Horsemans Pride 40' Jolly Mega Ball Green

I would have given this ball 5 stars if directions were better. I would have given it one star if I had to review on the day I blew it up. The manufacturer recommends you buy the cover, or the ball may not last long. Read all the reviews so you will be emotionally prepared for this test of your nerves preparing this ball for use. If you have nerve pills, take one. Alcohol...a stiff one. Plan on two hours. Snacks, chairs, shade. If you have a big family , use the enclosed manual pump to inflate the ball. Take turns. Think of it like CPR...for an hour. An electric air pump is best. You have to put the ball inside the cover before the blow up....making sure the ball air hole stays at the small cover opening. This is the first time you will start questioning your purchase. If you can get it accomplished..great. Knowing when to stop pumping air is your biggest challenge. No help from the manufacturer. They suggest you keep measuring the ball. Kind of hard to measure the height of a round gigantic ball. If you have a horse measuring stick with a sliding right angle at the top......that would be a big help. Or if you are not alone one can hold a stick across the top of the ball , while the other measures down to ground....40". Manufacturer tells you to check "the bounce"..But doesn't say how high.. Although you realize that the cover, in the pictures on the box, looks tight to the ball..........still the suspense builds as the ball gets very tight while the cover still has 6 inches of loose fabric hanging. You know the ball can't roll with fabric hanging. The horse will step on it. At this point you will start to wonder if you should have washed the cover first, so it can shrink. Not an option. It was so hard to get the ball inside the cover...Getting it out has to be near impossible. (To put the airless ball inside the cover you first roll it up to "snake" dimensions. Not easy. Once it's inside the cover, it unrolls.) You just have to live with fear, wondering if / when the ball will explode & you kiss $75 goodbye. I went very slowly from this point, stopping to measure the ball over and over. I didn't have the chutzpah to blow till the cover was skin tight. I was at 40". (as best as I could figure) So my cover is a tiny bit loose. The instructions mention washing the cover now & then. Trust me.....You will never wash the cover....unless you are a masochist. Or unless instructions meant wash like a car. It stays clean. Dirt seems to just fall off. Even mud. Looks fresh. Instructions recommend you keep the horse on a lead when first introducing him to the ball. My gut was not to do that. A loose horse running with an attached lead slapping him on the rump can be disaster. If you are sure you can hold onto a freaked horse..no problem. My horse has a walk-out stall from a barn into a 2 acre private pasture. I just put the ball in the pasture and let her investigate it on her own. It worked out fine. At first she stayed close to her stall door so she could run back inside & be safe.. But slowly accepted the ball. I stayed with the ball that first day and rolled it around slowly a bit so she could see it didn't hurt me. I gave her mints when she joined me with the ball. I have a feeling that, "boys", are going to be the ones that jump on the ball & raise Hell with it. Just a guess. A feisty filly might play hard too. My horse just pushes it with her nose & lips. And she gallops along beside it if it takes off with the wind. She's 6. 16 hands. Instructions say "don't leave ball outside". Doesn't help to bring in at night. I think it's the sun that's bad for it. Will have to think on that. Enjoy!

I have purchased over 12 of these. 40 " is best. Trial and error, It takes some practice to figure these things out for them to last as long as possible. The trick is to use a compressor to blow them up, also you need a cover or it won't last long at all, I have bought all the covers out there and the pink camo is the most durable due to it has less seams to rip. It's also the biggest and allows to blow up to maximum capacity. You have to blow it up to where the cover is as tight as possible and still able to Velcro shut which usually pops open anyway. My 2 year old stallion gets 2 hours of play a day in a heavy duty round pen with his ball. If you have a flimsy fence and a young horse this is liable to take your fence down. My boy is really rough he lays on them bites them and treats them with intent to pop them and after practice I have gotten them to last maximum of 5 weeks.Update: still purchasing this ball and the camo cover, my last one has lasted 7 months, keep it blowed up till cover is completely tight with no room to pinch the cover. Check IG @Zervaszer

It’s great and holds air well. But, if you are giving this to an animal that likes to chew, can easily shred chew toys.. my dog popped it in 15 minutes.But I bought 2 of this companies ball covers, put a cheap ball inside to test and it was awesome!!! Now he has good ball and 2 covers and hours of fun!

The ball appears to be very durable - made out of a tough, thick material. The instructions tell you that you need an air compressor to blow it up; I wasn't aware of that when I purchased the ball. I like the previous comical posts about trying to stuff the ball into the cover (I purchased the soccer ball cover). At one point I considered taking a pair of scissors and making the hole bigger and repairing it, but we rose to the challenge and got it in. Two of us were able to roll the ball up tightly (there is a sticky outer coating surface) and get it into the bag. Once we found the right equipment (foot air pump worked fine) to blow the ball up it took two of us less than five minutes. My horse loves to play - I am hoping he gets years of enjoyment out of this ball!

The media could not be loaded.  If you are getting a cover stay away from the soccer style as they are a pain to resew when your horse tears them up. Get a cover though because the covers really do seem to protect the ball from debris in the pasture. The beach ball style is quick and easy to fix. Like the other review mentioned the pump is worthless.Instead of me writing a review, here is my horse's review of the ball. He really loves his. His ball from last year has a slow leak and we can't find it so we are getting a new one this year. This ball holds up pretty good compared to others in this price range. I know there are more expensive balls out there, but I haven't tried one yet to compare durability.

My horse loves his ball. For those people that complain about this ball...they must not be airing it up fully...it has to be aired up completely and with an air compressor. I have a small portable compressor do that works great. The way I know my ball is aired up is because I get a cover and you have to fully inflate it to reach the entire coverage of the cover. As you can see, my pasture has trees, sticks, stumps, pine cones, etc., and he is not easy on the ball...he pushes, kicks, falls on it, etc. I do not leave it in the pasture with him. He needs "adult" supervision when he plays with his ball just because he is such a knucklehead. I love watching him enjoy this ball he loves it.

Was concerned about the quality of the ball after reading the reviews but have not had any issues so far. The horses are still somewhat freaked out by this giant thing, what is it???Hopefully, we can get them to play with it rather than just nudging it.

not opened

Shipped very quickly and a great price.

Burst the second day of use with a cob and shetland foal

This ball burst during the second use by my horse. Such a waste of money.

No so good mine came with a hole in it