Building the home XC course: Schooling Essentials

[Heinz_57]

Somehow, it has been a full decade since I last competed or even schooled XC hoo boy. The reasons were many and the back story is long, but suffice to say I finally have a horse in my barn that I think might actually enjoy it now, and I am excited. To add to my good fortune, I also have ~6-8 acres on which I can build my own personal mini XC course to school over.

Given what you’re finding on courses these days, what would you find to be the most valuable fences/obstacles to be able to school regularly at home for the lower level horse? Ditches, banks and a small water obstacle are on my list but beyond that I’m coming up short. General ideas for XC fence building definitely welcome, too!

[leighbo009]

I like things that are multi purpose & easier to move.

So you can build a ditch & then build a coffin with stadium type jumps if you & horse are ready & slowly progress. Or Ditch & and some rails to give yourself a trekanker. Or ditch & add wall for a ditch and wall.

But it is all from the same ditch.

I would much prefer some adjustable, multipurpose jumps for your own purpose. A couple logs thrown around to get horses used to solid obsiticals & other solid things. But I like adjustable.

But please stake jumps! Mine I build light weight, but stake them to prevent accidents.

Here are some examples of ones I built:
Tables can be 2 seperate ones (BN/N, and put together they are max Novice, training) But these need to be staked down once they are set. But pull the stakes to move.
Chevron is adjustable height
Flowerboxes are 2 heights (could be more, I haven’t needed it) & can be 10ft wide or 5ft wide for skinnies.

[quietann]

To some degree, putting out a regular jump course on non-flat terrain will help. I loved this when I had access to it.

[Highflyer1]

For Novice and below, ditch/bank/water, and then 3-4+ basic fences is probably enough to start with. I honestly don’t think that for most horses it matters much what they are. I’d probably do a couple of heights of logs since that’s easy, and try to set them so they can be jumped either individually or as bending lines/ combinations. And then a table and a coop or ramp and maybe a black pipe. Ideally I would have one be a very white/ bright fence since some horses find that scary. Really a brave horse that likes its job isn’t going to be fussed by most of it, and a not- brave horse is going to need to go new places and see tons of new things. So really you’re mostly just practicing concepts at home and/ or having a gallop around for fun and fitness and a lot of that can be done with showjumps on terrain.

[Willesdon]

4tb Feb 2024 Horse & Hound had an online article about building your own cross country fences. https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/how-to-make-your-own-showjumps-at-home-622790

[LCDR]

See if you can find a copy of this book. It is close to 20 years old now. Mine disappear just about every time I loan one out. I live without it for a while and then acquire a replacement, usually. via ebay.

[LCDR]

Here is another collection of ideas.

100 XC Jump Ideas | cross country jumps, horse jumping, horse diy

[clanter]

speaking only from personal experience, male sure that whatever is built that the course is in the view of others

My daughter set up a jump course here and was running her horse through it when after a while it was noticed Where Is She?

Her horse had slid down behind one of the barns falling with her in a tight turn (steel flat plates on drought ground was like walking on ice) … horse was trained to ground tie which most likely saved her life as her right foot was hung in the stirrup. Most of the bones in her right foot were broken

[2manyhorses]

Ground lines on all

Fence line. Rail fence to jump between fields

Grow a hedge along a fence line

You would have to change the existing fence so you can jump it and then replace the fence so not a jump (eg if a wire fence have a handle so you can move the strands away from the jump)

Log pile

Hill

Steps cut into the hill

Tiger trap

[2manyhorses]

Also a gallop track

[trubandloki]

I think this is better explained as know your footing and what is on your horses feet.

[Long_Time_Lurker]

In addition to a gallop track, for conditioning you need hills. If your terrain is flat you can have an excavator build you a hill to go up and down at all paces. Shallow one direction, steeper the other (i.e. east/west is shallow and north/south is steeper). I wish I had a picture of the one at a farm where I boarded years ago.

[luvmyhackney]

Quick Question, and if I need to start my own thread, lmk…

What size is adequate for a gallop track? I would love to fit one on my property but how small can I go and it be usable?

[pony_grandma]

We have the jumps within a fence line - it expands the track. Attractive with coops and log piles. We have a removeable top line rail.

[TheJenners]

Every time I see this topic, I start eyeballing my lower three acres

[TheJenners]

@luvmyhackney

What size is adequate for a gallop track? I would love to fit one on my property but how small can I go and it be usable?

So completely by accident I created a 1/4 mile track around two of my paddocks. When I realized it was a perfect 1/4, I purposefully left a lane when I put in my third paddock (I was going to anyway in case I ever had to prevent nose sniffies for any reason)… My two paddocks are an acre each in a rectangle and the path is goes between the top of them and the arena, down the sides (there is a 10’ gap between my east paddock and the property line fence, and then 10’ between the middle paddock and my west paddock) and around the bottom. I’m going to retain the 10’ gape when/if I ever fence in the bottom, which is in hay right now but getting sparse because I’m not fertilizing/seeding. I want to improve the footing on it but haven’t really decided on what/how, esp since I had a french drain for the arena empty into the west side of the track so there is that. Easily avoided but makes me consider my options for improvement because it’s wet in the winter. It’s also at a decent slope on that side, not so much on the east side.

[2manyhorses]

Around the perimeter of a field. You can plow it for better footing or not. Just mow it. That’s what l do. Width? How many horses at a time? 4’/ horse?

I had a track around the perimeter fence. 15’ along the road. 10’ if trees were between me and the road

I also didn’t want to get too close to the fence as it was wire and had 2 hot strands

[Long_Time_Lurker]

It can be as simple as just galloping around the perimeter of the jump field assuming there is at least one long straight away where you can really let them out. No fence needed and I prefer not to have one. Keep it mowed, and ideally leveled or dragged occasionally, or at least problem spots watched for and addressed (how depends on your soil and terrain). You don’t want it to be TOO groomed, since the cross country courses you compete on won’t be.

[Heinz_57]

@TheJenners

Every time I see this topic, I start eyeballing my lower three acres

Do it! I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but when I started the thread I was in the middle of mowing and couldn’t get it off my mind.

I did the same thing you did as far as leaving a lane around all my turnouts, I can ride the entire perimeter of the property. It’s SO nice to be able to go hack around when I’m not in the mood for circles, and it will serve me well for conditioning and galloping needs at about 1/2 a mile.

[beowulf]

In addition to all the excellent advice, one thing I think really helps introduce young horses to fences is a million log piles and making fences out of anything novel. Really. If it’s safe to jump, jump it. Add novel things to them - saddle pads, tarps, brush, etc. If you jump the same log a million times, mix it up. Put some loose hay under it. A saddle pad over it. Teach your horse that anything can be a jump.

I am not exaggerating when I say once, a BNT made me jump a ride-along lawn mower. While I don’t think it’s necessary to go to that extreme at home, a good fundamental for a young horse’s education is learning that practically anything can be a jump if asked.