already in the garage.

The filler that took the longest was this:
12081616_10153689209001882_1931328086_n.jpg
. I've since made a smaller one (narrower and shorter) but no pictures. I also made a simple hanging gate style one using mostly scrap wood from the garage! There were also a few made using old pallets.

You'll probably find these two links helpful
- http://lorienstable.com/articles/jumping/900-building_jumps/
- http://homemadehorsejumps.weebly.com/standards.html

It's surprisingly easy to do as long as you have the right tools. I don't think I'd have been able to do any of this with a hand saw and normal drill - a circular saw and pillar drill make life much easier!
 
I recently bought a set of jump wings from a lady off my local FB horsey page, the same as the pair above by directorFury. They only cost £20 so were a bargain.
 
All these ideas are fab thanks, will go on the search for palletts.
Have seen a couple of wings for £25 per pair but none come with cups which seem to be the expensive part!
 
I made my own wings - can take pics in the morning as they are on the school at the mo. Rather than drill holes & get expensive metal cups I bought keyhole track online. I love it, really quick and easy to change one handed too. I chose that because at the time I was sharing jumps with other liveries, and my cups would go awol otherwise. No one else had track jumps ;)

I bought my poles from a local timber merchant, 12 foot poles, 4" wide treated timber were about £9 each at the time, though that was about 5 years ago... Had lots of fun painting them.

I also have pallet fillers - stuff with fake Christmas tree to make brush fences ;)
 
Moles country store sell 12 ft poles for under a tenner you need to treat and paint them but they are cheap and the right weight and length. I would imagine some of the fencing companies would sell then too and may be slightly cheaper
 
I'd imagine if you're anywhere near a commercial garage, they'll have large 25l antifreeze or distilled water containers they'll be happy to get rid of as they pay to dispose otherwise. Don't get the oil ones, as if you get a broken container/spill then it'll contaminate your school ( the antifreeze is OK as it'll stop your school from freezing). OH gets them from work. Simply part fill with water so they are stable, make sure the lid is securely on and they make great 'blocks' to rest jump poles on, you use them 3 ways to get the heights on short side, on long side, and upright.

Poles I find are cheap enough in Scats/Mole Valley etc.
 
LibbyFillie said:
For poles is it possible to buy like fencing posts or something for them? Any ideas on measurements?
Click to expand...

I got some 9ft fence posts from a local timber merchant for about £3.50 each. They do have a bit of a point on one end, but it's easy enough to saw the point off so you get a flat end. It makes the jumps a bit narrower than standard, but when you get to a competition the jumps seem lovely and wide!
 
Gosh! Some smart jumps there. Mine are all unpainted and still in the raw. Now I'm feeling guilty.

For cups, I simply cut 3" pieces from 3"x1.5" rail and cut a V in one side with a band saw, then screw them to fencing post uprights (with the sharp point of the post cut off for safety.

If you live near an estate with a forestry enterprise, try them for larch thinnings. These will be poles approximately 2" - 3" diameter but with the bark still on them. There's not much market for them, so they should be cheap. I asked the Foestry Commission and was offered some for free, provided I removed them myself. They'd just been left where they'd been felled.
 
Dubsie said:
I'd imagine if you're anywhere near a commercial garage, they'll have large 25l antifreeze or distilled water containers they'll be happy to get rid of as they pay to dispose otherwise. Don't get the oil ones, as if you get a broken container/spill then it'll contaminate your school ( the antifreeze is OK as it'll stop your school from freezing). OH gets them from work. Simply part fill with water so they are stable, make sure the lid is securely on and they make great 'blocks' to rest jump poles on, you use them 3 ways to get the heights on short side, on long side, and upright.

Poles I find are cheap enough in Scats/Mole Valley etc.
Click to expand...

Beware of antifreeze spills, cats and dogs are tempted by the sweet taste and it's fatal.
 
What a coincidence that this thread would pop up again. Only some days ago I happened to read a Swedish article about someone having some scrap wood left over, and deciding to use it to make 6 simple DIY pole supports. They cut the wood in 25, 35, and 45 cm pieces, made cut outs for the pole in the top end, screwed them together, and attached a sturdy handle on the outside of the 45 cm piece of wood, making them easy to pick up and move. The wood they used wasn't the slimmest in width, so they said that the width of all 3 pieces of wood put together have been enough for them to stand steady.

Hope that the image works
98bcae324d5a558b6e8a7ffa06a81633.jpg


The article said that they intend to paint them white later. I'm guessing that they either wanted to make sure they worked before they added that extra work to them, or maybe they just hadn't had the time.
Personally I'm thinking the pole supports would look really nice if they gave them that Japanese charred outer surface that has become quite popular to do to wood, Shou Sugi Ban (I've heard some refer to it as Yakisugi, but as I understand it, it should be called Shou Sugi Ban when you use any type of wood, whereas Yakisugi is for when you're using traditional Japanese cypress). Though then they would of course have to screw on and off all the plastic handles, have something to burn the wood with, and I think that it still maybe also needs to be treated with some type of wood oil afterwards. But it would look cool 😎.
 
Last edited:
LibbyL said:
Looking for a project over winter to build some jumps and get some poles so I can really school at home this year- only have a field for schooling and it is slightly sloping so must be stable and hard wearing. Brighter the better I suppose but would also like some that I can increase the size accordingly.
Or does anybody know some bargain websites where I can buy them?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
poles are best get from your local timber store they do 12 x 4
 
FinnishLapphund said:
What a coincidence that this thread would pop up again. Only some days ago I happened to read a Swedish article about someone having some scrap wood left over, and deciding to use it to make 6 simple DIY pole supports. They cut the wood in 25, 35, and 45 cm pieces, made cut outs for the pole in the top end, screwed them together, and attached a sturdy handle on the outside of the 45 cm piece of wood, making them easy to pick up and move. The wood they used wasn't the slimmest in width, so they said that the width of all 3 pieces of wood put together have been enough for them to stand steady.

Hope that the image works
98bcae324d5a558b6e8a7ffa06a81633.jpg


The article said that they intend to paint them white later. I'm guessing that they either wanted to make sure they worked before they added that extra work to them, or maybe they just hadn't had the time.
Personally I'm thinking the pole supports would look really nice if they gave them that Japanese charred outer surface that has become quite popular to do to wood, Shou Sugi Ban (I've heard some refer to it as Yakisugi, but as I understand it, it should be called Shou Sugi Ban when you use any type of wood, whereas Yakisugi is for when you're using traditional Japanese cypress). Though then they would of course have to screw on and off all the plastic handles, have something to burn the wood with, and I think that it still maybe also needs to be treated with some type of wood oil afterwards. But it would look cool 😎.
Click to expand...
Although they look nice please take a bit of time rounding off those sharp corners. They really hurt when you fall off and land on them.
Talking from experience ☹️☹️☹️
 
I just went to the local timber merchants and they had 12 foot long round poles for £12.70 each, so i''m having a half dozen of those for polework! Not been able to find much thats affordable, might paint them for fun, but they're treated so ought to be alright anyway. Down to my last 2 poles that arent rotten and broken 😆
 
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