After the dressage it is fantastic to let off steam on the cross country, even though I am nearly a nervous wreck before it! And I am physically and mentally stuffed after it!!
It is such a buzz!!
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Incredibly proud owner of two lovely appaloosas: Cheeky and Jazz.
I adore XC, it is so much fun. I don't tend to do events as my pony won't canter in the dressage so i am sunk before I have started. I have done a two phase which was good. it was only my first one and i got round with only 2 refusals, but around 69 time faults.
i am planning to do clear round hunter trials in a fortnight which is just the XC part.
i just love how XC is faster than SJ, and more exciting as you aren't intensely watched. Its just you and the horse for the majority of the way.
I love X country although I am terrified of jumping. I spent a few years eventing, and it was a huge thrill to complete the xcountry phase.
Maverick, I too had problems with my pony in eventing dressage, she barely went into the ring, she was worried about the ropes and in the 20x60 arena, she would work in a 10x20 area on the day of competition.
I used to enter her HC, not sure how you say the whole thing, but it meant non competitive. Some events would have to scratch me prior to the day if they had loads of competitors but this rarely happened. What it meant was, that regardless of what my pony did in the dressage, I was allowed to go on and do the showjumping and xcountry. I still got scored etc. but I was not entitled to a ribbon at the end of the day. This worked really well for me and I started competing on her competitively once she had gained some confidence from the experience.
I have heard that people are now allowing you to take your horses through the event courses without really showing - similar to what Aly is describing. Does anyone in the States (East Coast) know anything about this? My trainer was hoping to take me just to get me some experience doing an eventing (specifically XC). I'm pretty pumped although I'm such a novice, I can only imgaine how embarrasing it wil be!
Id love to try XCountry, Just a course that didnt have jumps over 3' though. Id like to do eventing but im not much of a person for dressage, im more of a looker than a doer for that discipline.
So do they have shows for just Xcountry? Id love to show in JUST crosscountry, like no dressage or anything.
I started off cross country at hunter trials which are cross country only events. I am now eventing so it is part of what i do!
I find it hard to school over any decent BHS courses as there are not many good ones in my area! I am willling to travel and Im in Wales so if anyone knows of any good courses please tell me!
I love cross country because the horses I have are brilliant! I would not go cross country on a wussy horse as i feel it totally ruins the whole experience, I prefer something strong and forward going that will eat up the ground, be bold, be safe over fences and have lots of stamina.
A horses lack of confidence XC is often down to the rider especially over 'rider scarer' fences which are usually the bigger bolder fences that the horse will jump best!
3-day eventing has always been my goal, and I've always envied the people who got the chance to do it; mainly because I want to try cross country so much. Next summer(summer of 2003) my parents might agree to send me to a sleepaway camp where we get to do dressage, cross country, and show jumping and other stuff. I'm excited. I'd really like to try cross country before that, but I have no way of getting to a stable to ride on a cross country course, and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to ride because all the horses I ride are school horses and the school horses aren't allowed off campus. Oh well. I'll keep dreaming. I'm looking forward to summer; but then again, who doesn't? I wish y'all well if your careers, and hope that someday we will all be able to ride in cross country!!! YEAH!!!
(ooc: ok, so this is a long post..well, not too long but still long, and I just made it longer with this little ooc message so I'll stop now.)
I also just started eventing after I got bored of jumping fences in an arena. Jumping cross country is so much fun and so challenging. The horses just seem more energetic when they are out in the feilds jumping fences. I'd rather do that part and skip the dressage training. It is so hard to memorize the test.
Hi! I also event, but I'm only a novice so i do one-day, not three-day events. The x-country phase is awesome because before and during dressage, im very nervous and tense and worried b/c in dressage everything has to be just right...but then in x-country it doesnt matter how you look...as long as you get over the jumps in the time allowed. It is challenging....VERY challenging, but also SO much fun. Im usually a ball of nerves before x-country, but once you get going, it flys by. But yeah....i think cross country is awesome. But then again, so is dressage and stadium...
i love xc. the speed and the open air and the thrill of it all is amazing every1 that hasnt tried it u dont know wat ** missing. uve got 2 feel it 2 believe it!!!
I guess I sort of do it.. lol, Our stable has this huge cross country course like it goes threw all the paddocks heaps of jumps, rangeing from lil small logs(around 50cm?) to huge Hay bale jump things that are over a metre. In our lessons we sometimes just spend the whole lesson jumping cross country jumps, we make up our own courses(over the *smaller ones*) and yeah, ahhh, I LOVE the water jump, hehe, NOt jumping it, just playing around in it(like just walking the horses in and letting them have a spalsh)
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