Eventing - which phase do you find easiest??

Golden_Match_II said:
used to be XC - personally I think I am an XC rider, but since having Tam, the SJ has been a dream, so currently SJ, although I much prefer XC!
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Tam looked great SJ at borde hill :) I am the same as you.. when i had rocky, we found SJ a breeze, but i much prefer the XC! :p
 
not really answering your question but just an observation from a showjumper -

it confuses me as to why some eventers seemingly struggle with their showjumping when they will merrily hurtle around solid fences at speed which are of a simalar height with less trouble?

being the perfectionist SJ type, i would only want to tackle the solid once i could jump well around the collapsable.
could someone enlighten me?

disclaimer - yes i know some eventers are excellent showjumpers i am just curious thats all!
 
shark1 said:
not really answering your question but just an observation from a showjumper -

it confuses me as to why some eventers seemingly struggle with their showjumping when they will merrily hurtle around solid fences at speed which are of a simalar height with less trouble?

being the perfectionist SJ type, i would only want to tackle the solid once i could jump well around the collapsable.
could someone enlighten me?

disclaimer - yes i know some eventers are excellent showjumpers i am just curious thats all!
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With a horse like rocky, i would compeltely agree with you, however event horses are brought to be bold, and therefor sometimes dont respect the showjumps, and arent so cafeful. I think its all down to the horse, and how careful he/she is, and also how well the rider keeps the rhythm and balance, and lets the horse get on with it tbh!

P.S Im sure you'll get some much better reasons/opinions from people much more experienced then me, later on in the thread! :p
 
Used to be showjumping when I had my last horse who was an absolute showjumping machine (Genuinely cant remember an event where she touched a single fence), but it is now probably xcountry :p

shark1, my horse very very rarely touches a xcountry fence, however has a bit of fourfaltitis in the showjumping- she is 12 so is old and wise and knows that when you touch a showjump, they fall down, and therefore she isn't bothered, whereas she obviously knows out xc that they hurt when you clonk them!
 
Definitely cross country. Not entirely sure why though thinking about it! Never have had a jumping fault cross country on current horse, but can easily get 20 show jumping penalties!
 
Interesting no one has mentioned the dressage phase! Strictly speaking it should be the dressage, as easiest doesn't necessarily mean best so poncing round in circles is within most peoples reach (said tongue in cheek!)

But for me to choose between XC and SJ it's definitely XC. I'm quite happy to tackle PN XC on my mare but we're struggling to make the grade at Intro SJ. Totally backwards I know but we're both more confident over the solid stuff. When I first had her both her XC and SJ were horrible but we've made much more progress XC, I think because the jumps are solid if she makes a mistake she doesn't scare herself but get it wrong SJing and the poles come after her...! Some of it's me - a full on up to height max spread PN XC jump looks smaller to me than a 90cm oxer but this probably stems from her as not that long ago 90cm SJs looked diddy to me and I'd happily pop 1.20m but on different horses.

The other thing with XC is the jumps are a lot more inviting, generally with rounded profiles etc and many horses respect them a lot more. And it's out in the open so you've got more time to recover between jumps if you've had a "dodgy" moment. It's easier to get into rhythym as you're not constantly having to rebalance for tight turns... Give me XC any day!
 
prehaps this should be a poll?

Cross country for me the bit I stress least on. Interestingly like the typical eventer I stress most on sj so that is the hardest.

Although getting a lot better at this and the rest since I invested in weekly decent dressage lessons, but still most confident cc so that is the bit I find the easiest.
 
I’m I allowed to answer even though I only do unaff? :eek:

The easiest for me on Bodey is show jumping, however even though XC still makes me nervous at times, it’s the bit I enjoy most. Dressage I really would rather do without.
 
If Fleur is behaving we can easily pull out a very decent dressage and a clear SJ, and so I should considering previous to this season I have mainly done dressage and/or showjumping and both to a respectable level on home produced horses.

I'm definitely finding XC the hardest at the mo as I'm still getting my eye in on both what speed we need to be going at and also seeing the longer gallop jump stride so currently I still revert a bit often to strong showjumping canter before a fence rather than letting her move forward on a longer stride. That hopefully come though as I do more events and get my eye in at speed!
 
Think Rosie would say it depends on the horse - for example, the BB spotty horse was easy SJ, problematic DR and hard work XC because he was a bit too careful so had trouble making the time. With Bertie, it's anything but easy SJ, a dream XC and not too bad sometimes DR.
 
On my old horse def the dressage. regularly got score in 20's. very dissapointed if got over 30!! she could be harder work SJ and XC but normally went well.

now, it varies event to event and which horse!!
 
Easiest - the SJing
Most nerve wracking whilst partaking - dressage
Most exciting - XC
Most nervous build up to - the SJing
Most exhilarating - the XC


What I feel when I arrive at the Event - Wish that it was cancelled and I could just creep on home

What I feel when I've finished the Event - bl@@dy brilliant! When's the next one!!!!


Nerves... they are a funny thing ;-)
 
On Ballet, it's definately the XC, shes bold and its her best phase too. I think I'm a XC rider, but I think I get it from teamchasing and hunting.

I find SJ hardest, stress most about it, but then Ballet doesn't particularly respect the poles, totalling 1 clear out of 6 events at Novice height.

However when I used to do intro height on my pony, it was always the SJ'ing, as he was so careful, the dressage was out worst phase back then, but I wasn't interested in it. I used to hate it.
 
Dressage - i find it easiest and really enjoy it :)
XC - the reason i event - LOVE it but not always the easiest
SJ - hate it and find it hardest...i go through phases of enjoying it but generally it's my least favourite. Show me an event with dressage and xc and i'm there!!!!!!!!!
 
On Bronson, the SJ was the easy part - he was a machine over SJs. Then XC, aslong as there weren't any corners (I hate them!). The dressage, because he didn't see the point in it and trying to convince him to do that in a slightly nice manner required near hostage-negotiation skills :p

With the new one the dressage is the only phase we *might* not get eliminated in :(
 
Probably the XC in a way, mainly because I do not consider myself a stylish rider and XC is not about style ;) I don't mind the SJ either but find it very irritating having a simple pole down. Dressage I hate, find it insanely difficult and get extremely stressed about it :(
 
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