Plastic Vs. Wood Horse Jumps

Whether purchased or built at home, jumps are an investment in your horse’s training. You’ll need a minimum of eight sets of standards and poles, more if budget and space allow, to create a diverse variety of obstacles and courses to prepare your horse for a show jumping competition. For maximum benefit, jumps should be safe and durable. Several factors should be considered before purchasing or building jumps.

  1. Durability

    • Wood jump poles and standards will rot if exposed to rain or moist conditions. Over time, wood jump standards become less sturdy as the wood expands and contracts with temperature changes. Wood is better suited to covered or indoor arenas; if used in outdoor arenas, wood standards should be stored in a covered location when not in use. PVC jumps, if not treated with modifiers to increase flexibility, will crack after being exposed to harsh sunlight over time.

    Portability

    • To create a variety of courses over which to train your horse, jumps should be easy to move. PVC jumps weigh less than wood jumps, making it easier to put them up, take them down and move them around the arena to create verticals, oxers and combinations in different patterns as needed. Already heavier than PVC jumps, wood jumps become even heavier when wet, making them more difficult to move.

    Visibility

    • Jumps are traditionally either white or brightly colored to increase visibility for the horse. Wood jumps should be painted. When paint fades, wood jumps need to be repainted or touched up. If wood jumps are not painted, the brown or weathered gray color can blend in with the footing of your arena. PVC jumps don’t have a tendency to fade, instead maintaining their original bright coloring and remaining highly visible.

    Availability

    • Both PVC and wood horse jumps are available online, through catalogs, or in equestrian stores. If you are building jumps at home, it is easier and more cost-effective to make standards out of wood. Jump poles can be made out of wood poles, available at garden or hardware stores, or PVC pipe, available at plumbing or hardware stores.

    Pricing

    • Wood is a less expensive material than PVC. Thanks to the computerization of the manufacturing process, the cost of labor to build PVC jumps has been reduced to just a portion of the cost of labor to build wood jumps. Wood jumps and PVC jumps are comparably priced when purchased. However, if you are building jumps yourself, making them out of wood is the cheaper option.