Cavalettis, anyone still use them?

[alwaysbroke]

Just wondering if anyone still uses cavalettis, haven't seen them anywhere (apart from ebay last night!) since I came back to horses just over 10 yrs ago, but in my dim and distant childhood they were everywhere.

Wondering if they disappeared as they weren't considered safe, or for some other reason.

[FrodoBeutlin]

Yes, they are used a lot at our yard, both riding and lunging.

[Mabel98]

I remember them from Pony Club days but am sure they are now considered a safety hazard as they can roll. 'Blocs' seem to have superseded them

[Gamebird]

Heidi Woodhead has a set in her school and regularly uses them for teaching.

[Santa_Claus]

have 1 at the yard which is used regulary!

[henryhorn]

I haven't seen any in years, and stopped using them after I had a horrible accident with them.
I was jumping a young horse down a jumping lane of four jumps, first two were two on top of each other, last one was three with one on top of both the others.
Horse coped fine three times starting low end first so I went from the opposite end.
For some reason he didn't pick up enough and got his legs tangled in the jump, the lot rolled, bringing him crashing down, I flew off in front of him and he landed on my hand.
He broke three bones and I was lucky he didn't land on more of me!
The place I was training realised how unstable they were and stopped using them completely. They aren't like blocks which allow the pole to fall off, and if like I did you use several together they tend to tangle up in each other as they fall because of the ends.
I also feel the practice of using barrels upright for jump practice is lethal too, barrels are only safe when they have a substantial pole either side of them on the ground, as if knocked and a horse steps or lands on them they roll like mad.
The best thing we have here for polework are a load of grey tough plastic containers, propbably meant for oil, they are really useful with cut outs already in the design so you can make trotting poles of low to medium height, they cost me 29p each at an auction..

[TarrSteps]

I still see them around but even when I was young, the common wisdom was already that they shouldn't be stacked for exactly the reason hh described. I remember even the Pony Club collectively shaking its head at the pics in The Manual of Horsemanship of people jumping piles of them.

The Blocks and similar are a safer option, particularly if they're filled with sand/water for ballast. I've also seen wood blocks and a very cool "mini standard" set up. I had some holders made out of traffic cones that worked well, too.

[diggerbez]

i know that there are the safety issues with them hence why they aren't very common anymore...but my SJ trainer uses them- never stacked, but for trot and canter grids she does....

[TarrSteps]

I think they are very useful and would have a set to use as above, as I, personally, am not a huge fan of Bloks. I think part of what puts people off them now is storage and portability - it's just so much easier to move and store ones that come apart.

I had some squared off 6x6 and 8x8 logs that I used for the same purpose. They were quite narrow (helped with straightness) but still heavy enough not to roll. (And to be no fun to move, either.) I have issues with using jump rails on their own as poles on the ground, because I've seen some nasty accidents from horses stepping on them, so I use squared rails or planks instead.

It's one of those things, there are risks with every option.

[kevinhiatt]

Just making some cavalettis out of 4 x 4 timber to practice in school for my Belgium Warmblood Mare, had to make 4 as seem to be no longer available, will only be used in line not stacked.