How much prep for BE 4YO classes?

[Bounty]

OK - Fia came back into work on the 10th (

) and is being aimed towards Bickenhall 4YO on the 4th May.

Obviously the rest of this month and Feb will be spent hacking out and getting her strength up, but after that I am wondering whether the following will be enough/too much prep........

March - A couple of low key prelims and a couple of indoor CR SJ outings.

April - Possibly a couple more prelims, an indoor SJ, and then XC schooling, hiring outdoor SJ (on grass, weather permitting!) and possibly a HT towards the end of the month.

We're not aiming to be competitive at Bickenhall, and as there is no time limit SJ/XC I have every intention of taking our time to complete. I just want to get enough prep in that she doesn't feel overwhelmed, without putting too many miles on the clock in the process.
The above will be alongside weekly instruction and will possibly include a weekend down with my trainer to work specifically on the jumping.

What do you think? Would you do it any differently?

 

[Sarah_Jane]

Sounds about right although I found my 4 year old wasn't quite ready in May as I hoped. I did a couple of prelim dressage tests, got her showjumping up to a level I did one BSJA on a ticket XC schooled once. For her this was fine we just took it slowly but didn't do ours til August.

 

[Bounty]

I'm aiming for May, but if she's not feeling quite there then I'll hang fire - the absolute last thing I want to do is push her too hard now.

When I turned her away in Oct she was working nicely on the flat and I'd have been happy to attempt a prelim on her, and she's feeling much bigger and stronger now so I have no reason to assume that her flatwork will have slipped too much (I bet I will regret saying that!

) so it's just the comp experience and the SJ that I think needs to be focused on.
If I took her XC schooling tomorrow I bet she wouldn't hesitate for a second - she's fab like that!

 

[Emma24]

You sound like your on track, but really its a wait and see game, i'm not sure whether my 4yr old will be ready for May. It's a shame because I think Bickenhall is such a lovely run event.
But I think WWEC is an okay first intro (4yr) as well i'm probably going to wait for that to be my chaps first intro.

 

[Bounty]

I think the only way I'm going to get away with being ready for Bickenhall is because she is such a cool cookie and learns so incredibly quickly. The plan was to do a class arly in the season, and then give her a break over the middle of the season and bring her back in for one of the later events.

It's not the end of the world if we don't get there in May though, and WW will probably be our second choice.