Contributor Madison Ricard of Three Bays Jumping recently relocated her talented string of jumpers to a dressage barn which welcomed her with open arms, but it did mean having to get creative developing her own jump equipment. Madison has kindly agreed to share her secrets with us over the next few weeks in a series of DIY arena gear! See Madison’s previous posts here and here.
From Madison:
Want to build some new jump fill? These pallets are super easy to construct, and look great when painted up! All you need are 1×6 boards, a 2×4, a door hinge and some screws.
I actually already had 8 of these pallets, my parents used them to place dog beds on when they bred dogs a long time ago. After having them lay around for many years, I finally decided to repurpose them as jumps!
To construct one pallet, cut 4 1×6 boards of the desired width of your fill. Mine are 2’10” wide (86cm), but they can be any length you wish. Then, measure out how tall you want your pallets to be. I believe mine are 2’5″ (73cm) tall, but this can vary depending on how much space you want between each of your boards.
Get some screws that are appropriate for 2″ thick material, either 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ screws. Line up your boards as shown above, and get to work! Two screws at each intersection should be plenty.
Next comes building the stand. I cut an 18″ 2×4 board and attached it to one side of the door hinge with 3 screws. You could probably use 1×6 board for this step as well, if you don’t have extra 2×4 to spare.
I attached the other side of the doorhinge to the top of the 3rd highest pallet board (see diagram below).
Please note the attachment of the hinge to the 2×4 and pallet as shown below. The pin of the doorhinge must be facing upward with the two boards attached to the outside of it, so it can fold completely flat against the pallet. The screws are shown in orange.
After you have the stand attached, you should be able to prop up your new jump fill! They will also fold flat for easy storage. All that’s left to do is paint them up, or you can leave them natural. Here are two more examples of mine:
Enjoy building! I would love to see what you guys come up with!
Madison Ricard of ThreeBaysJumping.com grew up on the Arabian show circuit, but was bitten by the show jumping bug at an early age. As a teenager, she and her two intrepid Arabians took the show jumping world by storm, with great success up to 1.10m. After taking down one too many rails with her own feet, she moved onto bigger warmbloods who actually take up her long legs. Her current show string is Manny, Diego and Seven (the three bays in Three Bays Jumping!), competing up to 1.30m. She is most likely found either at the barn, or studying for her veterinary degree.