Tammy Cowan founded Cowan Cavalletti with a ‘can do’ attitude. She needed some easier type of jump for her Grand Prix show jumping daughter to train over and had just been refused the hire of a local jumping arena. So she decided to make the jump that was described in a book she found in an antique store called, “Modern Riding”.

Severyn Kulesza, a Polish cavalry officer first used this type of stackable Cavalletti in his basic training in the 1930’s. Tammy Cowan developed this concept for the modern rider. The cavalletti had to be stable, easy to move about and built specifically for purpose. Cowan Cavalletti solves the rolling problem of the old style Cavalletti with the pointy crosses that got horse and riders tangled in them. Exercises can be assembled easily to give the rider an opportunity to correctly balance and position themselves in all of the horses paces. At the same time, the horse learns where to put their legs while carrying the rider and builds muscle. The jump described in the book by Severyn Kulesza, became the Original Cowan Cavalletti.

Jenika Phipps, Tammy’s daughter tested the Cowan Cavalletti in the beginning. She loved them! So many different jump combinations can be assembled and they were easy to move about. It keeps the horse thinking with the new combinations and the trust between horse and rider can be developed without over-facing them.

Requests for something much lower were made by a friend of Tammy’s, Fiona Davies-Payne. This led to the development of the Mini Cowan Cavalletti at about 180mm high, essentially a raised trot pole. A grid of mini Cowan Cavalletti can be easily moved to change the striding of a horse because the stands are bolted to the pole where a small recess has been made.

Sue Pennington who takes the popular gymnastic exercises for horses over poles and cavalletti needed a cavalletti higher than the Mini but lower than the Original stackable. This led to developing what is called the Versatile Cowan Cavalletti, at 250mm high. The Versatile and the Original Cowan Cavalletti are both stackable. Sue found that some people were not ready to jump their horses over a 95cm jump (that is 3 original Cowan Cavalletti stacked). So she would use two original’s and one versatile to make a jump just under 85cm. To bring it up to the 95cm she just needed to place a pole on top of the versatile Cavalletti. This Cavalletti can also be turned on it side and used as a raised trot pole.

When Lizzie Green returned to New Zealand from the UK she brought her European training traditions with her. Cavalletti are used every day by Lizzie and she was so pleased she found Cowan Cavalletti to train over. Lizzie was missing a skinny jump to introduce her young horses to and to practice cross country combinations, so Cowan Cavalletti designed one for her. It is just over 1.2m wide and is painted in green and white, as it was Lizzie ‘Green’ that needed it. The Skinny range is popular for people wanting a cavalletti for their dressage arena that is not going to take much space Cowan Cavalletti initially had a very traditional cavalletti pole colour, but Lizzie wanted more choice so more options appeared.

The Skinny Mini, a skinny version of a raised trot pole was a natural development and complimented the Skinny Lizzie. The Skinny range is popular for people wanting a cavalletti for their dressage arena that is not going to take much space

Lizzie Green requested a taller Cavalletti to train her horses over. She needed one that was Knee High, so Tammy made one for her naming it the “Knee-high”

The Jump Cowan Cavalletti replaced the Original and Knee-high Cowan Cavalletti. The Jump is the same height as the Original and if a pole is added to its cradle it becomes as high as the Knee-high, and its stackable. One of the real advantages is the easy assembly with just the two bolts needed to hold the Jump together. Sometimes the stands do not sit squarely on the ground for the Original and Knee-high Cowan Cavalletti and need adjustments, but the Jump is self adjusting to the contours of the ground.