I can’t seem to find FEI cones and don’t know that we need them since we are beginners so I went to ebay and found this:
Would something like this do for a home practice course. I don’t want to spend much and these seem pretty cheap.
You might want to hunt closer to home for traffic cones, with their weight the shipping can be awful. That example had cone for $6.99, with the shipping over $8 dollars EACH!!
I looked in a nearby large city, found a company under “Safety Barricade” which sold good traffic cones, and I could pick them up on my next trip. Been a while, since they were about $4 back then. Cones must be 15 years old now, put away for winter, still in pretty good shape.
I know Dana Banfield sold FEI angled cones, but they were yellow not orange. Good quality of cones, lasted well. He can be reached at the Gayla Driving Center in Kentucky. This is the site for his wife Debbie Banfield, a noted trainer and Judge. I am sure you can contact Dana thru Debbie’ phone number.
It’s not too fancy but we have our cones course set up with orange Home Depot buckets. They work great for around 2 dollars each. We call it our “Bubba cones”.
Can never have too many 5 gallon buckets!
At sporting good stores you can usually find smaller than street size but orange cones
THey are often used for soccer practice
Sometimes road departments will sell used cones for cheap
I use cones bought at Lowe’s (look around in the plumbing department) and they work just fine - come in two sizes and are cheap and easy to move around. Bet Home Depot would have them as well.
The only ones they have online are too pricey to buy 20.
What size and price are the ones you found?
I use the smaller ones, they ran about 8-10 a piece and I have about 12. I have a number of different patterns I set up - depending on the day and what exercise I want to practice. (Today’s was all about right turns as the monster pony has decided he really does not want to take the outside (left) rein. . .
I need cones too, how tall do they have to be? would these do?
http://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-Orange-Cones-Set/dp/B000N92ARY
I tend to use my cones for a variety of other things, so I prefer the 18" cones for a best choice. There was a link on the page you marked, so I put it up and found these:
http://www.trafficsafetywarehouse.com/18-Orange-Traffic-Cones-Case-of-20/productinfo/1850/
You get a bit of a break with quantity purchasing. Not sure what shipping would be. Reading under the description, it says to call the company if you want less than the full box of 20 each, for the prices.
Maybe you and a friend could split an order of cones, if you don’t want to spend that much. Or you and friend could buy more, getting the cheaper rate for quantity buying. Being Highway quality, these cones will last a long time if you take any care of them at all. Sunshine is about their worst enemy, so putting them away when not being used often, will add years of use. Ours go in for the winter.
I haven’t seen the shorter/smaller cones having the quality equal to actual highway rated cones. Of course that was the “horse training” short cones of the past, while this company may have a better product since I am seeing shorter cones on the road work zones now. Cheap Soccer plastic cones are the worst, have a really short life before splitting if hit.
You do need to buy more than just a couple, so you can set up a “pole bending pattern” or make a square or have more than just a couple pairs to drive thru on a course. 20 cones only makes 10 gates for you to practice with, less if you use the single cones for weaving thru or as markers in your course.
Shorter cones may be harder to see for you in deeper grass, coming around at an angle. Short cones do not pose as much of a visual obstacle for the horse who then gives them no respect in avoidance.
Same comany offered a variety of sizes on the site.
http://www.trafficsafetywarehouse.com/Traffic-Cones/products/5/?gclid=CPyL9PrYiKsCFeoEQAodWR7w2w
Check locally, yellow pages, for Safety equipment sellers. Maybe you could purchase locally, save a bit on shipping. Your local County Road Commission might be able to tell you where they buy cones if you call them. I put my initials on MY cones so they can be found if they “walk off” from the trailer. Amazing how folks at a show think any cone standing “belongs to the show” and help themselves to it!!
Good cones are fairly heavy, so I never went with the 24" or the 36" ones. Our 18" cones have been the best choice for all our uses.
If shipping is prohibitive, Amazon has several results for “traffic cones” that qualify for their free shipping over $25. Might be worth a look!
I found cones in the sporting good department of my local Farm & Fleet. They are about 6" tall and are used for soccer, I believe. They were 4 to a pack, for $3.00. I bought all the packs they had, and now have 28 of them !!! They’re a little small, but hey, it is just practice.
