Jump colors

[taylorelaine]

I ordered jumps about a month ago, and the lady is almost done making them. I think most of them are painted, if not all of them already, so I think it’s too late for any changes. However, I just realized that all the jumps are gray and white—some are solid white, while others are white with chunks of gray. Now, I’m wondering if it was a mistake to have all the colors be the same without incorporating any bright colors.

I’m not sure if having only gray and white jumps makes a difference when training at home versus competing at shows, where the jumps have more variety. Since I show in hunters, I know the jumps aren’t typically bright or overly decorated, but should I have included more diversity in the colors? I feel like I might have limited myself, and I don’t know if that could be a disadvantage for my horse in the long run.

That said, I do have a couple of white planks with black triangles, as well as a few white wooden flower boxes that I can fill with bright flowers. I know that’s nothing really crazy or too different, I just didn’t consider how the color choices might affect training until now.

I also attached pictures of what the jumps will look like, and I’m unsure if the pattern of the gray chunks makes a difference—for example, having three gray chunks versus one in the middle, or just two gray chunks on the outside.

[furlong47]

Keep in mind that horses are dichromats - they do not see color in the same way that we do. What they see is much more dull and mostly shades of blue/yellow/grey. Even if you do add a bunch of color, a lot of the benefit is for you and not them. I would spice up the jumps with filler like you mentioned.

[pony_grandma]

Horses have dichromatic vision, meaning they see two primary colors: blue and yellow, but cannot distinguish between reds and greens, which appear as shades of gray or brown.

The person making the horse jumps should be having this conversation.

[taylorelaine]

Okay, thank you so much for your responses! I actually just messaged her, and she has only painted 8 poles so far out of 24. She’s planning to finish them this weekend.

I’m going to keep the grey and white color scheme, but I’m wondering if I should change the pattern of the chunks like in the pictures. Right now, what she has painted is white with three chunks of grey. I was thinking for the rest maybe a mix of the solid white poles, white poles with the middle grey chunk, and the ones with two end chunks.

However, I think I heard that having a middle chunk helps you find the center of the jump more easily. I’m not sure if that’s true or if I should avoid using the poles with two end chunks and no middle chunk. I’m thinking I’m just going to do 12 of what she already has painted (white poles with three chunks of grey) and then 12 solid white poles and then I’ll just have different kinds of filer and I think that’ll be enough.

[OverandOnward]

In your place, I would look on the gray as primer. Ready for any color to go over it, added by you.

In your place I would go by the common colors in jump courses where you show. Maybe that’s gray – or not?

You can work out how many poles you typically need per jump for home schooling to organize your colors, if you decide to add them. Remember to include an oxer or two.

Different patterns in the color blocks are a good idea so that your horse doesn’t expect the same thing for every jump.

The last thing I’d keep in mind is one bright color set of poles, a color that occasionally turns up on your hunter courses, if that happens where you are.

I don’t know the dynamics of overlaying colors over gray. Sometimes the underlying color will influence what the overlying color looks like. You can ask a commercial paint expert about that. If they don’t know or seem unsure, you need to move on to another paint store that is more of a subject-matter expert.

[outside_leg]

My preference for horses that will be showing is to have things at home that mimic what they’re likely to see in the show ring. In the hunters, that would be white, gray, tan, natural wood, green, and even rusty red. It will also mean lots of fill: flowers, brush boxes, roll tops, walls, etc.

If it were me and you still have time before they are painted, I would have at least a couple painted differently.

As far as stripes, while they are not seen in the hunter ring, they are seen in equitation. To your point, a stripe in the middle can help novice riders find the center. I have a mix of striped and solid poles in my courses at home so the horses get accustomed to jumping everything.

Lastly, another DIY suggestion is to cover a few of the polls with artificial turf from Home Depot or similar. Those green fuzzy poles can be spooky to both horses and riders, and they crop up in a lot of hunter courses these days.

[mommy_peanut]

We always painted our poles all white with the center section either black, brown or grey.
We then used colored duct tape to add colored stripes if/as/when needed. That way we could change out the colors if we wanted to.
As long as the poles were clean, the tape held up all year long. Although we did typically change out the colors from winter/spring to summer/fall to match the surrounding flowers & shrubbery used as filler.

[findeight]

@outside_leg

hunters, that would be white, gray, tan, natural wood, green, and even rusty red. It will also mean lots of fill: flowers, brush boxes, roll tops, walls, etc

Yes to the above as well as yes to a target in the center of some poles, its good for novices and not so novices.

Do not forget that the Eq classes can go over a course also used for jumpers or the fact that all show jumps look bigger then same height at home despite being the same size. Train your riders eyes not to be distracted by the decor which keeps the horse forward and confident.

Hunters do use a lot of white poles and those do tend to back the horse off a bit as well as jump a little harder over it so prepare your riders to expect that.

You can get extremely creative with your stuffers, lots of bright colored fake flowers in simple flower boxes, blanket draped over the rail, pool noodles as ground lines or cut a slit in them and wrap around standards. You can tape holiday decorations on them, make a pumpkin ground line, make a brush jump out of used natural Christmas trees and there are those good old hay bales

3 hay bales as stuffers or by themselves, no standards makes a great little brush jump and very good teaching opportunity. Safety first of course.

Changing your course weekly and rotating jump types is a PITA. But getting your clients comfortable over more jump, more types of jump and different courses then they will see at most of their shows makes better riders who don’t get overwhelmed by the real show jumps. Who don’t fall apart if they make minor mistakes down the lines and you don’t get as many nervous stops. IME. IMO, it also gets a better jump from the horse, keeps them interested and careful too. That can be tough with veteran schoolmasters over low jumps, make it fun for them too.

We used to have a pot luck or BBQ barn pole painting parties. It is NBD to repaint a few poles, mess and time is about it and just doing a few poles keeps that under control. Pole color is not etched in stone if you want to change some if them.

[OverandOnward]

Somewhere out there I’ve seen plastic sleeve color blocks that you can slide over jump poles. To make the colors changeable. Not finding it readily on search just now.