Eventing / SJ - cant do both?

[MagicMelon]

Ive never thought twice about eventing and straight showjumping, but I know some show jumpers who say they cant event their horses as it "will make them clumsy". Ive never had a problem with this, my eventer rarely has a pole down so surely this is pure fiction??? Or is this a widely used idea?

 

[jenbleep]

well i don't really know anything about this so please correct me if im wrong but wouldn't it be the other way around? because a cross country horse might become lazy because he knows he can knock down show jumps but give a bit more respect to x country jumps that he cant knock down? maybe????????????!

 

[dieseldog]

I don't think its true. Floyd has won £2,500 BSJA and is Intermediate - only faulted in one SJ round in all of his runs BE last year and Spot has won about £600 BSJA and has about 7 BE points.

Floyds never got confused about water jumps either.

I think some failed SJers end up eventing - but they were probably always going to have fences down whatever they did and Eventing didn't make them careless.

 

[Alex_kate]

well i wouldnt know and it doesnt make sense to me but my sj trainer said dont do xc with joey as he might loose his sj style? god knows why!

 

[Robynsteward]

I've never had/seen any trouble because Sj is part of the eventing discipline albeit with a different technical areas but surely they could do both.
Otherwise why do eventers show jump in winter? Surely Im not alone??

 

[SJFAN]

While of course eventers are taken show jumping - it's useful to practice as it's part of their discipline, similarly they will be entered in dressage competitions for practice. While I can think of a number of eventing horses that have become accomplished show jumpers (Merely A Monarch and Hydrophane Coldstream would be the outstanding achievers) I don't know of many good show jumping horses which have become eventers, though I know of a number who were considered not to be sufficiently careful to make good show jumpers which have been switched to an eventing career.

 

[Rambo]

I think it comes down to technique. Pure SJ'ers will jump at a much more deliberate and accurate pace than eventers, therefore if you take a horse x-country you are generally encouraging it to take on the fences. This isn't necessarily what you want in the SJ'ing arena.

At the lower levels, you can get horses that will do both, and quite successfully too. I think the real difference comes when you get above 1.20m/1.30m and into 'proper' showjumping territory though as then the SJ'ers accuracy starts to make a differnce.

 

[poggio]

My horse always SJs a lot better out pure showjumping than at an event. Rarely has a pole but his BE record proves that he does tend to have a pole ! lol I think at an event it has got a lot to do with the 'buzz' of it all and he knows exactly what comes after the sj.

I can't see how it would make them lazy, I agree with what Rambo says and that its more a case of different techniques between the disciplines.

 

[dieseldog]

But Showjumpers are being bred a lot lighter nowdays, the horse that was World Champion was the exception in the final rather than the norm that he would have been a few years ago. These lighter bred horses will make it a lot easier to cross disciplines as they will make the time and you will probably see more horses competing at a higher level in both sports

 

[catembi]

Can only speak from personal experience...if I took my ISH xc, it would take about 2 sj lessons to sort him out because he'd be rushing, jumping flat & taking strides out that he really, really should have left in. My sj trainer used to get quite excited about it.

But it might be cos I only xc'd a few times a year, so maybe the novelty excited him?

 

[H-J]

I have a grade A horse who I am now taking eventing.

He is doing very well having been 3rd at Grt Witch Intro and winning a Pre Novice HT at Munstead. I hope to Novice him this year.

He however does think he can jump the water out XC like he wold have done SJing!! Need to teach him to jump into it!!!