achieving the time at novice level????

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nickyb

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could anyone help....trying hard to get the time xc at novice but not doing too well, i seem to be getting between 18 & 20 time penalty's consistanltly!!! i try really hard not to take a pull before each fence and just letting him jump out of his stride and we have a fluent and precise round each time, but just too slow......do i need to extra brave and just keep kicking?????
 
I had a similar problem to you when I first started eventing.
This was cured when some prat in the crowd at chatsworth let go of their german shepard dog which proceeded to chase us over the last 2 fences. Only way I could keep it off my horses heals was to run flat out and jump at that speed. Made me realise just how much I had been putting the handbrake on.
Time faults were pretty much non existent after that
 
A lot of people think they are going quite fast, when they are not. If you are getting 18-20 penalties consistently then you need to get your foot down a whole lot more! However that is certainly only safe to do so if you are in control when going faster, if you and your horse are safe then try going for a gallop round a field at your cross country speed(time it) and then do it again at a faster pace and see what the time difference is, if you think you can go that pace cross country then try it out.
Something I did with my mum and my step daughter is to gallop with them (I have a good natural xc speed) so that they could see the difference between my speed and theirs.
I think it is something that people have to work quite hard at, because most of us have spent years being taught in a way that is very diferent to the way we ride XC!
 
You need to have a good feel for how fast you need to go between the fences - either by galloping along side someone else or by measuring out a distance and timing it. The other point to remember is that if the time is set on 520 mpm then you will have to slow up for some fences and therefore you will need to be probably at around 530 mpm between the fences.
With the fences there will be some that require you to slow up more than others. I remember seeing a Lucinda Green book once that gave an indication as to what relative speed you need for each type of fence. So yes you need to slow up for a coffin type fence & for a lot of combinations etc but for roll tops, chase fences, even trackheners you can approach with a fair amount of speed.
For those fences that you need to slow up for you need to judge how far in front of the fence you need to slow. If you have good control than this can be done much closer to the fence but you need to know your horse.
After each fence you need to move away as quick as possible.
If you watch some of the pros they also take as direct a route as possible including taking some reasonable spreads on an angle.
I would also add that you need to be very careful. You need to be able to accelerate and slow down in balance and control. The horse needs to be comfortable with the fences. If you are currently getting 18 - 20 pen XC then it does appear that you are going too slow but I would suggest increasing the speed gradually. Good luck.
 
nickyb3010 - I posted exactly the same question last week / week before!

However I did a Novice at the weekend and still got 12 time penalties, so was really peed off with that as I thought I had gone faster than usual (I usually get about 8 TP), however when I looked at the scores later that night I realised that everyone had time penalties and I was like 5th fastest out of the whole section! Have you compared to what everyone else got?

I watched a heap of horses start in my section, some didnt seem to go fast at all and I was sure I was going faster than them but I think I just *think* Im going faster than I am. Only one horse did I see going hell for leather but it was petrifying! I simply couldnt jump at that speed. The horse did get eliminated pretty quickly though as it simply galloped out the side of 3 fences!

Ive started really analysing my speed round a course to see where I lost time. In my case, I know my horse goes very slowly and delicately off drops and prefers to trot through water. Obviously this loses quite a few seconds so I will be working on it in training.
 
It comes with experience, and the more you do, the braver you get. Also, it depends on the course, how fit your horse is, and how fast it is. Some novice courses I've found easy to get near the time, others I've had time penalties even when I thought I was really going for it. And some horses are just faster and braver, which makes it all seem really easy.

But, you need to get used to jumping at speed, and not show jumping the fences, if you know what I mean. Some you do need to show jump - eg coffins (a la Lucinda Greens famous 'coffin canter') but if you watch pros, they just keep coming! And it's probably a lot faster than you think!

The pros also put their foot to the pedal the minute the horse lands after the fence to make up time.

And when they walk the course, they'll be looking at where they can shave off a few seconds by cutting corners or angling fences.

The other way to sort out the problem is to get a dressage in the late teens, go clear show jumping, and then you can canter round the xc and still win!!
 
When i moved up from PN to N my trainer told me if i didn't have tears in my eyes or feel scared i wasn't going fast enough!! He's about right until you get used to it!!

Also learn to ride the shortest line cutting off 2 secs at each fence, makes a big difference and don't forget to kick through the finish!
 
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