Green Horses and PVC Fences yay or nay?

[tisor]

Does anyone have any thoughts pro or con about starting a green hunter/jumper on PVC fences? Because they are so light, will a horse not learn to respect them as much as they would a heavier fence?

[spmoonie]

I would say Nay. You want them to learn to pick up their feet. They dont seem to respect PVC poles as much. Not to mention, they can be dangerous if they break, which is more likely than with a wooden pole. JMO. :)

[tidy rabbit]

NAY. Not just for the green horse, but any horse. PVC standards are fine, in my opinion, just get yourself good heavy wood poles.

[grandprixjump]

Put the wood inserts into the top rails. that way the ones they will hit are heavy and make them respect the poles...

[AddingStrides]

I've used PVC fences and poles to train greenies and don't have any trouble getting them to respect the poles----maybe I'm the except?

I'll tell ya one thing, tho'. It's sure a lot easier to move PVC poles than wood ones.

[Mtn trails]

Definitely wood poles. On another board that is a local PNW one, someone posted pics of their daughter learning to jump and her pony just ran through the poles because they were lightweight PVC and he wasn't picking up his feet at all. I recommended they use wood poles and she got all up in arms about it hurting the pony. I said you want it to hurt a little so he learns to pick up his feet and not hit the jumps. Luckily a lot of other people backed me up on the wood pole issue.

[EAY]

My big greenie does not respect PVC poles at all. I don't know how she does it but it seems like from a mile away she can tell which poles are wood and which ones are not. If I go through a grid with one PVC pole that's the one she's going to rub.

I've also heard that they can dangerously splinter, particularly when it's cold.

[NeverEnd]

No way! I'd prefer that they bang themselves a few times, rather than learn to disregard the fence. Speaking from experience, my lazy jumper greenie was started on PVC's bc that's all that was available. He didn't have to pick up his legs, bc the jump would just fall. NOW, with wooden poles he's learned to jump properly, but starting with the PVC's was definitely a set back.

[Seven-up]

I don't like light PVC poles for any horse, green or not.

[Couture TB]

I actually prefer to start my youngsters over small XC fences. Use to have a few different sized verticals made of large logs that I taught all my horses to jump over at the place I use to lease. They learned very quick to pick up their legs. And the ones that didn't in my mind wouldn't cut it for real OF work, because if they don't respect a solid jump then they wouldn't respect the stadium jumps.

[Woodsperson]

Don't like the pvc poles because they shatter too easily.

[alteringwego]

I dislike PVC poles in general so nay.

[cajunbelle]

I have seen a horse impaled in the chest with a pvc pole, please don't do it. Using pvc pipes as ground polls would be one thing, jumping them is another.

[Lkramer]

PVC without weight being added to them are dangerous. Without the weight, the horse can hit them and get tripped up in them. You can fill them with sand and put caps on the end, or add a few pieces of lumber inside them.

[TooManyChickens]

We've had a few extra sitting around so I use them as ground lines for the more experienced horses or to make 'yes you will go straight to this fence' runways up to and after fences, but I place them almost as wide as the standards are (around 10').. if they would be placed any closer, I use the wood ones.

[LuvMyTB]

We use them for ground lines and as 'filler' when creating looky jumps, but top rails are always wood.

The first time or two I jumped my greenie, I used PVC poles because they were just so easy to lift (I have a bad wrist that gives out sometimes with heavy stuff), but they fell down way too easily and, when you're schooling yourself, getting on and off to re-set jumps is a pain the @ss.

[meupatdoes]

I had a horse who was an EXCELLENT jumper that I trailered to go school in a nicer ring for a sale video.

Every jump was made out of PVC. Cute little plastic wall, cute little plastic gate, etc etc etc.


After one light tap, the horse learned he could mow through the jumps.
He who had been allergic to wood in all the time I knew him was now sending rails flying 20 feet in front of us. My eye would be on the rail to find the spot, and then it would be on the rail again as it sailed ahead of our jumping effort.
We made complete and total salad out of that course; five minutes later he was even stepping in the plastic walls.



Let me tell you how quick I set up a heavy wood box with a pointy-ended heavy wood picket gate behind it, some flower boxes and the heaviest rail I could find for the back rail when we got home and I cantered on down to that and was like, "OK, hot stuff, tap that."


The PVC untrained him amazingly quickly.
Good thing that picket gate had the reverse effect.

[HenryisBlaisin']

I wouldn't jump ANY horse over PVC, unless there was a wooden rail inside of it. PVC splinters when it breaks, leaving sharp, jagged ends. If a horse gets in trouble over one and gets tangled in a rail, it can become a life-threatening siutation very quickly if that rail breaks, because it can impale a horse. It might be a one in a million thing, but not something I'm willing to risk.

If the horse is old enough and physically developed to be jumping, a few raps from wooden rain won't hurt his, and it will teach him to get his legs up. You want fences that will come down, of course, but not that come down so easily that the horse learns that hitting a rail is NBD.

[goeslikestink]

no difference to them i trian and teach over both types of poles and also go to shows with both types i have done many a clinic with both types of poles ovously x/c poles are fixed and solid but sj doesnt nesscarily have to be wooden poles or plastic
the object is to get the horseover the jump between the two wing tips or posts whatever you like to call them
with proper training from ground poles to small grids and then small courses obvously flat work 1st then you shouldnt have a problem with either plastic pvc or wooden poles

[JstMyLuck3]

Yikes... I don't know if anyone has ever seen a PVC pole shatter when hit but it is very scary!! I'm talking sharp edges, tons of little pieces. The barn where I'm keeping my guys for the winter so we can use the indoor has 80% PVC poles. I'm not going to lie, they kind of scare me, greenie or not!!

[kellidahorsegirl]

I won't use them at all.

I know its hard to resist the temptation of how light and 'easy' they are to use, but they're just not a good idea, which has been stated very well in all the above posts.

Also, think about how you're teaching your horse at home that jumps are made of nice, light, forgiving materials.....then you go to a show and WHAM they hit a much more solid fence. SOME horses can get spooked badly by that and then what? Some might just pick up their feet next time too.

I've always been a believer in training ABOVE what you'll see at a show....and PVC light poles are BELOW what will be at a show based on my own experiences.

Heavy poles aren't really that heavy...its just a lazy/convenience thing for any of us.

[EquineRacers]

I say NA. I have tried them and the horses just don't respect them. They learn if they hit it, no big deal and get lazy.

[hntrjmprpro45]

Definitely don't use them for any horses. I had a student that I would drive out to her barn to work with. All she had was PVC, in one lesson alone her horse managed to break 2 of them- mostly because her horse had learned not to pick up her feet and just mow them down. They splinter and can seriously cut a horse. This horse was not hurt at all but I told them no more jumping PVC and had them come out to my barn to jump over wood rails. It made a ton of difference, horse was picking up her feet and not plowing through.