Good first Novice after June?

[madhector]

I am kind of planning on moving Blaze up to Novices soon, the idea was to do Aston le Walls PN this week, then have a bit of a break and just to the GP at Houghton and lots of showjumping (getting him jumping newcomers) before doing Little Downham in june (still PN)


After that I want to move him up to Novice if possible, but not sure where would be a good first run? There is stratford hills but the ground is likely to be very hard so any other suggestions? Am based in Suffolk but do tend to have to travel 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get anywhere!

Thanks

 

[kerilli]

ALW is always a good course for first time at every level imho, and they have so many there, surely there's one soonish.

 

[MistletoeMegan]

Gt Tew is the weekend after Lt Downham and is a lovely event - the Novice XC has a drop down to an arrowhead, a step up to a skinny rail, a log before the water and then you come out of the water via a step up to a brush. There's a turning question fairly on in the course, but it's a double of fairly wide fences so shouldn't really cause any probs.

Poss a bit far, but really nice event.

ALW runs again at the end of July.

 

[SillyMare]

Buckminster is fab if it isn't too far from you - lovely galloping track with plenty of alternatives.

Gt Tew is a lovely event but I thought the course was massive (although fairly straightforward).

ALW is always great.

 

[Thistle]

I agree Buckminster is lovely and probably the right timing for you.

 

[Kentisheventer]

Stonar? ive been told the SJ is a soft track, and also the XC was really techy last year and they have put that it will be MUCH osfter this year

 

[Thistle]

Stonar is about as far as you can get from Suffolk though, would be a 5+ hour drive.

 

[Apercrumbie]

Stonar does have a lot of questions in it so probably wouldnt be a good first timer. Also it's miles.

 

[connie1288]

I would have another vote for buckminster, if you look on my facebook i have a video from a few years ago.
I have only done PN at Gt Tew, a lovely event but i thought quite meaty.
Aston can be various, 2 last year caused quite alot of problems at novice but lots of alternatives and flat.

 

[SpottedCat]

I thought Aston looked nice at novice this time, but big enough if you see what I mean. Gt Tew is pretty straightforward. I think Stonar will struggle for entries after last years farce as I suspect a lot of people will hold off to see if they really do make it a better track and then enter next year, plus location is appalling from you!

 

[madhector]

Thanks everyone

I had forgotten about Buckminster, thought the novice looked lovely last year when Jerry did the PN, so that might be perfect