Jump pole options

[LR1976]

I need ideas for where to find reasonably priced jump poles. I can order nice wooden ones but shipping to get them here is expensive. What do you guys use? Where do you get them? I've thought about PVC poles from Menards or something but have heard horror stories about them breaking and causing injuries.

[ddashaq]

A few years ago there was a pony club in Eastern Iowa that was making and selling poles as a fund raiser. They were pretty reasonable, around $20 and I think that they were willing to deliver or let you pick them up. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the club, but it was in the Horseman's Directory that gets handed out at the horse fair. (Moingona Hunt puts it together, I believe.) My last barn in Iowa just had landscaping poles and they worked OK, but none of us was above BN, so that may not work for you.

[Thames Pirate]

Landscaping timbers from your local hardware or garden supply store are good. They're not round, but they make great ground poles and crossrails at the very least. We use them a lot, and they're only a few bucks each.

[Catalina]

I got a bunch of 10' and 12' 2 X 2 posts from Home Depot. I then took a circular saw turned at a 45 degree angle and sawed the corners off. My husband then painted them white and I have a bunch of really nice looking jump rails for not a lot of money :D.

[LR1976]

I got a bunch of 10' and 12' 2 X 2 posts from Home Depot. I then took a circular saw turned at a 45 degree angle and sawed the corners off. My husband then painted them white and I have a bunch of really nice looking jump rails for not a lot of money :D.

That was my other thought. And putting my husband to work. :D

[LAZ]

I got a bunch of 10' and 12' 2 X 2 posts from Home Depot. I then took a circular saw turned at a 45 degree angle and sawed the corners off. My husband then painted them white and I have a bunch of really nice looking jump rails for not a lot of money :D.

I bet you mean 4 x 4 posts--that's how I do it, too.

[mkevent]

I buy mine from a local fence company-they are not perfectly round, but they are the round rails that go into the 2 or 3 hole fence posts. I think they are $9-10 each(?)(I bought them a few years ago so prices may be alot higher by now). They work great and are as heavy as regular jump poles.

[Long Shadow Farm]

I also use the heck out of the 8' landscape timbers from Home Depot for my jump rails. I figure if I can get my babies to go around an entire course with 8' poles then when I get to a show with 10' or 12' I shouldn't have any problems steering into those!

Bobbi

[joharavhf]

My local Lowes has 8' long 3" (or 4") round rails. That's what I use :D In fact, I just painted 8 of them to make a cool red, white & blue jump....now I have to make a panel to match them!

[Mrs. Cowboy]

I use 4x4x12' redwood poles. Yup, square. :yes: I *could* take the circular saw to them and make them octagonal, but time is money and I don't think it makes a big difference. My horses and schooling friends don't care if the poles are square or round. They stay in the jump cups just fine, and I've never had an ijury due to a square pole. They are certainly easier to keep in place on the ground. My poles NEVER roll underfoot! And painting them is easy with a narrow paint roller.

[Catalina]

I bet you mean 4 x 4 posts--that's how I do it, too.:lol: :yes: I have always been bad with measurements; yes, 4 X 4 would be correct!

[LegalEagle]

Could you use the PVC poles as the "filler" poles and then get wooden ones to put as the top rails? That would save some money and unless your horse crashes through the whole jump, the risk of hitting one and it cracking/causing injury would be pretty low.

[CarolinaGirl]

I think if you're going to use pvc poles then they need to be filled with something (sand,2X4,etc) to weigh it down, and then obviously capped on either end to keep it in. Having a pole follow your horse when he hits it is NOT fun.. and generally totally freaks them out.

[LR1976]

I think if you're going to use pvc poles then they need to be filled with something (sand,2X4,etc) to weigh it down, and then obviously capped on either end to keep it in. Having a pole follow your horse when he hits it is NOT fun.. and generally totally freaks them out.

Is this a decent option? Could you just put a 4x4 in them for weight? Or yeah, fill them with sand?

[clivers]

Is this a decent option? Could you just put a 4x4 in them for weight? Or yeah, fill them with sand?


They still splinter when frozen or when exposed to the elements for a while (the plastic just gets really brittle). I think wood is a safer, and in the long run more economical.

[LAZ]

Is this a decent option? Could you just put a 4x4 in them for weight? Or yeah, fill them with sand?


PVC poles scare the bejeesus out of me. They bounce when hit, the splinter when they break, they roll very easily. You want something that is heavy and will drop down if it is hit, not fly forward and into the path of the feet, or up into the belly.

I always go for the heaviest 4 x 4's I can find when I'm looking for jump poles--you want a horse to feel it if it hits it and you want the pole to behave in a predictiable manner of falling straight down when hit. Wood bounces enough to be scary sometimes, PVC bounces just about EVERY time.

[Gnep]

I baught several years ago jump4joy poles, they last and are very comparable price wise.
Its a Nylon tube, shatter proof, with a wooden core, 2x4. The only thing I do not like, they are very soft to the touch, horses learn that very fast, thats why I always have several aua aua poles, heavy wood poles as they are used for wild life fencing, in between.
PVC pipe is a excelent way to get a horse injured, your vet. will love you.

[Catalina]

I use PVC for ground rails and the occassional X. I have had my PVC rails outside in the elements for almost 8 years and they are still in good condition. But, I always use wood rails for verticals or oxers.

[LR1976]

Those were my thoughts on PVC as well. I have a few that I don't use very often. I'm finally getting a good arena put in and have decided it's high time I get myself a good jump course made! I found a couple places on line that have unfinished poles for pretty reasonable. Shipping isn't too awful either.

[VCT]

I too do the 4x4 pole route.... mark a line down the length of it at 1/3 the width 1.something inches. Then set circular saw at 45 degree angle and away we go. Makes nice poles... easy to do. Much less expensive than any options I have found for buying 10 or 12 foot round poles.

[Risk-Averse Rider]

A previous trainer had some kind of lightweight piping (not PVC) that she used to put around her really beat-up jump poles to extend their usefulness.

One day, Prozac Pony & I were trotting some ground poles--at least one of which did NOT have its wooden insert. He stepped on it and both ends flapped up and Thelwell-pony kicked him in the sides.

He just kept on trotting :lol:

[1ofEach]

My fiance is an engineer or I would have never known this and I'm curious to give it a try. I guess PVC comes in different thicknesses (there is more to the differences, but I'll leave it simple). Home Depot and Lowes carry schedule 40 PVC. I was curious to see if I could find schedule 80 or 120 from a plumbing or electrical supply. It would be thicker and heavier. We argued for quite a bit that a horse jumping and bumping PVC can break it until we went to the store and looked at what they had. When he realized all I knew of was schedule 40, he agreed they could break that but thought one of the other schedules would be sturdier.

[LAZ]

My fiance is an engineer or I would have never known this and I'm curious to give it a try. I guess PVC comes in different thicknesses (there is more to the differences, but I'll leave it simple). Home Depot and Lowes carry schedule 40 PVC. I was curious to see if I could find schedule 80 or 120 from a plumbing or electrical supply. It would be thicker and heavier. We argued for quite a bit that a horse jumping and bumping PVC can break it until we went to the store and looked at what they had. When he realized all I knew of was schedule 40, he agreed they could break that but thought one of the other schedules would be sturdier.

I would be absolutely, postively sure that if you do this you fill the pole with something to make it heavy. PVC will bounce out in front of a horse if it hits with a front foot, and it can tangle up in the front legs on landing and/or the stride afterwards. It makes for a horrible crash when a pole is wedged between the horses front legs....

[EastCoastJumps]

The PVC rails are often sold as sleeves, or suggested that they be weighed down in some manner. The sleeves are made to go over wooden rails. They will have a lot more flex then say a wooden rail or a 4'x4'. Also some of the cheaper/thinner plastics can quickly degrade if kept outside in the elements, which could cause them to break prematurely. As previously stated, the plastic rails are much lighter and if it will flex and boune, potentially causing injury to the rider. If using plastic rails, it would be advised to buy end caps and using something such as sand to fill the rail. Just filling it half way would reduce flex and should add enough weight to let gravity take over. The end caps are cheap, and a bag of play sand is a few bucks at your local hardware store.
If you are looking for safety over cost, you're better off sticking with the old fashioned wooden rails. Many riding clubs/organizations have actually written into their rule books that wooden rails must be used, for safety reasons.
If you are looking for traditional rails at a reasonable price, try asking for seconds. If they are just for a practice course and you aren't overly concerned about appearance, this can be a more cost effective/safer way of going about things.

[GiGi]

I am replacing my PVC poles. I had a very bad fall and thank goodness my instuctor was there. Normally I jump by myself with my cell phone on. It was the end of a gymnastics and only 2' but my mare hit the pole with her back legs sending it flying into her front legs while she was landing and fell on her knees and face. Luckily all she had was a bloody inner lip and just a chiro visit a week later. I however hyperextented all the muscles, tendons etc. to do with the front/inside of my right hip and got mild concussion. So I got narrow poles to weight down the PVC pipes till I can get them all replaced. I have 3 wooden pools that I think very carefully now where I want them just incase.

[aiken4horses]

4" X 4" x 12' poles from local lumber company, they cut all the corners for me to make "proper" jump poles - $16 a piece

keep some square for ground poles - they wont roll!

If your horse learns he can "go thru" the plastic poles at home, he's in for a hellava surprise at a show when he hits a SOLID one!

[NRB]

12' long machine milled round poles from a place in MD paid $13 and change per pole. (I bought the ones that measured a titch under 4" wide/round. ) I can't find the website anymore. Marlboro Equine Services, a division of Cedar Fences. 301-599-6100 they are in Upper marlboro Md.

For a few years before buying their poles I used the 8' long landscape timbers from Lowes or Home Depot. I would wait until they went on sale for 2.99 a pole. They are great to start out with but if your horse drifts at all those standards start to get too close to your knees. And I have bad knees.