I was checking out the novice jumps while walking the BN course at Plantation, and felt the brush on one of the jumps (pictured next to the training jump). I wouldn’t want my horse to jump through it! It was very hard and dense and seemed like it could scratch up a horses’ legs. Is this type of brush commonly used?
Yes, they use it fairly often. Rocking Horse down here uses pine brush, but Ocala has the hard plastic bristles on some of their fences. Other venues ive been to also have the bristles. I dont see it as a problem. Every horse I have goes through brush, except for my mare who clears it. They dont have an issue and I havent seen any scratches on legs as a result.
Isnt there a major event that uses sticks as brush and that looks worse IMO
I jumped some the other day, it still bends. No issues with it IMO.
I thought it was a “safety” brush. Not sure if that’s true. They CAN brush through it. Doesn’t mean they will. Toby has never brushed through anything in his life. EVER. That was so super fun on max prelim stuff that was also brushed out max.
We once jumped a brushed arrowhead on a prelim course with a big downhill landing. It was brushed as tall as it could be brushed for that level, so Toby jumped that AND some, which made the landing feel like an 8ft drop on the backside. Then he crow hopped because, wow, did you see that effort?! I have NO idea how I stayed on…but I think that was the same event that I got lawn darted between the last fence and the finish line.
It’s easier in a lot of ways than real brush, can be re-used, and in terms of feel, not much different. Brush comes in many different textures but the re-usable fake is becoming more popular. It doesn’t bother the horses any more than regular brush. Brush is a great way to make fences more inviting- look at Derek diGrazia’s courses sometime, he uses a LOT of brush, I think it is an important, subtle, contributing factor to why his courses ride so well. Any type of brush is a PIA for the organizer/builder/decorator (acquiring brush and stuffing it SUCKS) but it is worth the extra effort from a safety and flow standpoint.
Kcmel, that particular brushy roll top was on the novice course at Plantation a couple of years ago when my horse was there. He jumped it fine. It was placed on a slight uphill incline. My horse did not attempt to “brush” through it.
Not sure a horse which has never experienced a true “brush” fence would suddenly try to brush through the roll top fence on xc based on his prior experience of always jumping over things, and not through things.
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