Stepping up with simple do-it-yourself cavalettis

I just love easy solutions, and this one fit the bill nicely. Our Morgan mare is a sweetheart, and I wanted to use cavalettis to encourage her to step things up a little. We’d done plenty of trot poles, so we were ready for a slightly more upbeat exercise.

Plastic Cavaletti Jump Blocks are available in tack shops and online. These are quite handy, but they are a little pricey. I found a pair on Amazon for about $60 (plus shipping).

So I started thinking. (I know. Alert the media.) I poked around in my garden shed and my basement and came up with something that actually worked quite well.

Back in the Dark Ages, when my kids were little, I picked up a couple of those Little Tikes blue and white molded plastic step stools. We used them all over the house. The kids climbed up on these little benches to cut out Christmas cookies. We set them in chairs as booster seats. And we placed them in the bathrooms when the kids were ready to use the big potties.

Then we sort of tucked the step stools away and forgot about them.

So I pulled the pair of plastic step stools out, dusted them off, and carted them off to the horse barn. I flipped them over in the riding arena, and placed a jump pole across them.

Voila! Instant cavaletti.

By the way, that Morgan mare almost immediately picked up the pace and added some elevation to her gait.

Where can you find these handy molded plastic step stools?

The Little Tikes step stools used to cost about $10 apiece. I think they’ve been discontinued, but there seem to be plenty on eBay. Here are a few similar products:

Graco Transitions Step Stool

Kids R Us Step Stool

Ikea Bolmen Slip Resistant Step Stool

Sofia - The First Step Stool

The secret is to look for sturdy and solid step stools that have arched bases, as these hold jump poles nicely. Folding step stools tend to be flimsier and not work as well. And who cares if the stools sport cartoon characters or bright colors?

Little step stools tend to cost lot less than shelling out $60+ at the tack shop. OK, sure. The plastic cavaletti blocks can be flipped to make jumps of varying heights. But for simple low cavalettis, the step stools are the bomb.

Image:

Photo by Linda Ann Nickerson for The Mane Point.

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Gelderlander – A-Z Intriguing Horse Breeds in Pictures

The Gelderlander is a Dutch Warmblood horse that was long bred for carriage driving and jumping. Average height for a Gelderlander runs from 15.2 to 16 hands. Breeding of Gelderlanders, once considerably more popular, has declined in the past half century.

 

Gelderlander, by S.O.

Public Domain

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Dales Pony – A-Z Intriguing Horse Breeds in Pictures

The Dales Pony, native to the United Kingdom, excels in cross-country, dressage, driving, endurance, and jumping. The hardy moorland pony is strong enough to carry adults as well as children.

 

Dales Pony Stallion

by Annapennell

Creative Commons Licensing

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Juggling Jump Cups

Equestrian jumpers know the simple truth. Jump cups tend to walk away by themselves. And they never vanish in pairs, only singly, sort of like errant socks in the laundry.

Fortunately, jump cups are readily available.

Here are a few jump cups we’ve found – both plastic and metal.

• Dapple Equine One Piece Jump Cups -for Round Rails
• EquiRoyal Jump Cups
• Intrepid International Metal Jump Cups  
• Intrepid International Plastic Jump Cups  
• Jump Cups - Metal
• Perri's Jump Cups
• Pin-less Jump Cups Black
• Roma Competiton Jump Cups  
• Roma Plastic Jump Cups with Pins  

Hunters and jumpers may go to the mat over which is better, plastic or metal. Some prefer lighter, rust-free jump cups. Others swear by the less breakable metal ones. Take your pick.

Have you ever made your own horse jumps?(Click for easy instructions.)

It’s not all that difficult. We’ve constructed plenty and found horse jump creation to be a fun spring break or weekend project. You just need a few poles, some wooden beams, a drill, a screwdriver, some heavy-duty screws, and paint.

Pick up a few extra paintbrushes, as enthusiastic volunteers tend to show up for the finishing touches.

What do you do with your jump cups, when you’re not jumping?

We usually keep ours in recycled kitty litter buckets. One of my personal pet peeves is finding jump cups half-buried in riding arena sand (even around the edges or in corners), where a horse might step on them.

Another pet peeve of mine, while we’re at it, is seeing jump cups still attached to the jump standards, especially if the cups are pointed outwards into the arena. They seem to beg someone to land on them or a horse to rub a bit too closely. I’ve seen horses scrape their sides – or even topple standards – this way.

Let’s pull those jump pins when we’re done, and pack the jump cups in a pail. Much safer. (OK, moms never stop being moms – particularly horse moms!)

The Mane Point: A Haven for Horse Lovers is participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge again this year. Stop on back, so you don’t miss a single post!

Image/s:

EquiRoyal Jump Cup – in Red

Product photo – fair use

Blog series graphics created by this user

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