JJ’s Junior Jumping make pukkah little show jumps for you to erect in your back garden and leap over with your imaginary horses – stripey poles, plain stands and even a filler to make them more formidable. As a purist I’m a little torn – partly because the eight-year-old me would have wanted proper wings, and partly because I’m nostalgic for my own efforts, which involved bamboo canes daubed with poster paint, stacks of plastic plants pots and a repurposed table top and fireguard.
But then again, Quidditch has become an international sport, so why not imaginary horse show jumping? I’ll get the FEI on the phone…
It’s how dog agility competitions were born.
I know what you mean–on the one hand, as a kid I would have loved these; on the other hand, it seems that companies co-opt everything kids do and turn it into a commodity or a parent-run activity (have you seen the two handled thingamabobs for molding snowballs? as if generations of kids have not successfully packed snowballs with their hands?). I loved that my kid salvaged a bunch of thin, long pieces of wood (the kind you cut into shims), painted them with green and white stripes, and made her own jumps with old plant pots etc. (And yep, taught the dog to steeplechase too :)
Oh yes, our dog had to do her fair share of leaping. And of course, I’m pretty sure that imaginary horse show jumping is also the origin of bunny show jumping.
(Your bird visitors are wonderfully varied!)