Deffo NOT ride harder - just with more finesse - now I have never jumped anything of any decent height indoor but I can imagine that the striding, especially set off of the walls is VERY precise - the fences are built to be rider scarers IMO - they can look double the height and double the width of Disco, but of course they are not! Also you will have triples to contend with, deffo water/watertray (tho most BSJA have trays these days) and you really do need a horse that will keep a good steady rhythm - I am not used to jumping courses under 1m (and TBH until I came over here I had only ever jumped 1 95cms that was the lowest ever LOL) and I would say that your set up is your key - you want a horse that is back with you as soon as you land and something you are confident at setting up 5 strides back at the most, you dont want to be fiddling in those last three strides! Also something that will make the distances and is confident with unrelated distances
I don't think NC's are much more technical than Disco tbh. You just need the confidence in both horse and rider to get a good rhythm going. The biggest difference imo is that at Disco, you can get away with not meeting a fence spot on...most horses can pop themselves out of trouble at 1m, but at NC you do need to be starting to hit the right strides more of the time. It's that bit harder to get out of trouble...although a lot of horses are still more than capable of doing so at that height lol!
As Weezy has already said, the back rails can look a lot bigger (well they are....4" bigger lol!), and further away as the spreads increase too. Basically, the arena shrinks as the fences increase in size, so you need your horse listenning to you much more...
You will definitely find a water tray and / or a full blown water jump in NC's. As for a combination, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't....less likely indoors unless you have a larger arena that you compete at.
Some of the turn backs can be tighter too (indoors), and as the fences are that bit bigger, they feel tougher still.
Bottom line is that most horses are more than capable of jumping a NC's !
You also have the luxury of 1.05m Opens to make the step-up a little less daunting too
I dont think newcomers is much different from Disc either. They tend to put in the odd combination (depending on size of indoor arena though!) and almost always have a water tray under one of the fences. Otherwise, not much different. Just because its bigger, I guess you have to ride the related distances a bit more properly. The only thing I find a little more testing is I find the widths on spreads a little wider.
Like Rambo says - try a 1.05m open if you can as its right in between! Plus the jump off would probably be at 1.10m so you'd get a quick taster.
Or do what I did, dont go up a class until your out of the one before! I only did my first newcomers when I couldnt do discovery anymore (in the end he took to it so well, I had won too much to do newcomers without even having time to get my 4 newcomer double clears!!).
Water jump is compulsory at Newcomers, and Optional at Discovery.
The ride is more technical, in that the spreads and combinations will be bigger. And as it's bigger, you've got to ride more than in a Disco. A Disco course will be a bit more forgiving than a NC.
Sorry if this is already said, but didn't have time to read all replies!
Does anyone know how a trailblazers 1.05m would compare to BSJA.... Rog pops round these easy peasy which is why he needs to BSJA this winter as unaff stuff is never going to prepare us for next season !
We've jumped BN and Disc on a ticket and they didnt seem much different to your standard Pre-novice sj course.
I believe a BE Novice SJ'ing track would equate to a Newcomers BSJA track in terms of height (?)....but not sure about the specific technicalities regarding combinations etc...
From my (limited) experience of jumping Trailblazers I would say that a TB's 1.05m would probably be about the same techncality as a BSJA Discovery, but obviously potentially a few cms higher
Remember, most venues that run TB's also run BSJA too, so the courses will never be that different...
I did my first Discovery last week and thought it was much harder than BE Pre-Novice!
I think it was partly just because the fences look bigger indoors (and so much wider). I also find BE is hardly ever up to height and is usually very straightforward. The Disco I did had a double, a treble and a couple of dog-leg related distance things.
Our plan is to get up to Newcomers by next spring so BE Novice looks easy.
ooo a treble in discovery?? havent seen that before.. but then I rarely go BSJAing !
I do agree that PN is rarely up to height, and the discoverys I have done are a lot more consistent height-wise but the overall ride of the course didnt feel any more difficult.
Im not really a fan of SJ either, only do it because we have to!
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I dont think the step from Disco to Newcomers is as big as the step from Newcomers to Foxhunter.. this seems to be the point where the entries drop.
I jumped a BN on Sat and it had 2 combinations, really 'orrible ones too. One was an oxer then related distance to a double of uprights, then the last fence was a double with a very wide oxer coming in then a spindly rail and planks vertical coming out - nasty! Hardly any clears either....
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I dont think the step from Disco to Newcomers is as big as the step from Newcomers to Foxhunter.. this seems to be the point where the entries drop.
Agree that if you are comfortably jumping NC, especially indoors, you will find BE Novice easy. The only thing is they always have a treble and a double in at BE for Novice which you may or may not have come across BSJA depending on where you go. But the turns and the related distances will have asked a lot more of you. The maximum dimensions for Novice are 115cm high (for two fences), the rest 110cm, and a max spread of 140cm at highest point. I'm not sure what the max spread is for NC.