Prototype Show Jumping Numbers

The last competition may be over, but I'm always thinking about ways to make the competitions a little more uses friendly and easier for volunteers.  At the recent jumper show I had the courses numbered as the Black and White courses so we didn't have to change the numbers between classes and so riders could differentiate the courses but that wasn't perfect.  During the events, since we have different tracks for the various levels, we have maps printed complete with fence names so riders can walk their courses a little easier while they are set up for different divisions.  However that still isn't perfect especially if the riders forget to bring the maps with them.  At he last event a rider was walking the course on her cell phone while a friend was at the in gate telling her which fence was next.  So I asked myself what I could do better.

I decided that we would make the numbers different colors to match the cross country numbers; that certainly would help alleviate the confusion.  So this morning I made a prototype on on the computer and printed it up and showed it to Kyle for his input.   The idea is to have the numbers on a free standing support where the numbers slide in and out so they won't blow around and as each level finishes the number gets pulled out. When I showed it to Kyle he thought having all the numbers up during the rounds (even though they were different colors) may, in the heat of competition, still be confusing for the riders.  When he was judging the jumper show a few riders did indeed get confused wile riding and went off course. In addition, with 5 levels the stand is going to be rather large. So what to do?  I still wanted the numbers up so people could easily walk the courses even if it's set for a different level.  Kyle suggested having the number up on the support for the course that is being run at the time with smaller color coded numbers below it for walking courses.

So back to the drawing board.  I think I have come up with something that I think will  work. Since I'm more of a visual person I actually had to make a to scale model.  The overall dimensions are 14" wide by 18" tall.  Below is a picture of to give you an idea.  The large number 2 is for the Beginner Novice course that is course being run and the numbers below it show what number the fence is for the other levels.  And no we're not running Advanced, we will be using the blue for Starter.  So what do you think?