Would it take much to reinforce the banks and put down footing such as gravel? Water is so hard for many people to practice and it makes a very good selling point to demonstrate to a potential buyer.
Before you work to turn your creek into a water complex, probably should make sure there are not restrictions on doing that depending on what the creek feeds or such.
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My creek is considered part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and there are restrictions on what I can modify.
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I don’t think OP thinks her creek is modifiable either @trubandloki @Janet
Pity. Water can cause so many issues on xc
I won’t be modifying my creek. Not worth the exorbitant expense when there are so many places to ship in and school water!
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Confused here. Are you planning to jump these jumps? Or will they be pasture decorations that the horsres become familiar with by looking at and grazing around?
I used to have a tiny bank that was invaluable for schooling young horses. The height varied from 2’ down to about 1’. Everyone wants to know if the sales horses can do ditches, banks, and water. We had good footing under standing water after a rain, so we’d set stadium jumps in the puddles.
I’d add a tiny ditch, too.
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? No? I have a 5 acre field that is both my jump field and a turnout. I’m not planning to add a ditch to my turnout. And I have a creek, but it’s not part of the 5 acre field. It’s just out where we hack
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thinking you want to show basic potential for cross country I would have a coop you can show a nice gallop too, a skinny to show rideability and a fake ditch to show bravery
A tire jump or something otherwise black. I’ve seen entire divisions come to grief at a simple looking black jump, whether tires or black barrels. Plus you can source little tiny mower tires from a shop if you want something low enough to walk over.
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Interesting!
I’m also reading along here… I don’t mind having some XC jumps out in turnout but I agree a ditch might be a bit much.
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I built a ditch into the fence line between pastures. I structured the side wings so that it can be just a straight ditch, a trahkener, a weldon, or an oxer over the ditch. I have another gap in a fence line between fields that has been a rail jump, a big log and other things along the way. I have coops also built into fence lines.
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I’ve seen coops, would LOVE to see the ditch? Please 
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In my eyes a horse isn’t an XC horse until it’s schooled ditches, banks, and water. I don’t care how many lifetime fences its jumped - if it isn’t confidently jumping those three, it isn’t an XC horse.
Those are not easy to design around your criteria, but you can easily make a ditch just outside of your riding ring - or even in your riding ring - by folding down a tarp and placing two poles on it. You can also easily incorporate jumps into pasture fences. Many event venues here do just that and have their XC courses ride through paddocks – with the turned out horses removed, of course. Stone walls, coops, and roll-tops are the most common. When not in use they simply have a rope or top rail across them.
My local riding venue has a small XC course with a lot of clever fences. Several are roll-tops on one side and coops or benches on the other. It’s a great way to offer multiple schooling options, especially when you consider there are some ~50 fences situated on less than an acre of land. It’s really impressive.
I agree banks are invaluable as well. I don’t have a bank on my property, but I do have a retaining rock wall – every time I hack a horse, I bring them down over it. It’s made banks up/down a non-issue for all of my horses, but most horses take to banks well.
In your situation, I’d go for the Jekyll-Hyde fences and try to make a temporary ditch. And when it rains, school the water in your riding ring.
So I have made a couple jumps recently - kinda with the same idea of needing to intoduce horses but I also wanted to school my bigger horse, so everything I’ve made is portable & adjustable (in a sense).
I started with a chevron that I sit in standards & jump cups. I wouldn’t use this to introduce a horse to XC, but I can have a 2"6" to a prelim question just by moving the jump cups. I also drilled holes in the top so I can add brush.
My 2nd set of jumps consists of some dark stained tables. 1 is 2’, the other is Novice, and then they have the same slope so I can make a much wider Novice jump. I also added holes for brush to these so I can have more options.
Finally, I made some brush boxes that are 2’ or 2’ 9" and I could make an addition to make them prelim if wanted (I don’t currently need, so I haven’t made). Again I have holes for brush to add height if wanted. These brush boxes are also 5’ wide. I can have a 10’ wide XC jump or a skinny, just by changing the the placement. I have also made a small oxer with them. The top addition has been used as a tiny introduction for horses as well as less than a foot tall obstacle.
I want to build another set of the brush boxes, maybe another chevron & still trying to come up with other ideas that are adjustable.
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A xc schooling facility near me has several lengths of hard black plastic culvert pipes of different diameters on the ground. Lots of otherwise brave and experienced lower level event horses do not care for them at all, including mine. From my human perspective they look much like logs, but horses seem to see them differently.
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Probaby a table top, a water obstacle, and a bank of some kind.
If you are wanting to just show very very basic ability, pretty much what everyone said. A coop, a roll top, a table.
If you think you want to prepare a horse for XC at Starter, I highly recommend a fake trakhener. Not with an actual ditch, but a lifted log type thing with a dark space underneath. Only because I know my horse will jump anything solid just fine but if there’s space underneath a solid top, she can get a little distracted or unsure. So good thing to be able to school.
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All our schooling places have baby “ditches” that are 2 half round low logs/bumps with a space between (or a rectangular frame) - no digging/actual ditch. You can fill the space with a tarp, mulch, straw, etc to get different looks/effects. You can also stand up straw bales between or use them to hold barrels. Or use bales/barrels to mark the ends of the “ditch”. So lots of variety/options. Half logs can also make good ground lines for other fences.
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For a very basic starter “ditch” that’s safe in your turnout…a couple of poles spread a foot or two apart with dark mulch between them to give the illusion of dark/depth might work (unless you have horses that will choose to eat mulch over grass).
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