How soon before an event do you xc school?

[J_sarahd]

Long story short, I was meant to have a cross country lesson tomorrow but due to the heat it is likely to be moved to next Thursday.

We are eventing next Saturday. Do people think its fine to go cross country that close to an event?

My thoughts is probably but would like more experienced people’s opinions

 

[paddi22]

what level is your horse at and how experienced in its job xc?

if it was an older horse that knew its job I wouldn't personally bother xc schooling as ground would be hard and it's unnecessary milage. If it was to target a specific issue (like skinnies) I'd replicate it in arena and do a short burst off work at a time of day when it wasn't hot. I'd really base it on the weather that day and ground conditions.

 

[J_sarahd]

he’s quite green, having only done one ode and one “hunter trial”. xc is his better phase - but like i said he is green. the ground should hopefully be better next week, but i dont know if it’d be too much stress on his joints to do xc have a day off and then do an event.

 

[ihatework]

If the event horses haven’t run for a bit then they often go schooling 2-3 days before. The only issue with that for a green horse and rider would be if you run into a problem then you don’t have the time to sort it. But if you have a problem then they probably aren’t ready to event anyway.

 

[Roxylola]

I'd ask your trainer. How often do you normally ride xc? If you haven't been for ages I might be tempted to go and do a bit but keep it very easy and don't tackle anything you aren't 100% confident at. It's too late for problem solving, but if he has a really good round he'll be confident on the day and hopefully that will carry you through if that makes sense

 

[IrishMilo]

I'd go but keep it really chilled and easy - you don't have to hammer him round.

 

[LEC]

Depends on the horse and the riders experience. I have gone the day before but not my preferred choice as had smashed up my back the week before and was the earliest I could get back on the horse and not be compromised. Plus, horse knew its job so it was a reminder of water/steps/ditches and some small combinations.

I have a young horse who will go 48 hours before as can be cautious about water and ditches. So normally its a confidence session.

Normally, I would be 4-5 days gap in case of an issue that I need to sort and go again.

 

[LegOn]

Yip I would go that close to an event - sometimes its good to just give them a reminder of everything!

 

[J_sarahd]

To be fair he’s pretty good at everything if I ride properly. The only things he worries about are ditches and skinnies/angles and occasionally water but I can get him in, especially if we already have a rhythm established.

We are doing the 70cm at Solihull - never been. So if someone who has been recently can let me know what the course is like in terms of any of the above, that would be great

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

Depends on the horse, ground etc. I xc schooled last Wednesday and then evented on the Saturday. Wouldn't normally do this but an opportunity came up for a lesson so I took it. Horse had evented 2 weeks before and we hadn't done any jumping in-between.