BE novices for first-timers!

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Hollyhorse

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Hi,
I've posted before about this and had great feedback
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Now I've been organising my horse's competition season - he's 5 years old (this year) and this will be his first season eventing. His planned season is as follows:
July - intro at Shipton Moyne
- intro at Cheltenham
August - pre novice at West Wilts
- pre novice at Sapey
- pre novice at Urchinwood manor
Sept - pre novice/novice at west wilts
- novice at gatcombe
- novice at charlton park

What does everyone think about this? Is the novice at west wilts/ gatcombe/ charlton park good for first-timers/beginners at that level? Does this look realistic or should I be aiming to just stick at pre-novice this year?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I've never competed a horse above pre-novice before so not sure how to tell when he's ready to move up. He's a fantastic jumper and seems to have a super attitude toward it, is really careful and gets himself out of sticky situations. I was jumping him around all the 3ft 3 technical fences on his second cross country schooling session!
Many thanks
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I think it depends if you're bringing him on to sell, or if he's for keeps etc. Novice is a lot more technical, the showjumping is a fair bit bigger and they have to be able to cope with trebles, whilst the xc will have a lot more emphasis on accuracy than at PN. The dressage is much the same though. One of mine followed a slightly similar path last year - By Crikey II if you want to look him up - he went Novice at Goring Heath, then did Charlton. Depending on what's his strenghths and weaknesses are I would say WW wouldn't be bad, apart from the sj is quite tight and often not great ground. Not done Gatcombe Novice so can't comment. Charlton was quite meaty but rode well. It had a bounce in it, which made me hope my 5yo remembered how to count to 2 that fast! Good luck.
 
My friend who did the novice at Charlton Park thought it was an upgrade couse as very meaty. West Wilts is a nice novice as xc has a lot of alternatives at anything tricky - SJ is up to height.
I would save your money and not bother going to Urchinwood. Its rubbish the xc is about intro level and the SJ is usually on the side of of a hill. Its a dressage competition as XC is far too easy. The ground is usually ok though as it usually rains. Its only 10 mins down road from me so i save in fuel costs to make it worth going!
 
I wouldn't even be thinking of taking a 5yo novice until you have been round a couple of PN's confidently. Young horses and plans are a bad mix!
 
I would stick to PN until you and him are both confident together and that doesn't include 1 confident run, that includes several confident runs. Also before the move up to Novice I would personnally jump round a couple of Newcomer courses beforehand. As he is only 5 this year I would wait until next year, especially as your not planning on selling.
Young horses can be flying with confidence one minute then the next you have taken 10 steps back.
 
Definetely agree with lizzie_liz, my 5 yr old can be absolutely spot on at an event and then take her to something else a few weeks later and she'll just be cr*p.
Babies are really unpredictable, glowing with confidence one day and then they really need you the next!!
 
I think, personally you are counting your chickens before the hen has layed an egg! If your horse is 5yo and only been xc schooled twice I would not push it! You shouldn't be trying to jump a grade each month and definatetly not be planning that far ahead. Take it by ear, start at intro, I tend to do about 3-4 intros with 5 yos then move onto pre novice for the rest of the season. Next season you can start with pre novice and move to novice! With youngsters all sorts of problems and complications can arise, and its better to go slow, incase they lose their confidence!
 
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