Home made jumps

[whbar158]

A friend of mine could use some new jumps, and has plenty of barn rats help her paint/make jumps if she chooses to go that way.

2 years ago they made jumps and they are already falling apart, so for you guys who have made your own jumps, what did you use? treated wood? what lasts? she would like to make some flower boxes, simple gates, small boxes.

[vineyridge]

I bought a set of the1939 Fort Riley Cavalry Manuals, and the last volume is about things like competitions and jump building. I'd be happy to scan the relevant pages on building jumps and send them to you in a PM, if you'd like.

Just got a scanner hooked up and am looking for opportunities to use it. :yes: :D

[TesignedInGold]

Pressure-treated wood, Elmer's Wood Glue, as well as SCREWS (not nails!).

I just had my dad build me a few standards, some gates, coops, boxes, walls.. etc. etc. (Yes, I got a little carried away!) They look great! and some of the flower boxes he build a few years ago are still holding up well!! I can Post pictures of them if you'd like some ideas. He likes to make everything BIG, so you can't really go by our measurements, but we sure did save alot of money as opposed to buying them!

Would you like some pictures?

[whbar158]

Yes to pictures!! And any other ideas!! Send me PM's! I am not sure that they used pressure treated wood, because these things are SAD. So keep the ideas and pictures coming :)

[ImJumpin]

Use outdoor paint. Ditto on the screws not nails.

Rubbermaid makes great little flower boxes that are meant as window boxes. You can use the spray paint made for plastic and spray them any color you would like (they only come in a few neutral colors). Fill the bottom with gravel and then insert your flower bunches right into the gravel. Makes them heavy enough not to tip over in the wind, but light enough to move around. The boxes aready have drainage holes in them, so no need to worry about them filling up when it rains.

I've seen some cute stone walls that are made by using the can foam insulation. Just spray the foam on wood in stone like globs and then paint.

[HuntrJumpr]

We did standards with treated wood and bolt (with nuts and washers) -- those things aren't going anywhere and they have lived outside the last two years (through the winter) because I am at school and didn't bring them in before first snow.

[TesignedInGold]

Here's a picture of the coop:
(ignore the horrible eq... Green mare who kept jumping WAY long.)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32477637&l=57b97&id=26805097

The coop is simply two triangles made with 2x4's. and then small pieces of scrap wood screwed to it. Its about 2'6 tall, and two 4' long sections.

Oh and those standards? Those are NEWSPAPER stands, that we simply screwed a 4x4 to!!

Standards:
http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/4416/standardsxj5.jpg

One 7' 4x4 cut into a 4 foot and 3 foot section. Put together with a 2x4, and then lattice screwed to it. That made 1 wing. Repeat the process for the other wing!


If you want to ensure that last a few seasons, you can stain them with varnish as well!!

[num1train]

My husband and I make mini-jumps for kids. However, there is virtually no difference between the construction of kid/horse jumps with the exception of size.

Use treated lumber. Watch for knots in it (make difficult to paint).
Indeed use screws.
Sand before painting.
Wings can be made using lattice nailed and glued to wood.
PRIME your jump with tinted (to the color) outdoor primer.
Use semi-gloss (not high gloss, reveals too many flaws in wood) paint.
PVC poles can be used if you place a smaller wooden pole inside the PVC and cement the end-caps on. This makes it a waterproof, weighted pole.
Sand the letters off the PVC
Striping of the poles can be accomplished by painting if you use wood or taping using non-textured, outdoor PVC tape.
Use a drill press to drill holes for jump cups.
Planks and gates are easy as well. Just PT me for info. Have fun with the plank and customize it.

Good luck.

[msrobin]

We use pressure treated wood for the standards and non pressure treated for the poles. The reason we don't use pressure treated on poles is that they weigh so much. We put on 3-4 coats of oil based paint and never had any problems with them rotting. Oil based paint is the secret and we only use BEHR available at Home Depot. It is the best we have used.
We use bolts on the standards to make them very sturdy. For cavaletti we use pressure treated wood completely as well as bolts.

Remember BEHR exterior/interior oil based paint semi gloss enamel. It is one of there specialty paints and it will seal the wood completely no rain is getting through it.


Good luck

[copper1]

Love the newspaper stand standards! Where did you get them?

[TesignedInGold]

We actually just called the company of the newspaper that was in it. Asked about where we could get info on the newspaper stands, and made a few calls. The ones we got were ready to be chucked in the garbage, so we asked if we could take them. And they said sure.

Bolted a 4x4 to the side of it, and TAH DAH scary jump standards!

[092556]

I made my jumps out of pvc from Home Depot and the local fence company. I have been using them for 10 years and the only thing to break has been a foot on the standard, my mother ran over it with her lawn mower. A 70 yr. old + mother on a Dixie Chopper which is the fastest commercial mower on the market, I'm lucky any jumps are standing. The standards are not glued or bolted together so I can take the feet off and stack them up in the barn when we have a hurricane threat. If they blow over they don't break, they pop apart and are easy to tap back together. The standards are very easy to make.

I'll share the details if anyone is interested.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/hacooke/DollyJustinjumping1.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/hacooke/dolly3ft.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa170/hacooke/dolly1bigjumpa.jpg

[Old Time Rider]

I have used both treated and untreated wood for jumps. With the untreated wood I always use an oil base primer BEFORE I assemble the jump (standard/wall/gate/etc). That way all surfaces are protected. It takes a little more time, but extends the life of the jump. I also bring my jumps inside before winter (I figure a jump loses 3 yrs of life if left out in the snow/sleet) It's then easy then to do minor repairs before they become major over the winter or when you bring them out in the spring. (Yeah, no indoor to force that cold weather riding.)

[pony grandma]

DH advises that any screws that you use on ACQ treated wood should be ceramic screws or double dipped galvanized, high quality SS screws. These are made to last. I hope that I got it right - it's hard to read his handwriting.

[ExJumper]

My dad (the engineer!) and I made a bunch of jumps a few years ago. Actually, it was more like 9-10 years ago and they are in perfect condition, minus a few crashes and a few coats of paint! My suggestions are:

1) Use wood glue and stainless steel screws. You will be amazed how much the glue will help everything!

2) use pressure treated in the places that are going to be in the mud/dirt/wetness. This is the bottom of the standards and the bottoms of the boxes.

3) relating to point (2), raise the boxes up about 2 inches bu putting pressure treated feet on them. I tried to show this in my pictures. This will make an ENORMOUS difference in how long the boxes last. Boxes always start rotting from the bottom and just a few inches will help enormously.

4) Brace the feet of the standards. As any who has ever moved a jump know, the feet are the first to break loose. Who here hasn't propped up a standard with freely-rotating feet! It's a huge pain. My pictures show how we did it, which worked really well. Two little pieces of 1x1, I think, attached to support the feet. I'm sure there are other ways.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e340/irishgryphon/jumps/Lattice_standard.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e340/irishgryphon/jumps/Picket_standard.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e340/irishgryphon/jumps/insideboxes.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e340/irishgryphon/jumps/Box.jpg

Have fun!

[vxf111]

A COTHer's husband made me absolutely gorgeous jumps a few years ago. They are holding up well. They are made of pressure treated wood, with screws, and painted without outdoor paint. I love them! :)

[vineyridge]

One thing that helps enormously in keeping them together is either mending plates or a plywood reinforcing plate (screwed on) over every joint.

[djangology]

Trainer's husband builds us all sorts of fun things.

He built us a "brick wall" using a sheet of brick-facade he found at Menards:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2837841105_b1c04a9c36.jpg

He also built us a rolltop of sorts-

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/2837808499_ac4e2cacdc.jpg

We sand, prime, and repaint nearly yearly to keep the standards and poles looking nice. We use exterior house paint. Everything comes in out of the elements for the winter to keep it from the freeze/thaw cycle.

[Foxtrot's]

Every paint store has cheeep mis-tinted paint. Good for the undercoat at least.

[MR]

[haven't read other posts...hope I'm not repeating info]

I have made jumps multiple times. Made a full course back in college for our team's "home" barn, and then did another full course for by current boarding barn about a year ago.

First off, get yourself a copy of "Jumps, Etc":
http://www.amazon.com/Jumps-etc-Dressage-Arenas-Equipment/dp/0939481561
The patterns are good, there are a LOT of different types, and the instructions are easy to follow. She also provides a "shopping list" for each item, which is good for people who aren't experienced in buying lumber/supplies. I didn't always stick to her patterns exactly, but they are good patterns to use.

Next, PLAN IT ALL OUT ahead of time. For the full course we did recently, I planned out exactly what we wanted/needed, what lumber/supplies we needed to buy, and what we already had (tools, existing jumps to fix/repaint, etc). We spent a total of $800 and had about 15 boarders get together for about 5 hours on a Saturday. Brought along a couple "handy" hubbies, but really it wasn't too bad.

For the $800, we ended up with around 8 new pair standards, 4 flower boxes (2 sets), 2 panels, 2 planks, 10 new poles, new fake flowers, and probably something else I forgot. The $ also paid for sanding/new paint for a ton of our existing poles, as well as repairing & repainting some of our existing standards & brush boxes.

The best part is deciding what colors/patterns to do! I spent awhile ahead of time designing it all out - partly because I wanted everything prepared so no one got off track (and we ended up with MATCHING jump sets), and partly because it's fun! My friends even surprised me with a small can of lime green (my fav) so they made a "special" jump - which now we all love and the colors have stood up really well!

Anyhow, sometimes you get a better idea from pictures than text... Here are some pictures of the jumps we built:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=204762&l=91bfb&id=682545724

Good luck!!!

[As an aside: make sure you are very choosey about using black. Use it sparingly, as horses see it as a "hole" - so it's best not to have a plank or panel that's really black...unless you want to see it REALLY close up!]

[5]

I bought a set of the1939 Fort Riley Cavalry Manuals, and the last volume is about things like competitions and jump building. I'd be happy to scan the relevant pages on building jumps and send them to you in a PM, if you'd like.

Just got a scanner hooked up and am looking for opportunities to use it. :yes: :D

I would love a copy if possible

[fair judy]

just be sure not to use a piece of plywood or tires, or a tarp.:D

these are all apparently very dangerous jumps:D.