BE - right, going to do it.....so a few questions!

[ecrozier]

Having made it round Burnham Beeches in one piece and finished on a fairly respectable score (62ish and the stop XC was entirely my fault!), and had an absoluely awesome lesson at Boomerang with Major Richard Waygood on Tuesday - we have decided to go ahead and do a season of BE - as my instructor said - make hay while the sun shines!
So, going to get OH to pay for me and horse to be registered as my Christmas pressie, and will hopefully be underway in the spring.
Couple of questions - firstly, what do you eventers do over the winter? Just general schooling? Dressage comps? I would expect to get out probably once or twice a month, would it be sensible to aim to do one dressage and one SJ comp a month? He is working at novice dressage - is that ok? I would certainly be mostly doing intros - might try a PN at the end of the season. And when we go SJ tends to be unaffil so enter two biggest classes - usually either 3'0 and 3'3 or 2'9 and 3'0 depending on whats on offer.
Comp wise - for the eventing - would one a month be sensible? Much more than that I think will get rather expensive so might keep up the local SJ and dressage as well or would that be a bit much? He is a naturally very fit horse (arab) and thrives on work so is worked 5 days a week - had 2 hour XC clinic with only 3 of us on Tuesday and he hadn't broken a sweat by the end!
How many ballot stickers do you get?
Dressage phase - are scores comaparble with unaffiliated - ie if he is regularly scoring 65%+ at local prelims/novice, will that stand us in reasonable stead at a ODE? Intro that is? He scored a 38 at BB - but did have a couple of dodgy moments otherwise got almost all 7s.
And realistically, can a 15hh arab with probably just about enough scope to go pre-novice at the most really, ever expect to be placed against all the serious eventers working their way up through the levels?! I'm only affiliating for the fun of it realy but would be nice to think we might have a chance of a rosette or two by the end of the year!
One last Q - XC - do you go to a hunter trial or two before the start of the season, or just XC schooling?
Thanks, sorry for long post!

 

[jules89]

hehe lots of questions! firstly, well done for biting the bullet, its a big decision to make!
over the winter i do loads of schooling and dr/sj/CT competitions. i start with xc schooling in the new year (maybe feb ish time depending on the weather/ground) and do some xc hunter trials near me and concentrate on consistency - ie getting the horse to think about itself, not fiddling into the fence etc
ballot stickers u get one a month and 2 special extra ones i think, but if u enter online (which is easier) make a note of which ones u use because im currently not able to remember which ones i have used!
65% = 35 at BE and a double clear on that is a good solid score to finish on - take a look at results on the BE website, every section differs, some sections this could be a winning score, and others u could be well down the order. it depends on the judge and there has been a lot of contraversy about this atm (see threads in HHO)
see how ur horsey feels with regards to PN, r u starting at intro ?
oh abnother thought about xc schooling, dont just do one fence on its own, link them together and do the consistency i was chatting about above
im by no means a top eventer (yet) but i found this is how i started!

good luck, and u do realise u WILL have to post us reports and lots of pics!!

 

[KatB]

Ok, alot to answer! Good on you for doing it

Dressage marks can vary! But yes, if you are getting 65%+ I would expect you to be getting mid 30's at least. I personally have anything from 1 event a month to 3 depending on whats around us, but equals out at about 1 a month.... I Sj alongside in teh summer, and intend to SJ and dressage over the winter, and will XC school again in Feb time ready for the season starting in march. I XC school a fair bit at the beginning of the season to get us back in the swing and going well!! Depends how your horse is going to whether you need to do more SJing/Dressage inbewtween comps

 

[TiaPony]

[ QUOTE ]
Couple of questions - firstly, what do you eventers do over the winter? Just general schooling? Dressage comps? I would expect to get out probably once or twice a month, would it be sensible to aim to do one dressage and one SJ comp a month? He is working at novice dressage - is that ok?

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange"> It is entirely up to you what you do in the winter! Most give their horses a break for a few weeks/months and then
make use of the indoor season but mine will be staying in work and SJing and Dring lots and lots throughout the winter! Intro dressage is not even prelim standard so I should think him working at novice is an advantage

</font>
[ QUOTE ]
Comp wise - for the eventing - would one a month be sensible? Much more than that I think will get rather expensive so might keep up the local SJ and dressage as well or would that be a bit much?

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange"> This is completely dependant on the availablity of events around you! I would aim to do between 8-12 events on an intro/pn horse - finances allowing. How these are distributed is dependant on when the events in your area run! 1 a month is a good start and sometimes I do an unaff event in the midst of my season as they are cheaper yet offer a similar experience. </font>
[ QUOTE ]
How many ballot stickers do you get?

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange"> One for each month of the season (M, A, M, J, J, A, S, O.) Plus two super stickers. 10 in all. </font>
[ QUOTE ]
Dressage phase - are scores comaparble with unaffiliated - ie if he is regularly scoring 65%+ at local prelims/novice, will that stand us in reasonable stead at a ODE? Intro that is?

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange"> I think eventing marking is somewhat kinder than pure dressage so you should be fine! </font>
[ QUOTE ]
And realistically, can a 15hh arab with probably just about enough scope to go pre-novice at the most really, ever expect to be placed against all the serious eventers working their way up through the levels?!

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange"> Of course! There are many horses who do not advance up the levels and do superbly at intro/pn! You have to remember it is not always the breed and capability of the horse that matters but the determination of the rider on board! </font>
[ QUOTE ]
One last Q - XC - do you go to a hunter trial or two before the start of the season, or just XC schooling?

[/ QUOTE ]
<font color="orange">I do both, schooling to work on accuracy, different fences and get a hand from my trainer. Hunter trials are great to get your horse into the xc frame of mind, test the speed and have a blast! </font>

 

[seche]

I BD mine through the winter and when ground conditions suit I hunt as much as poss too, with the very occasional indoor working hunter thrown in for the SJing bit - which I loathe! Your routine sounds more than adequate - I really should practise the SJ more!!

 

[PaddyMonty]

Not much to add except that I would advise doing some british novice (BSJA) classes over the winter. You could do this on tickets rather than pay out huge sums of £££££ to join. Intro courses are (should) be built by BSJA course builders and whilst BE intro SJ is not as tough or tecy as a BN the max height / width will be comparable. Unaff SJ dont generally tend to make the speads as wide as you will get BE so a little practice over a BN course wouldn't hurt.

 

[ecrozier]

Cool, thanks for replies guys! I am lucky in that my horse is an ace traveller so happy to go a fair distance to events if needed.
THats good news re the dressage scores, will keep working on it as had hoped to do an elem by the end of the year - in terms of natural ability it is his strongest discipline. SJ we have a case of 4-fault-itis at the moment at anything over about 85/90cms, especially at comps, so wil continue getting out as much as possible I think. Got a few XC things over the autimn so will do those then giving him a month's holiday and will save the XC til feb-time I think.
Depending on dates etc might start with a tri-zone training class to ease us in I think, but yes, will be concentrating on intros.
Good idea about the linking fences - there are plenty of XC venues I can get to - Tweseldown, MK, Boomerang all within a 90 min drive so worth a trip, plus lots of smaller local ones!
THaks for info and yep, look forward to posting reports!
ETA Time faulter, good plan, I can get to patchetts or addington fairly easily - was thinking of maybe doing one or two of the eventers challenge things at addington - so a N or two mybe after Christmas would be a good plan!

To save me searching the BSJA site - how much is a day ticket?!?

 

[kerilli]

well done for going for it, be warned, it's addictive!
one event a month would be fine, if you actually managed to do that from March to Oct that would be 8 events. a lot of people give them a short break in the middle of the season, if/when the ground goes hard. you get a special ballot sticker per month, plus two extra ones of a higher level that give you priority over everyone. if a special one is balloted, you get it back as a Super Special with extra priority for the next month.
dressage and sj through the winter, yes. lots of practise!
you could definitely get placed at Intro and Pn if your horse does a correct and tidy test, and will go double clear. Intro and Pn xc speeds are not that fast.
the standard of dressage is gettting better and better, might be worth having a lesson or two with a Listed judge to see whether they think your horse is of the right standard, and to get a few pointers etc.
very best of luck, look forward to reading your reports!

 

[ecrozier]

Kerilli - my dressage instructor is a listed judge! Just need to learn to reproduce in a comp what she gets out of us at home.....
Re the speed, at BB I had one stop so had to circle, and ended up with 3.2 time faults so that makes me 8 seconds over the optimum? I didn't push him hard for the time, trotted down the two steepest slopes (which resulted in our lack of momentum up a normandy bank causing our stop - oops!) And I believe the time was proving not the easiest there as its a quite twisty/hilly track - so think we will be generally ok with the speeds. Just waiting for full results of local ODE we did on Sunday as that was 450 and having had a bit of a disasterous D/SJ score I decided to experiment a bit with the time and hoofed it around to see whether we came in way too far under!! He is only little but not short of enthusiasm and stamina!

 

[AutumnRose]

SOunds like you'll be fine speed wise then, intro and Pn are at 450. You will find it is very addictive

, sounds like you are more than ready to have a go. I try to do 1 per month but it varies as some months i have several that are local but some months i would need to go miles and deisel is soooooo expensive.
Sounds like your sj would be the most worth practicing, its a good idea if you can go out to BSJA a few times to make sure you get decent courses. All the ones near us have a clear round at BN height beforehand which is cheaper and anyone can do so that's worth looking into. I think tickets are £6 per class but i'd double check.

I normally go schooling once or twice before start of season. Next year i'll be doing much more though and some hunter trials as i have a 5 year old who will be starting at intro.
Good luck and lookign forward to reports.

 

[ecrozier]

Brilliant, thanks for all replies - one last question - when does the calender come out for next season?

 

[AutumnRose]

Erm....i think it's in the magazine that gets sent to everyone in the Jan issue. Hmmmm i could be imagining that, might be earlier. The website normally has preliminary dates towards the end of the season i think. Sorry bit vague!!

 

[MillbrookSong]

On a different note i have tons of pics of you from tuesday!! Hoped you would be on the forum!!

And i would go for it!! Hehas more than enough jump for PN plus - hes a dude!!

ETS do you have facebook and i will put them up there for you? PM me if you do!!