Getting started in P2P

RachelFerd

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I've been having a recurring, probably silly, idea that I would quite like to attempt riding in point to points!

I have discovered over the years that I am not much cop at dressage, can't jump a showjumping course in any kind of reasonable style.. but I can ride cross country and I am fairly decent on board a racehorse (I work in a successful flat racing yard) and therefore it seems kind of logical to put the two together and have a shot at point to pointing...

I cannot afford to qualify and produce either of my horses to point (one did actually P2P in ireland, badly!) as I don't have my own transport and couldn't get to any hunt meets, never mind to any races. However if I managed to get a few rides on other horses and enjoyed it enough I would probably think about bringing my mare back into the sport (she is a true stayer and will jump all day now she is a strong 8yo)

So is there any means of finding someone willing to jock me up on their pointer? I can hold most pullers and stay on board awkward jumpers... but I don't have any race riding experience, and I don't work with jumpers, I work with flat horses (albeit some very, very good ones!)

Does anyone know any P2P trainers/owners in surrey/the south-east who would let me ride out on the odd day off i have with the possibility of getting a ride if I wasn't too useless?

Also, exactly what is the qualifying criteria to ride?

Probably a bit of a mad idea... not sure if I am brave or just stupid :D
 
I think you will have an uphill battle.
Most novice riders have an old schoolmaster who will take them round safely and teach them the ropes without breaking any records! Once you have one or two rides under your belt then other people will consider you but you will be stuck on rubbish that no one else more experienced will touch.
The other ways people get rides are through doing work for the trainer and proving you are good enough. I have a friend doing all the qualifying (the rubbish job!) and yet he is not guarranteed a ride in a race even though he is pretty experienced.
You need to go and get experience and go and work your butt off meeting people and proving you are capable then you might get a ride.

You need to qualify to ride by getting a hunt to sign you off. See PDF.
http://www.pointtopoint.co.uk/pdfs/in_the_saddle_2011.pdf
 
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Sadly there is no option for me of having an old schoolmaster - I have the mare who could do it and would probably be quite competitive - but I simply can't afford to get her qualified. It was actually cheaper to event her...!

No problem to get signed off with a hunt. I have also been toying with getting my cat A amateur's license, although many of the horses we have at work are aimed at much bigger and better things than amateur races most of the time.

I'd be more than happy to go out and ride for P2P trainers - but I don't know any locally (although polly gundry taught me jump XC as a kid, don't think she would remember me, lol!) I also work full time in racing, so would be limited to riding out in afternoons, on sundays or on my very occasional holidays. Is there any kind of directory of point to point trainers hiding out on the interweb anywhere?

Uphill battle it may be, but I know that it's something I could actually do quite competently - probably more competently than a lot of the lady riders I have seen in action!
 
Have you seen the website "Jumping for Fun" - that might have some more info and they also have a forum you could ask on and free classifieds where you could offer your services to exercise.
 
P2Ping is brilliant, you should definitely give it a go - you'll regret it if you don't! The only problem you'll find is trying to find a mount - really, you need your own horse to get started. Since you work on a raceyard though you might have some contacts who could help you out? I needed all the help I could get from my more experienced colleagues when I started out :) Good luck.
 
If your mare pointed over here does she still have to be qualified? I only ask as we sold a pointer that had also raced on the track to UK in March and he pointed in UK within 3 weeks of arriving there so they hardly got him qualified that quick?!? What was your mare's racing name? Fundamentally you prob have all the basics barring schooling over chase fences (apologies if you do have this done but you didn't mention so not sure). Do they do schooling races over there at any public schooling grounds? Might be a cheap way to see will you mare take to going back into the racing game without qualifying her then discovering it really isn't for her.
 
The trouble with my mare is that I have spent the last three years re-schooling the damn thing for eventing... she is very hot headed. If I took her pointing she would probably never do a dressage test again! Hunting her is also a fairly torturous experience. Her p2p qualification is from an irish hunt in 2007 so doubt it is still valid. I have schooled her over chase fences though, she is very good at that. I have only schooled over hurdles at racing yards, but bigger jumps isn't a problem.

I do know a few people to ask at work (theres an amateur who rides out with us who did really well p2p last year) but most the people in our town are very much into flat racing only. My OH is a professional jockey, but he won't go near the jumps (wuss!!)

I don't think there are any schooling races around here, not that i've heard of.

Perhaps one option would be to sell the mare (for eventing) early next year and go to ascot to pick up something ready qualified. I have old grass gallops across the road from my fields and have access to schooling fences, it's just that I have no form of equine transport to get horses qualified or get to race meetings. Eventing was cheaper for me because I could catch a lift in other people's horseboxes to get there ;)

I know it seems odd I don't want to use my own horse, but she has turned into a decent little event horse and don't want to destroy that only to find neither of us like p2p.. does that even make sense? My other chap ran over hurdles a few times and was a classy miler, but his jumping is spot on for eventing, and over hurdles he was much too slow in the air and jumped up-and-down rather than out-and-over so don't think he would take to it at all - he will be a cracking event horse anyway, he even happily does dressage with a useless muppet like me on board.

I do feel like its something I need to do though - especially while I am young and still bounce ;)
 
I can't see how you could afford to event but not point to point?
I started pointing because I couldn't afford eventing. To qualify your horse you only need to pay a single days cap to your chosen hunt (£50-£70), then your hunter certificate (£70odd), even without your own horse you will need a full RQC (£160ish).
Its very unlikely that you will get anything to ride just by turning up, and the ones that you would get offered have no jockey for a reason..........
Not saying it won't happen but it is very unlikely.
With reference to retraining your horse, it will only stand her in good stead, two weeks ago I went on a P2P riders training course where we took our own horses, and we spent just as long in the indoor school doing grid work as we did schooling over the hurdles and chase fences. You will find that schooling groundwork is far more important in jump racing than in flat racing.
Good Luck
 
Have you ever seen the jump-x programme that used to be shown on H&C Tv. There was a p2per doing the little diddy class there, he didnt look like a p2per!
 
sadly i know my mare too well - go for a gallop in company and I have a highly excitable stargazing fruitbat for a fortnight afterwards. Fine to ride, but impossible to school. Plenty of our flatracers would go out and do a dressage test no problem.. but my mare can't manage to multi-discipline!!
 
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