Wooden or plastic showjumps?

[GerasHorse]

Hello,
I am interested in your opinion and experience with wooden vs plastic showjumps. Which ones are more durable? What is the catch with the maintenance of one or another? Which one do you prefer and why? When I checked web sites of the companies who are selling them, they both sound good, but I just need a practical point of view.

[Sammii]

We have both at our yard, from my point of view I prefer plastics as:
A) they are lighter, and easier to handle.
b) maintenance wise, they last longer than wood, and after it's been raining etc don't get heavier, just need a wipe and the wet's gone.
c) a lighter, less solid structure for the horse to land on, catch, rider to land on, than wood.

And you don't have to re-do the painting so often! :D

i've known http://www.polyjumps.com as a very good supplier!

[xxxkristinaxxx]

Plastic definately, they are more convinent, lighter and easier :)

[funkyfilly_sos]

Definatly Plastic Jumps. They are lighter to lift (but easier to knock off in some cases!) and, like Sammii said, they're colour seems to last longer without the need to be repainted. Now-a-days, Plastic Jumps are more popular i think....:rolleyes:

[Daffy Dilly]

Wood because they look prettier :p

It depends what I'm wanting to do tbh. I'm going to have a good mix once I get my act together. So plenty of lighter plastic ones for schooling when I have to put them away after, but then some good wooden ones for when a course can be left out. Plus wooden ones are cheaper in the initial layout. Obviously if you want to keep them looking pretty, then you'll be forking out for paint later on.

[roxycutie]

Hello. Welcome to NR! :) At my barn we only have wood. In Florida we have some unexpected bad storms with lots of wind during the summer and we cant have our jumps always blowing away! :p :rolleyes:

[Cabbitt]

For convenience purposes, plastic. But for the best training, you want wood.

Wood has the downside of being heavy, possibly rotting, chipping paint (if you choose to paint them), and being more breakable than plastic. But in my opinion, if you are training your horse to jump or compete, you absolutely need wood jumps. When a horse strikes a wood jump it will sting, and the horse will learn to respect the jumps and pick its legs up correctly. But if the horse strikes a plastic jump it barely notices and has no reason to improve, which isn't a situation you want to get into.
If you want to compete over fences, having rails down is basically a death sentence. If you're doing Hunters or Eq, then even tapping the jump without knocking it down is very bad. You want a jump your horse will respect. Of course, even wood poles should be set in a jump cut so that they'll fall if hit hard enough, to prevent injuries.
If you want cheap wood jumps, do to the local hardware store or gardening store and ask for landscaping timbers.

[GerasHorse]

Firs of all, I want to thank for your replies.
Regarding the maintenance plastic jumps are easier to use (lighter, more durable), but if you want to train a horse it is better to use wooden jumps (i saw some people are using metal jumps). Does that mean that yards who train their horses to jump plastic fences score less points in the arena? Many elite riders use (or advertise) plastic jumps, so if elite horses are tought to respect plastic jumps, then why to use wood (if it is not so rider-friendly).

[andreaB]

granted the plsatic ones are eay , BUT wood vey time for me

the plastic poles knock off too easy (i do have a couple) & when it comes down to it they are always wood at comps

wooden elements just build better more substantial fences that alot of horses respect more imo

[Horsesaddle]

were i ride they have wooden jumps but i think plastic jumps are a good idea

[Daffy Dilly]

For convenience purposes, plastic. But for the best training, you want wood.

Wood has the downside of being heavy, possibly rotting, chipping paint (if you choose to paint them), and being more breakable than plastic..

See I class that as a good thing. If me or my horse land on a jump, I want it to break rather than me.

I love plastic jumps from a lifting point of view, I hate carrying big wooden wings. :p

Perhaps a good combination for most people would be plastic wings (poles are easy enough to carry) with wooden poles.

[jackbruv]

For convenience purposes, plastic. But for the best training, you want wood.

Wood has the downside of being heavy, possibly rotting, chipping paint (if you choose to paint them), and being more breakable than plastic. But in my opinion, if you are training your horse to jump or compete, you absolutely need wood jumps. When a horse strikes a wood jump it will sting, and the horse will learn to respect the jumps and pick its legs up correctly. But if the horse strikes a plastic jump it barely notices and has no reason to improve, which isn't a situation you want to get into.
If you want to compete over fences, having rails down is basically a death sentence. If you're doing Hunters or Eq, then even tapping the jump without knocking it down is very bad. You want a jump your horse will respect. Of course, even wood poles should be set in a jump cut so that they'll fall if hit hard enough, to prevent injuries.

this is exacley what i think too.:)

[horse__obsessed]

i personally prefer plastic because it is sooo much lighter, plus some of our wooden ones are slowly rotting away, the paint is going and they are breaking a bit
plus the colours on plastic is better, but the major bonus is the weight

but in most competitions I have been to they have wooden jumps and so i would like my horse to train over wooden as then he will respect the poles more

if I was buying and wasnt going for a set containing everything, I would go for wooden poles but plastic wings

but if it had to be one or the other then plastic as they are soooo much easier.

[Herbie's mummy]

Plastic showjumps...but i like wood so when they knock it it wilol hurt them and eventuley they should learn to not knock a pole.
Plastic jumps do not hurt so they could easily become more clumsy.
And you have to have wooden workers jumps:)

[Hero]

Plastic showjumps,

[millie n pride]

We have wooden jumps for everyday use and plastic for shows. I prefer plastic coz they're soooo much lighter and easier to move :)

[EquineGal]

In Florida we have some unexpected bad storms with lots of wind during the summer and we cant have our jumps always blowing away! :p :rolleyes:

True True
But we still have plastic ones for most of our jumps. We have some wood but no one uses them really. They're mostly used to get the horses used to jumping different things or like some people mentioned to get the horse to realize "Hey it hurts if I hit this thing, maybe I shouldn't" But our wood ones are rotting in some places-another downside of summer storms.

[Nik-n-Kia]

I prefer wood as they don't blow away in the gales we've been having here recently :rolleyes:

My friends plastic poles ended up 4 fields dow with the cows stomping them to splinters :eek:

Only her wooden poles have survived unfortunately. Also kia respects wooden poles more as he hates to knock his legs on anything!!

Nikki xxx

[Harleyhorse]

I personaly prefuer wooden ones, yes they are heavier, yes there is more mantaince to them but when they have a fresh coat of paint they look great! And the horse do respect them more [or so I have seen] and they are what you see 99% of the time what you see at shows. At the barn I take lessons at we have mostly wooden ones [as we host shows] but we have a few plastic ones, and I'll tell you I would rather fall on no jump at all because both wooden and plastic hurt a lot, but the wood will break faster then plastic if the force is applyed!

[Izod1360]

Both barns I have been to have wooden poles. My old RS got new wooden poles each year and they painted them during the spring. I think that the wooden poles are much fanicer than plastic!

[Floob]

We have plastic jumps with wooden poles. Works really well.
Our jumpwings are jumpkins- nice triangular training jumps that are stackable and don't take up much room. Easily adjustable with jumpcups. For spreads just use 2 sets of jumpkins. They are abotu 3ft6 high and you can get extensions to make them higher.
I love them because they are light to move around and take up less space so that we can cramm 8 jumps into a 20x40 school

[hopewessx13]

I personally think that if you live in a place like Arizona, that's hot and not windy very often, plastic jumps are a wonderful thing. However, I live in New England, and plastic jumps are moe of an inconveince than a help. They're light and pretty, I'll give 'em that, but in the winter they shatter easily if you knock them, even if they're being used for crossrails. In my opinion, wooden jumps are sturdier and they're used in compitions, were as plastic jumps aren't normally. I must say, a combination would probably benifit you. If you use the plastic standards and wooden poles, you're probably set. Oh and just one more thing, when the PVC jumps and fences shatter, they break into many little pieces. I.E. If your horse knock down a pole with it's forelegs, then it shatters, and you fall on the landing (or even before) then chances are, you're going to get cuts from the sharp edges of the plastic jumps, and your horse might step on one and if it's a little tiny one, it could get caught in the sole of his hoof, eventually causing an abscese.

:) :p :) :p :) :p :) :) :D
blue = wooden
green = plastic
black = other

[Palomino Mare]

i remember back in the day when there only was wooden poles and wings!now i see plastic everything- like what are those wing things that look like steps??

i know it will be expensive but i would get both. every show is different and some establishments go plastic whilst other go for the wood effect!

Wooden poles do rot and go icky and slimey so try and keep them covered. If you get plastic poles i would fill them with sand. if the poles are light then horses can get lazy if their isnt a "crash bang wallop"!! if you then go a show with heavier poles or even do xc and the horse thinks that he can cheat and give a wee clip because it wont be scary....

[nutkin]

I always use wooden ones.I prefer them as others have said they are better if you knock them down as there is less chance of the horse landing on them and them rolling with you causing your horse to trip.They also teach a horse to pick their legs up better as they do hurt a bit if a horse knocks them. My hubby makes jumps and he prefers the heavier wooden poles,not from a weight perspective but because they last longer and look nicer.

[Fancy_mover23]

I really like the plastic ones. They are alot lighter, and if they are ever in the rain, they don't get all messed up. Plastic rules. And the plastic or PVC ones tend to look alot nicer when they are repainted.

[drewpoo22]

Definetly wood because, as mentioned before, horses won't respect plastic jumps and won't learn to jump cleanly. Yes, plastic jumps are lighter and probably less expensive but is it really worth it to have a horse that doesn't jump properly? Also wooden jumps are more traditional and look alot nicer. Plastic jumps break more easily than wooden jumps. Wooden ones will last a really long time if you maintain them properly.

[prettybluepony]

A couple of years ago we changed to plastics and we've never looked back. You can get weighted ones, with wood in the ends so if you are having no respect problems, but from the clumsy rider point of view it hurts A LOT LESS when a plastic jump lands on you! :)