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Regular
Posts: 97
Location: Middle Tennessee | I'm here to get some advise and ideas on building an outdoor obstacle course. I have a good sized acre+ area that I would like to put some challanging obstacles on, but I'm not the most creative person, so I would like to enlist ideas from you good folks out there. All suggestions will be welcomed! |
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Expert
Posts: 2953
Location: North Carolina | Helium filled balloons !!! A whole string of them, head high, waving in the slightest wind, that you have to pass through !! "Not, I !!! " said my horse |
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Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah | Well I always like to teach a horse to open a gate with me in the saddle, Build your self a inexpensive gate out of PVC pipe that you can sidepass up to and swing open. I like a ramp for the horse to cross. Teach the horse to cross bridges. Something with a good hollow sound. A couple of 55 gallon barrels. You can stand them on end have the horse back through or around them. Lay them down to have the horse cross over. Some poles or ties that you can cross over Cavelletti style or lay down as a path marker. Go forward or back through. |
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Member
Posts: 25
Location: Edgerton,KS | Another one is a blue tarp for them to cross. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Kansas | If you're like me (cheap), flags or sheets tied to something, pinwheels that make lots of noise are good. The "thing" in breed show trail right now seems to be poles laid out like wheel spokes, sidepassing on a bridge, backing a "U". Flower boxes are both cheap and good (can you say "garage sale"). If you plan on road-riding, I'd enlist friends on bicycles and motorcycles to de-sensitize them. Those are the kinds of things that have typically spooked my horses. Have fun! |
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Veteran
Posts: 225
Location: Kansas City | For poles/logs to back through or sidepass over - buy landscape timbers with the flat sides. They won't roll when your horse hits them. A mail box on a post with a piece of chain in it. Sidepass up to the box and remove the chain with "noise." Hang a rain slicker on a post. Ride up to it, remove the slicker, and put it on.
Of course, just because you do this every day doesn't mean it will work on the exact day you need it to work... |
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Member
Posts: 38
Location: michigan | Water noodles are great training aids. (Those colorful pool toys) You can step over a number of them strewn about, or tie multiple noodles to jump standards and make your horse walk through them. Also, dragging an item such as a log or bag of empty aluminum cans. If you can pick up some hula hoops at the dollar store, they are handy for stepping in, or handling them around your horse. Opening and closing an umbrella while standing quietly is a good exercise, too. A discarded matress is great for walking over, but watch out for springs. |
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