Larkhill intro? and other starter events.

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kayleigh_and_rocky

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My boy is 5years old and i am planning on eventing him for the first time starting april. He jumps confidently but obviously with his age i want an encouraging course for both me and him (as its a first for us both) i am in hampshire near winchester
So i was looking through the 2007 fixture list and noticed that larkhill is close by in wiltshire and does an intro. does anybody have any experience of it? Would it be a good one? I was aiming to do tweseldown but its not doing a intro.
Another possibility is ebbesbourne, any experience of this?
Any advice here welcome!
 
larkhill is really exposed, its on top of a hill (suprisingly) and if the weather is foul its not a very nice experience. ive done normal ode's there and its ok. the course is nice, good water combination altho it can be a bit spooky as its jumping into the water which is in a wood.

Boss will be able to tell you more about it, but if i can get bloss round the 3ft ode course then im sure rocky the star can do it!
 
I did Larkhill intro a few years ago and thought it was a decent size for intro, especially a brush type fence towards the end, and there was a double down hill.

Nice course though, but very cold when its cold!!!
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Spire Park aren't running any more, they've jacked it in.
Ebbesbourne Wake I thought was nice (I'm not an eventing person though, but being scared of 2'3" I thought it was an easy-looking course and I wouldn't mind doing it). I think Ebbesbourne was fairly flat as well from what I remember.
 
Oh, I hadn’t heard that, what a shame. It’s only been open 2 years and they must have spent a fair bit of money building the course.
It was a nice course, easy to start with but had a couple of more technical questions later on. Unfortunately I just think the ground had the tendency to be too hard for people to risk entering in advance.
 
not when I did it there wasn't, they were scraping the entries.
However it is a real shame it has closed, it was a nice course.
 
oh right! everyone i know who entered got balloted out.......its right by my house (and 15mins from my yard) so everyone form my yard always wanted to go there to compete!
 
You could keep an eye out for unaffiliated stuff going on at Larkhill - quite a few PCs, RCs and hunts run hunter trials there so you could always go along and do something you were confident about, say a 2'9" class, and get a good look at the bigger stuff whilst you're there. I love Larkhill!
 
Larkhill is one of the easiest Intro's you can find, dead easy, straightforward, and very small!
It is run over the pony club open 2ft6 course!

Yes it is an open exposed place on Salisbury Plain and the weather is often rotten, but has not particularly bothered my horses/ponies over the last 14 years.
 
Oh no what a shame about Spire Park!
I was always hearing big complaints about the ground, perhaps they felt that they could not ever get the ground good enough to people's satisfaction.
 
No I havent been to Ebbesbourne, but Boss has!
Seriously though, Larkhill is one of the most suitable courses in the country for a first timer...you want a flowing galloping course to get into a ryhytm then you can just cruise round!
 
Munstead is a very easy Intro. Lovely and straightforward. Last time I was there it was literally jumping round some in one field, a little drop into another and round that one. There wasnt any water, just a little hollow area (but that could be for the PN).
I had been schooling once on my lad (never been before as he was 5) and we went to the competition there. He went clear, and it built his confidence no end.
 
Munstead is too twisty and too stop/start/stop/start for my liking. Also a lot of trappy fences going in/out of dark.You just cannot build up a good rythym the course does not flow in any way at all.. I would not go there again.Although the Intro course is only about 2 foot high though.
 
SB, I'd agree with your thoughts on Munstead.
It's small and trappy, not a nice flowing course. To me the majority of it is like an unaff hunter trial course.
However the ground is pretty good on the XC (although I don't like the sj ring) and the organisers are really nice.

Wouldn't be top of my list but it certainly is one of the easiest courses so certainly wouldn't dicard it as a first time run.
 
Been to Larkhill and Ebbesbourne; both nice courses last year. Did have an appalling dressage at Larkhill because it's on a hill and it was windy!! It was Ebbesbourne's first year last year though so they might make some changes next year. My trainer was in the PN so I didn't ride round but the intro certainly looked very straightforward. I think both courses would be a possible first timer though. Hope that helps..
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I went to walk Ebbesbourne as planning to do it next season and i thought it was lovely. Fairly up to height but quite straight forward and inviting. Will deffo go next season. Showjumping is on a huge outdoor arena too
 
Larkhill is a great first time event. The course is very straight forward and isn't big.

Before you start eventing, even at intro, you need to be confident with all types of fences that you might meet - so it isnt a problem when you get to the event.
 
I think Larkhill is a great 1st time event. The dressage is fairly unenjoyable(being based on the highest plateau in Europe), but the XC is small and inviting and not technical.
 
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