Horse bridge for trail class

[TheMan419]

So my wife wants me to build a horse bridge for trail class. One set of plans is here Build Your Own Trail Bridge - AQHA

I don't know why this is confusing me so much. Plans call for 3/4 inch "CAT Rated Sheathing plywood". How is this different from "plywood"? I have some 3/4 inch plywood in stock from another project. However I don't want to use it if it is not going to suppor the horse.

All the other materials I have. Not opposed to going and buying a sheet of plywood. Just never heard of the difference. Also when I punch that item into Lowes website alot of stuff comes up but nothing that caims to be "CAT rated".

Am I missing something?

 

[gsganzer]

It just means load bearing rated plywood. What you have should work.

 

[ponytug]

I am not sure what your intended use is; functional bridge or obstacle.

This is meant to be helpful, but that "bridge" sure looks like a show / pen obstacle bridge. It looks to me like it was designed to sound "hollow" and give horses a hard time. It will not be durable outside in my opinion. If this is for use in a ring, go for it.

Personally for exterior use, I would not use plywood in a horse bridge. I would look for a design with large timber or I beam supports, and 2" decking with gaps to shed dirt and water. Horses will skid out less on it, and won't be as nervous because the sound is deeper. I ride arabians out on trails with lots of obstacles, and I appreciate their concerns for good footing as I am the one who is going to be flying... I prefer lag bolts over nails around horses, for obvious reasons, but that's just me.

All the best,

Peter

 

[TheMan419]

I am not sure what your intended use is; functional bridge or obstacle.

This is meant to be helpful, but that "bridge" sure looks like a show / pen obstacle bridge. It looks to me like it was designed to sound "hollow" and give horses a hard time. It will not be durable outside in my opinion. If this is for use in a ring, go for it.

Personally for exterior use, I would not use plywood in a horse bridge. I would look for a design with large timber or I beam supports, and 2" decking with gaps to shed dirt and water. Horses will skid out less on it, and won't be as nervous because the sound is deeper. I ride arabians out on trails with lots of obstacles, and I appreciate their concerns for good footing as I am the one who is going to be flying... I prefer lag bolts over nails around horses, for obvious reasons, but that's just me.

All the best,

Peter

No it is not functional whatsoever. It's purpose is to demostrate the horse has the confidence in you as the rider to walk over that thing as scary as it may seem to a horse. THey cannot fathom the sides are only 3 inches off the ground. They think if they step off the sides they fall off a cliff.

I realize it would not be actually usefull as a bridge over a river or something.

 

[ponytug]

Excellent! Should work perfectly.

All the best,

Peter

 

[WM75Guy]

Obstacles like that are important training aids. At a dressage barn playday my daughter was riding her 20 y/o quarter horse. One of the challenges was a white bedsheet staked down in the arena. Our horse was the only one that would trot across it. First time he slowed a bit before crossing it, after that he went right across. The rest were mostly warmbloods. Some of the dressage divas ended up in the dirt trying to get their horse to cross across it. Their horses didn't have the trust in the rider they thought they had instilled in them.

 

[ponytug]

That bridge will be great training. A tarp is another one, especially a tarp that catches wind... just sayin'... oddly enough a short rope gets a lot of horses (fear of snakes?).

From what I have seen, a lot of warmbloods never get the opportunity to get out and experience more of the world. I have a vivid memory of one dressage rider telling another warm blood dressage rider to leave the practice arena because the second rider's long hair was bothering the first rider's horse... Um yeah...

House rules are that you are allowed to flinch, but you have to touch the item with your nose afterwards. Teleporting sideways is frowned upon.

In the words of the wise one, "There is do. Or do not. There is no try."

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

That bridge will be great training. A tarp is another one, especially a tarp that catches wind... just sayin'... oddly enough a short rope gets a lot of horses (fear of snakes?).

From what I have seen, a lot of warmbloods never get the opportunity to get out and experience more of the world. I have a vivid memory of one dressage rider telling another warm blood dressage rider to leave the practice arena because the second rider's long hair was bothering the first rider's horse... Um yeah...

House rules are that you are allowed to flinch, but you have to touch the item with your nose afterwards. Teleporting sideways is frowned upon.

In the words of the wise one, "There is do. Or do not. There is no try."

All the best,

Peter

Ages ago, my wife wanted to get me a horse.. I got on this horse, not super steady (I rode maybe a couple times as a kid?), and started riding it around this little ring. My hat was wobbling on my head (I wasn't posting and my head was probably wobbly too) so I grabbed it and frisbee'd it out of the ring.

Found out later that the fact that the horse completely ignored this UFO helped convince my wife that it was a steady horse!

 

[gsganzer]

My oldest daughter trains horses and she's always out doing things to help desensitize the horse and build confidence/trust. She does playdays often and we routinely haul a younger horse with us (long before they're old enough to ride) just to expose them to things.

At one of the playdays/clinics, they had one of those tall gumby things that stays erect with a fan and bends and darts with the wind, like you see in front of used car lots etc. Every horse was sure that thing was going to try kill them.

 

[TheMan419]

My wife trains for a living. She is a dressage rider but does a lot of cross training. She even works cows and ropes.

Desensitization is a big part of it. Tarps, umbrella, poles, all kinds of odd things.

one horse in training just has a hard time backing out of our step down trailer. So she is thinking the bridge will help. Makes it a lot easier to train him on that than having to hook up and move the trailer all the time. Then when he is used to this we can go back to working with the trailer.

should be a very easy thing to build.

 

[ponytug]

Great thought on how to help the horse.

I have been around a few horses that had trouble with backing out of a trailer, and not just step down ones. Practice makes perfect, and I think doing it under training, rather than at the end of a trailering helps. I have known some folks who just took to feeding the horse in the trailer, moving the hay further and further into the trailer as the horse got used to it. My current horse needed to go one step in, and back out a few times before he had confidence in it. When we first got him he leapt in and leapt out of the trailer. Literally. Worked ok in a livestock trailer, but wasn't exactly safe, and not really suitable for a slant load trailer, not that he didn't pull it off once. To be fair to him, we were new to him at the time, which makes it harder to build trust.

My favorite step down trust moment was with a friend's horse that I was riding in a 75 mile ride along the California coast. It was an amazing ride through a wide variety of habitats and ecosystems from all out desert to lush practically temperate rain forest. The route included logging roads, park trails, and, at a few points, basically bushwhacking. About half way through, the trail had been rerouted due to a trail failure from an El Niño washout. We were going through thick brush down a steep section of single track. (Ok, the trail was basically a bushwhacking shortcut that the organizers had put in.) I was leading the horse because it was such a steep downhill, and we came to a four or five foot high rock outcrop. The trail went straight over it, and the horse plainly conveyed that he didn't think it was something he was up for. He was never great going downhill because of his conformation, which is why I always used to walk or jog downhill with him. The brush was so thick that there wasn't really another option for us. I thought for a bit, and knew that he trusted me, so I picked up a front hoof and placed it on a step like bulge on the outcrop. He seemed ok with it, so I picked up the other front hoof and put it a bit farther down on another bulge, and then went back to help him with the other front hoof, and we repeated the routine. He tiptoed down the outcrop with my help, and we went on our way. It is always so wonderful to have a horse that trusts you!

Afterwards, I heard that more than a few riders had interesting experiences on that section, but I was, and am, thankful for his trust that I would get him through something that was not in his comfort zone. He was an amazing trail horse and would go all day if you let him go at his pace, once finishing the Western States 100 in such great shape that in the finish barns at the end of the race we had more than a few people comment on how nice it was for us to have brought a barn buddy to the finish line to keep a competition horse company. I think he actually gained weight on the 100 mile ride. A great horse in his own way.

I am a big fan of training and cross training with horses. My wife used to compete in dressage. We do more than a little dressage, and I think it helps so much on the trails. It certainly improves horse / rider communication, and I think good communication builds trust. Both ways.

All the best,

Peter

 

[rgr33]

Many years ago. I was trail riding with a really mellow horse I had ridden for years.

About a mile into the ride, Chief spotted a flattened faded milk carton On the trail.
In his eyes, that thing must have looked like a horse eating dragon.

After trying hard to reassure him, I finally admitted defeat, and headed back to the barn. The trip back home was about 3 times fas than normal.

Still miss that horse.

 

[grsthegreat]

My wife trains for a living. She is a dressage rider but does a lot of cross training. She even works cows and ropes.

Desensitization is a big part of it. Tarps, umbrella, poles, all kinds of odd things.

one horse in training just has a hard time backing out of our step down trailer. So she is thinking the bridge will help. Makes it a lot easier to train him on that than having to hook up and move the trailer all the time. Then when he is used to this we can go back to working with the trailer.

should be a very easy thing to build.

i had one horse that hated going into a 2 horse trailer. so i parked truck and trailer in her stall and fed her out of the trailer. in no time at all she loved going into the trailer.

 

[TheMan419]

i had one horse that hated going into a 2 horse trailer. so i parked truck and trailer in her stall and fed her out of the trailer. in no time at all she loved going into the trailer.

This particular horse is an Off the Track Thoroughbred. He will go IN the trailer just fine. It is a starting gate as far as he is concerned. However OTTBs will NOT back out because if they backed out of the starting gate they were punished at the track.

So we just need to work with him to understand that DOES NOT happen at Mrs. TheMan's Dressage training.

Getting him to back up off the bridge should help. Likely he needs to be further desensitized throgh our whole gamut of "toys" to make him realize no matter what is going on he is safe with Mrs. TheMan at the helm.

I just build the toys she asks for. Need to build them right so no horses or humans get hurt.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Instead of a bridge we often use a tarp at 4H events. We have a 'bridge' built with a 2x4 frame and plywood on top but it is heavy to move with three people, if I remember right I think the 2x4 cross members are on 12" centers.

The tarp is a good one too, I have used blue, black and silver tarps and they became used to them. A white bed sheet has also been used and they got used to it.

 

[TheMan419]

Instead of a bridge we often use a tarp at 4H events. We have a 'bridge' built with a 2x4 frame and plywood on top but it is heavy to move with three people, if I remember right I think the 2x4 cross members are on 12" centers.

The tarp is a good one too, I have used blue, black and silver tarps and they became used to them. A white bed sheet has also been used and they got used to it.

Yes we use a tarp as a desensitizing tool as well. As for moving the bridge I was thinking of cutting in some pockets for forks. They are heavy as all get out. I mean 3/4 of a sheet of plywood alone is pushing 50 pounds not to mention the 2x4 frame and cross members.

 

[grsthegreat]

Price out plywood and 2X material. The bridge will cost more than any other obstacle at show.

 

[TheMan419]

Price out plywood and 2X material. The bridge will cost more than any other obstacle at show.

I have a sheet of plywood in stock from a prior project and I have an insane number of 2x4's left over from when they built our pole barn. Like 100 of them that are 20+ feet long. This weekend I am gonna count them and list them on FB Market place. They are probably worht $20+ each.