Brampton Willows, specialists in the design and creation of willow furniture and products

Cross Country Obstacles

During the early to mid 1990s Robert Yates made various obstacles for the cross country courses at most of the top international Horse Trials, including Badminton, Burghley and Bramham.

In October 2005, after almost nine years since he last contributed to the Horse Trials world, Robert approached the Director of Badminton with the idea of building a 3D 'surf wave' and was commissioned to make four of them to form one of the water combination obstacles at Badminton 2006.

These 'waves' are about 12' wide, 4' deep and just under 4' tall. They weigh 300kg each.

Like all of Robert's work, the 'waves' are woven around a steel skeleton for structural strength and rigidity. For extra strength as well as aesthetics, Robert and his assistant Glyn Gray used a heavy duty decorative weave which was very time consuming - each 'wave' took a week to make!

Picture Gallery

Most conventional obstacles are made of timber and are therefore limited in design. While exhibiting at Burghley in 1991, and although not at all 'horsey', Robert could see the potential in making obstacles out of willow in terms of design and that 'something different' factor which might appeal to the general public. Over the years he has made anything from an African-style village with witches' huts, to a Venetian gondola, giant cornucopia, as well as a 'live' 3D cork screw fence.

The Witches' Huts, Burghley Horse Trials 1993/4

The Dog Basket, Burghley Horse Trials 1995/6

At work...

"Live Work"

This 3-dimensional crinkle-crankle fence using freshly-cut green willow was woven on site, in situ, as a jump for the Badminton Horse Trials. It was built in February, and the 'void' or middle, was filled with soil to allow the willow to strike root and grow. By May the willow was growing fast.

The Gondola, Badminton Horse Trials 1994

After Badminton: Although there was one fall and three refusals, the 'waves' seemed to jump very well and there were no injuries to horses or riders. The most interesting thing was to see how much the obstacles 'moved' on impact, only to spring back into shape afterwards. This just shows how much 'give' there is in them which has got to be a good thing for both the horses and riders!

Left: Badminton 2007. Robert's
'waves' provided horses and riders
with an appropriate challenge.( Click on images for larger view)

More about how these
obstacles were built