This winter is all about brushing up on your show jumping skills at home and getting your steps in with some pole work. Whether you’re hitting the indoor winter season hard or getting a head start on your spring training ready to get back outdoors next year, now is the time to make sure your ring craft is up to scratch.

Here at PolyJumps we’re big pole work fans (if you haven’t already noticed!) and don’t miss an opportunity to shout about how great it is for you and your horse’s development. However, there are other great ways to brush up on your show jumping skills and make sure your teamwork is seamless the next time you canter through the start timers.

Spicing up your arena at home with fillers and pole pendants is a great way to desensitise your horse to anything they might encounter at a show. Young horses need to get used to jumping coloured fillers, water trays, and spooky jumps so that they are not taken by surprise on their first outing. Having something for your older horses to look at is also a great way to help them back off a jump and listen to your aids around the course…and of course, they make a great addition to any show jump collection!

Why should I use fillers in my show jumps at home?

Aside from completing your show jump collection at home and looking fantastic, fillers also come in handy for training purposes.

If you have young horses, then getting them comfortable jumping around a course of “spooky” fillers at an early age will set them up well for when they start their competitive career. Youngsters that have been exposed to fillers from the get-go will typically be braver and more resilient than horses who have been sheltered and only see something a bit different when they go in the ring for the first time. If you don’t want to jump your young horses too much, laying your fillers down on the floor and asking them to walk or trot over them is a great place to start.

For older, or more experienced horses, fillers will be a staple in their competitive career by now. That said, popping a few fillers into your jumps at home will help to back your horse off when jumping bigger fences and should improve rideability to the jump. Fillers will naturally back a horse off, so using them to help slow your horse down and get them sitting up around a course is a good idea - particularly if they’re keen and strong to jump!

If you’re a regular at county shows or are practicing for competitions like BSJA second rounds where an open water is a mandatory part of the course, then water tray fillers are going to be your best friend at home. Getting your horse jumping water trays confidently, without losing the rideability, is going to come in very handy when you hit the show circuit and will set you up well to start jumping wider open waters at championship level. PolyJumps also make a red brick wall filler, which can look very spooky to some horses at first - that’s why we recommend practicing over a wall or two in your training so you can confidently ride up to one in the show ring.

And if you’re looking for some extra uses for your pole pendants, then why not pop them on your poles during grid work? Using pole pendants on your jumps during gridwork will help to slow your horse up and get them really thinking about where their legs are and using their body correctly.

PolyJumps Fillers

PolyJumps fillers come in a variety of styles and patterns to perfectly suit your jumping needs and stable aesthetic. Made from the highest quality materials, our jump fillers are durable and weather resilient, just like our poles!

The hanging filler is a popular choice for bulking out a jump or making a complete fence of fillers - like planks. Available in small (20cm), large (30cm), or extra-large (40cm) to accommodate all heights of fences and make it easy to layer them in the jump wings. Our hanging filler is also available as a skinny hanging filler, just 1.5m wide, making it the perfect filler to test your accuracy!

Our free-standing filler, has much the same effect as the hanging filler, but stands underneath your fence. This is a great filler to give your fence a fuller appearance and get your horse confident for competitions. As it sits beneath the fence, it naturally will draw your horse’s eyes down so it is a great training tool to keep your horse sitting up and focused on the top pole, rather than the filler underneath! This one is also available as a skinny free-standing filler, perfect for the cross-country riders who want to practice jumping narrow fences at home.

The Pole Pendants are a popular choice for people wanting to spice up their arena without the space for lots of jump fillers. The pole pendants slide over your PolyJumps poles and add a little something extra to an otherwise plain fence. Available in circular, heart, or shield shapes, the pole pendants are totally customisable with a huge array of colours and graphics! Also available in our unique Bio-Green and Recycled Black compositions, so you can still look stylish whilst doing your bit for the environment.

All of our fillers and pole pendants are fully customisable, so get in touch with the team to let us know your ideas and we’ll get you set up with everything you need. Want to see our fillers first hand? We’ll be showcasing at Your Horse Live from the 7^th to 9^th November 2025, so make sure to pop over and have a look for yourself, our team of PolyJumps experts will be on site ready to talk you through everything you need to know!