I'm soooo excited to be a blog contributor for my very first time ever! I'm Delaney (and Coco's) mom. I also take lessons with Coco and spend a lot of time in general with he and Delaney at the barn. I really love designing and building jumps. This is not my first one and definitely wont be my last! A good jump can really change the look of a ring and having a variety is really helpful to prep for all the spooky jumps at horse shows. The only problem is that it gets expensive really fast. That's why Delaney and I like to make our own jumps! This way you not only save money, but you can make it however you want it.
After going to the K3DE, Delaney and I got the grand idea to try and build our own liverpool. It was something our horses hadn't seen or done before so we thought we'd give it a shot. I did some research online and found some instructions for some that others had made, but didn't see any that met my expectations so we ended up just coming up with our own.
So to begin, you'll need landscaping timbers, a pond liner sheet, and some wood screws. You'll also need a saw to cut the wood frame, a drill, an exacto knife or scissors, and a heavy duty stapler to attach the liner to the frame. We made our liverpool about 6 ft. by 3 ft. The six foot length fits perfectly under a jump with 8 ft. poles. To make a 6x3 frame, we used 3 six foot landscaping timbers. One of those you will cut in half. Then you'll simply screw the four pieces (2 six foots lengths and 2 three foot lengths) together with wood screws. We found that drilling the screws in at an angle helped hold the frame together better. I apologizing for not taking pictures throughout the process, but you'll end up with a 6x3 rectangular frame... pretty simple. And of course, you can make your frame any size that you like.
The next step is to attach the liner. By the way, I was REALLY pleased with the liner we found. It is a perfect size (6x10) so you're not paying for a bunch of extra that you don't need, and this liner is super thick and very durable. It really is pretty perfect for this application.
I wanted the ability to actually fill the pool, so in order to determine where to attach the liner, I put the frame on level ground, placed the liner evenly over the frame and filled the pond with water. This allowed the liner to settle in around the edges of the frame. I then used my heavy duty stapler to staple the liner around the lower outside edges of the pool, trying to smooth out any wrinkles and fold the corners in as neatly as possible. Again, I didn't take photos as I was working, but here is a general idea of what it looks like, as well as how it fits under an 8 ft. pole.
The last step in the process, is to trim the excess plastic around the edges with an Exacto or box knife or just a pair of scissors. I did not think to bring a box knife, so I used the scissors from Coco's tack trunk. 😂Also, if you live in an area with mega mosquitos like we do, and wont be moving your jump often, I would recommend putting a preventative in the water like these.
And there you have it! It really wasn't difficult or expensive and didn't take long at all to complete from start to finish. I hope this has been helpful! Let us know if it was or if you'd be interested in seeing any of our other jump projects!
-Landscape Timbers
https://www.homedepot.com/p/8-ft-Landscape-Timber-288731/301802514
-wood screws
-Pond Liner
-Mosquito repellant
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