Cross Country Fence Ideas.

Thankyou very much for all your ideas!!

haha ya my old crazy event trainer would take us schooling at a huge facility and we would always line up about 8-10 picinic table in a row and jump down the line ! The other riders thought we were nuts

CJ, you crack me up!!

I am just now getting my course back up after winter. We had some hay bales that didn't make it --- not up to snuff for feeding my kids so I am going to use them like the ones we have at Jack Rabbit Flats which is 2'3 and we have about 20 yuck bales so may be gett either a 2'7" or 2 smaller ones out of it...

We also have some tree trunks, railroad ties to put together. A friend has a bunch of tires and some heavy telephone poles. The poles could be great for this other jump we did at JRF or I have a bunch of peeler posts. Various brush debris to stack in front of jumps also for "hedges"

Now this boy has problems with ditches so we're schooling over a creek we have on the property .. not quite there yet.

And please don't comment harshly on my seat, this was my 1st time doing x-c with him -- shoot even jumping him period. I have 3 horses, all are different when it comes to my balance & their strides ... I was trying to figure out who is going to be best at eventing... so far this one sucks at dressage

Ottbrider - your horse is lovely and I just want to note that while I think your balance is fine and I understand he is green to jumping, please please release on his mouth. He's very behing the bid and the tight hold on him is inhibiting use of his back which is just going to teach him to jump awkwardly all the time. Also just a thought and I know you didn't ask for this so please feel free to ignore, but as a trainer I can't help but ask why you would jump a horse who has not jumped before over xc for the first time. I hope i'm just misunderstanding that, and if not please consider taking the horse back to the ring and building his confidence prior to facing him with solid obstacles. I've seen (and retrained) far too many horses who were rushed to XC because they showed talent and natural ability that wound up burnt out or brain fried. It can take minutes to blow a horse's confidence and it doesn't take a bad jump to scare them - sometimes they seem fine then one day they just go to pieces. Just food for thought.

You have a lovely horse and a nice soft position for the most part and I wish you all the success!

lol you should see the hunter pace around here!!!! Most of the jumps are 2'9"+ easily and go up to 3'9" with some just as wide. All on harsh terrain. There are more than a few on course (even the one we just did this weekend first ride out of the season) that you ride along the perimeter of a field then make a hard left and oops! Fence! And not a small log. Nope. I'm talking a 2'6" solid rock wall with a 1' wide log on top.... into the woods where - oops! Another hard turn this time right. If you go straight right into the trees you go up the side of a rocky mountain! Wheeeee!!!! Def taught me to trust my horse more. He's awesome in that he will take anything from anywhere now even when we have a 1/2 stride of an approach. I think my fave was a 2'9" brush box that literally THREE strides after landing was a road crossing. And the trail was only wide enough for 2 abreast so not even like you could jump, halt, then move out of the way lol.

Compared to that, jumping a couch is like cake ;)

MY grandpa is pretty talented in wood so im thinking of asking him to build like a duck or fish or something

CJ82Sky i can't help but ask why you would jump a horse who has not jumped before over xc for the first time.

Sorry let me clarify - I know I need to release him better, I am learning that. He actually trained for 2 yrs at a h/j barn before coming to a rescue at age 5. They were jumping him at 4' but was not staying sound.

I don't agree w/jumping that young & he has had 3 yrs off being a trail pony. We'd jump occasionally around 2' level out on trails. Only for the last 2 months I've been in jump lessons with him. We're doing arg. Timed 2'3" level. This was his 2nd trip to JRF, but the first time was short & we stayed with haybales and small logs, nothing over 2' ... this was my first time at this height w/him...the 2nd photo actually surprised me he went for it, its a hogs back and my other friends' horses shied at it first. He's very bold and confident at the fences... gulp...I need to get that way.

But as a trainer I respect your comment and will work harder. I just got my course set up at home so we can practice practice practice. I've been devoring this month's practical horseman which is about eventing

ok that makes a LOT more sense :) I figured there was more to the story that I didn't know which is why I asked! Thank you for clarifying. You have a lovely soft position esp for a green horse out xc. Just give him a big release - huge even - and I think the rest will follow. He's quite lovely and it looks like you both make a great pair!