British Novice vs. BE90

Charlie31

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Could somebody who competes in both BE and BS tell me how BE90 jumping and British Novice compare please? We’ve been doing BE90s this summer and I’m considering doing a few BN’s over winter to practice. I know in theory the two should be similar but I have it in my head that the British Novices might be more technical and bigger. We’re comfortable at BE90 but the 100 courses still look a bit big to me so I don’t want to overwhelm myself.

Thanks
 

PaddyMonty

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They are more technical and bigger. BE the course builder can only have 3 fences at max height. BS they pretty much will all be max height, with related distances, two doubles etc.
That said, practicing over a BS BN will make the BE90 next season a doddle.
Go for it. Worst that can happen is you roll a few poles.
 

Branna

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Having done a fair few of each I would say it depends on course builder and venue! There are some BE venues that build very friendly SJ but I would say that somewhere on a surface that builds up to height (i.e. Keysoe, BCA was also technical the time I've done it) are comparable to a British Novice.
Of course many venues run single phase so the second half of the course will be bigger but you'll be flying by then!
 

Red-1

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I have not found one bigger than the other, as two fences at BE 90 can be 95 anyway, and most of the rest are 90 other than 2 or 3 at the start. But, they di require a different skill set IME.

For BE the courses are often on a slope, a larger ring, and the difficulty will be in keeping the horse's attention in the spaces between fences and keeping balance on sloping ground.

For BS most often it is a prepared surface, smaller arena and flat. The skill there is in jumping a fence already preparing for the next, there won't be as much space to reorganise before the next fence.

I do think the BS fences look bigger, partly because they tend to be in a smaller arena and partly because often they are more garish in design.
 

Mule

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I find there's way more time to prepare between the fences in eventing showjumping. With the real thing the fences come up quite quickly (when you aren't used to it)
 

DabDab

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Agree with above, tbh I don't think the height will be too intimidating, but you have to really plan where you're going for indoor BS, and it can take a while to get your eye in for the lines and the striding.

Go for it, it's great fun! You can always pop a few fences and retire if you get out of shape
 

Charlie31

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Thanks everybody, that all sounds great and like I should just give it a go. It’ll be on a ticket for now at least so I can see it as practice and have nothing to lose.

I did loads of showjumping as a child and a lot was indoors so in theory I should be able to manage the tighter courses. That was quite a long time ago though...
 

DabDab

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I actually prefer indoor jumping - less easy for me to get lost, and forces me to ride a whole course accurately, rather than just lobbing around hoping for the best 😂
 

LeannePip

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I've found BE90 to be much softer than BS BN; the second half of a BN can be up to 1m, BE90 only 2 fences can be up to 95cm

I've found generally BE90 courses are pretty simple, usually a figure of 8 - BS tends to be more testing lines.

But saying all that, if you are jumping BE90 happily, you will be absolutely fine with a BN.
 
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