End-of-Season Storage for Your Show Jumps

Most damage to show jumps does not happen while they are being jumped. It happens in the months they sit in a heap at the end of an arena. A single afternoon spent packing down properly is the difference between a set that looks new in three years and one that does not.

1. Strip the jumps down

Take the poles off, lift out the cups, and separate fillers from wings. Aluminium is light enough that two people can move a full training area quickly, so there is no excuse for dragging assembled fences across the surface.

2. Wash and dry everything

Sand and grit hold moisture. Brush it off, wash the aluminium and UPVC with warm water and a mild detergent, rinse, and — this is the important part — let everything dry fully before it is stacked or covered. Anything put away damp and wrapped up is the one way to get marks on a finish that would otherwise have shrugged the winter off.

3. Count and bag the small parts

• Nylon cups and FEI-standard safety cups into a labelled box or bucket — not loose in a corner where they get walked into the sand.
• Note what is cracked or missing now, while you can see it, so you order replacements before the first session back rather than on the morning of it.

4. Store poles flat and off the ground

Capped 3m timber poles want to be supported along their length or stood upright — not left in a sagging pile or lying in water. Check the end caps are on; that cap is the pole's weather protection.

5. Empty the water tray

Drain it, rinse it, dry it, and store it flat and out of direct sun rather than propped against a wall where it can bow.

6. Stack fillers face to face

Standing fillers stack best face to face so the printed UPVC surfaces are protected by each other rather than rubbing against a block wall or a gate.

7. Pick the right space

Dry, ventilated, out of standing water. A shed, a bay in the barn, or a corner of a covered arena is plenty. Aluminium does not need a heated room — it just does better where air can move around it.

Coming back out

Before the first session, re-run the weekly check: wings straight, cups sound, safety cups releasing, poles capped, sandbags on the feet. Set up on level ground, sandbag anything outdoors, and you are schooling again inside twenty minutes.

If a component did not survive the winter, message us on WhatsApp at 085 2465845 — we can sort replacement poles, cups and fillers, with delivery or collection across Ireland.