I want to put together a few xc jumps and do not want to spend a great deal. Portable, fairly lightweight, adjustable (?) … but safe.
Straw bales and tire jumps are in the works. So I am going “truly” back yard 
Please share ideas.
Garbage bags + landscape timbers = “ditch.” That’'s kind of all I’ve got, though. I’ve done lots of cheap and cheerful show jumps but not much for XC.
coops are relatively easy and inexpensive to build. The old blue or white barrels from car washes are good for jumps.
I built a ditch in the fence line. A ditch does not have to be that deep. I think mine is only 12" deep. But I built it so that you could a plan ditch. You can also use planks or rails to make it into an oxer over, a trakhener or a weldon all of varying heights.
Bar ways are easy to build in fence lines as well.
You do have to be careful how light weight you make because you don’t want to teach them to crash through jumps.
[QUOTE=FitToBeTied;8808124]
You do have to be careful how light weight you make because you don’t want to teach them to crash through jumps.[/QUOTE]
This interests me. A horse can tell what he can or can’t crash through as he gallops towards it?
Cordwood stacks are sort of portable and adjustable, too.
Often, most of the time, I say they cannot. That is why it is dangerous to train (green) horses over show jumps in a cross country field. They can learn that they can hit them/crash through them with little consequence, and then when they are jumping solid objects later, they may opt to crash through… which would be quite dangerous/rotational fall, etc
You can see some in my backyard XC school video. I cut a pallet in half, mounted it on a pair of old standards and painted it for a brush jump. Railroad ties, stacked firewood, large drain pipes from Rural King, barrels, all work. Our neighbors were cutting down some woods and I begged a log from them so I’m also a bit of an opportunist! Good luck.
[QUOTE=CSU92;8808162]
This interests me. A horse can tell what he can or can’t crash through as he gallops towards it?
Cordwood stacks are sort of portable and adjustable, too.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think they can but if you train them on stuff that is lightweight and it moves then they will learn to be sloppy and sloppy can lead to crashes. A friend tried the lightweight jumps with one of her hunt horses and when he went first flight the first time he was seriously banging the coops.
If you are going to make something lightweight make sure you have good system for anchoring it to the ground.
[QUOTE=riderboy;8808181]
You can see some in my backyard XC school video. I cut a pallet in half, mounted it on a pair of old standards and painted it for a brush jump. Railroad ties, stacked firewood, large drain pipes from Rural King, barrels, all work. Our neighbors were cutting down some woods and I begged a log from them so I’m also a bit of an opportunist! Good luck.[/QUOTE]
where is the video?
I have the typical logs, barrels, tires, railroad ties etc type course. Coops are easy to build out of scrap lumber if you are flexible about finished dimensions. Make sure your barrels are well contained with a solid groundline - they can roll pretty good if slugged by a horse. Most of mine can be moved by the tractor or could be dismantled and moved in pieces (I don’t have a post hole digger so haven’t built any permanent types). Most creative and the one not portable jump is a canoe filled with pea gravel and duck decoys. Be warned it gets addictive building jumps, and you start eyeing everything as possible materials to use!
first - go on pinterest for Lots of ideas!
also - I go to thrift stores in December and buy used synthetic Christmas trees. The ‘branches’ are great fillers to make brush jumps - they are attached to metal and stick right into the dirt and then I use a lightweight but substantial cut down tree for a jump pole and maybe some larger trees cut down to make ‘standards’. DONT use pallets as jumps as they rot fairly fast and then you have small rusted nails ( hard to see in the dirt) all over the place.
I’ve talked a bit before about my DIY xc stuff, but here’s a non-swearing post with every single fence pictured. I also added some helpful notes about what all I did. Includes home-made ditch and bank.
Does anyone have plant suggestions (real plants) for a brush fence? I’m in PA, if that helps. I have landowner objections to fake brush – they would prefer something real that the deer don’t eat and that I could shear to height/width. Boxwood? Yew? Anything native?
[QUOTE=Winding Down;8808887]
NICE “backyard!”[/QUOTE]
Thanks! As you can see, we grow a lot of corn in SW Indiana!
wow!
I built a jump with my barn owner a few weeks ago that isnt easily adjustable but only cost about $150 if you have a log laying around (Hanging Log). You could also probably use similar materials for a bunch of other fences. I hope to build a corner at some point too and will share when I do.
I think that you can make easy faux ditches, coops, and such but I haven’t personally tried. I like to look on CourseWalks at the lower level courses to see what types of jumps various venues have!
the recycled pallets jump[s] are as about as free and ingenious as you can get. lop them in half (or to the height you want), secure a base to them, and fill – you can do pine brush (free if you forage them from trees) you can double-back/side them for a wider fence, paint them (leftover paint or cheap gallon ‘oops’ mixers at local paint store). they’re light-weight enough you can move them around yourself and if you go with painting them, you can really mix up what they “look” like vs what they actually are.
you can also use them as a ‘base’ for a different style of jump, or make them the base structure by putting plywood across their face and painting them like a stone wall, brick wall, ‘farm house’, etc. you can get cheap or leftover landscape lattice and overlay them onto the pallets, etc.
i like logs and making cordwood type fences the most, but they’re so heavy and a PITA to move.
I know a place in Berryville that has stacks of full and half pallets perfect for brush boxes etc
free of course but not sure how far you are from Berryville…
riderboy - how did you construct the “feet” that hold the drain pipes? I have several of these and would love to put them to use!
[QUOTE=horsecents;8811297]
riderboy - how did you construct the “feet” that hold the drain pipes? I have several of these and would love to put them to use![/QUOTE]
It’s basically a “cradle” at each end that the pipe nestles in, I’ll take pics when I get home. It’s a cut piece of treated timber with blocks nailed on each end. I drilled holes through the pipe and cradle to pound an anchoring stake. They are also weighted with rocks. My guy will give it a hard rub, so it’s important that it’s anchored.
