www.equitility.com
Equitility Training Banners
Equitility Training

Equitility is brightening up the riding world – by turning the schooling area into an equine playground!.

Rebecca Slough has recently launched her own brand, Equitility, to design and manufacture jump and training banners for everyone from the amateur enthusiast to riding clubs and even professional coaches.

What’s more the initial proto-types for the banners have not only been tried and tested by her own team, they have also been subjected to a “toughness test” by Jim, her Jumbo yearling.

"We let Jim loose in the outdoor school with a banner laid out on the ground, " says Rebecca. "This became the object of fascination. From an initial cautious approach, he was soon walking all over it and pawing at it. Eventually he picked it up and ran off with it. What a great way to learn that the banners were both horse-proof and not worth being frightened of!"

Rebecca got the idea of jump and training banners at the beginning of 2009 when she was working with her own horses. She had just realised a life-long desire to have her own all-weather arena. She had also managed to lay her hands on some third-hand wings and poles.

"They were all a little shabby but serviceable," she says. “and I would drape rugs over the poles to make fillers. My background is design. So it wasn’t a huge leap of the imagination to combine my experience with large format printing and the need for jump fillers!

"The idea grew as I realised that a vinyl filler had advantages over a rigid filler for many reasons. It could be multi-purpose, used as a vertical filler or laying it out on the ground as a surface change to walk or a water tray under a jump."

"The first prototype was soon being used for all sorts of training exercises from letting my yearling, Jim, play around with it and cart it off, to stopping one of the older boys from panicking when going through a narrow space by re-constructing it in the school." "The training banners have also proved to be so much easier to handle. They are light to move around and to store. I found the best way was to remove the bottom pole and then roll them round the top pole and stack them."

And so the Equitility Training Banner was born …

Printed in full colour, they are made of a durable vinyl or mesh, designed with a ‘sleeve’ top and bottom. Simply slip a pole into the top sleeve and hang it from a standard jump cup. Then slip a second pole into the bottom to secure. They come not only in the traditional show jump designs but also with walls, logs and tyres.

Says Rebecca, "Think of your arena as an equine playground. You can divide the space up into different sized areas to move between, create a narrow corridor to pass through and introduce a surface change to step over. The more you can expose your horse to all kinds of obstacles in the controlled environment of the school the better equipped you will both be when meeting a similar situation outside – that narrow gateway you have to get through while out on a hack, those ring side banners at shows he always spooks at, that water tray he always backs off of. All that can now be re-created at home."

Local rider Jo had great trouble getting BB, a 16.1hh hand ID x thoroughbred, to pop a ditch without launching himself and Jo into orbit. By using an Equitility Training Banner rolled round a trotting pole they were able to help BB happily step over it first, in walk and then, in trot, and then, little by little, by rolling the banner out persuade him to eventually jump over it in a relaxed manner.

"This is something I can now practice at home regularly and hopefully BB will be able to take that experience with him when we come across a ditch away from home," says Jo. "I am more confident too."

Equitility are continually adding to the different ranges with new designs and themes to both keep jumps looking fresh and make horses aware of more new and different fences and panels.

"Off the shelf" banners are 75cm high (Don’t forget banners can be rolled round poles to reduce height so you don’t have to jump 2’ 6”!) and come in the following sizes:

Skinny - to fit 1.8m (5'10") poles Standard - to fit 3m (10') poles Wide - to fit 3.5m (12') poles X-Country - to fit 3.5m (10') poles The X-Country size is higher to allow enough banner to create a 3 dimensional looking jump eg log pile - see their 'How To Use' section at www.equitility.com

Equitility Training Banners can also be totally custom made for both size and printed design. Available single or double sided on Equi-Vinyl, Equi-Mesh or 100% Equi-Recyclable, finishing can include eyelets so they can be tied to a fence or whatever.

Equility Training Banners are currently being used by happy hackers as well as, among others, Nick Turner FBHS, advanced event rider; Joy Dawes and Ernest Dillon, FBHS, official BSJA trainer. Not to mention all types of horses from foals to retired veterans.

They are genuinely a sign of the times.