Places to XC school over large & technical fences in E.Mids. Help pls!

becca1305

becca1305

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Hi guys.
Took my mare to her first 1.10m ode on sun and she made exceptionally light work of a rather big and at times very technical (and poorly strided!) course :) naturally the photographer took pics of the most boring fences and also aptly managed to make them look small (think they are trying to help me save money!). Anyway point being I really want to step up a gear in schooling to figure out what shes really capable of eep! :p. Shes not been xc schooling for months, tho been mega out competing & id love to go school over be novice, intermediate & poss even advanced (yikes!) XC tracks or at least schooling courses of them. So far I have found eland lodge (up to novice) & ALW (up to intermed) but no others in my area :(. Anyone know of any good course? or has been schooling at ALW and could let me know if its worth it? I dont want to travel to kent or similar to school big tracks :p :D. Thanks for any advice :). Ps not planning on schooling big on a regular basis just want to see what shes capable of & get some decent piccys! :D.
 
Hoods just north of Lincoln is very good. Aylesford near Melton Mowbrey is also brilliant with a particularly good water complex. Newton near Nottingham also has some good questions.
 
I'm not sure how useful or necessary this is - if people routinely schooled over int/adv fences you wouldn't be struggling to find places to go. I seem to remember that even Michael Jung who recreates championship fences at home only does so at 3ft
 
ALW put alot of the fences away after a competition, but I would say there is more than enough to school over there for any level horse.

As spotted cat said, most people keep it smaller when schooling to build confidence, many Int and advanced fences are designed to be jumped from a fast canter / gallop in a round and would not ride so well from a schooling session.

Perhaps look to find an event that opens for schooling afterwards?
 
ALW only says schooling up to intermed on their webby. Think this might be my best bet tho. We have already jumped everything at aylesford but thanks :). There seems plenty of opportunity to school larger in other areas just in short supply here & as I said Im doing it to find out what she potentially could do not as regular training. Im sure many professionals dont as they know what the horse will be capable of, I however do not & want to find out before I make the decision about selling. Thanks for the other suggestions will look into those :)
 
Stupid phone. Ps. Thanks for the advice, I am planning on being selective and careful about what I jump & was hoping to 'walk the course' first so I can plot a route & know how to ride each fence so even if I come back to walk in between I know where to pick up gallop or what striding is in the next complex :)
 
so what happens when you put her at an intermediate fence and shes not capable and you end up with no confidence left and have damaged her confidence your then left with something youve pushed too far for your own gain if you want to school her like that why not pay someone who has done that level to do it rather than risk upsetting her because youre new to that level as well
 
I was asking for venues not uninformed opinions. She just ate up a novice course easy peasy and xc is my best phase ergo intermed is well in her grasp. She has jumped 1.45m SJ with a spread of about 1.7/8m at home easy so scope is not an issue. If she does fly the intermed jumps then I would have a play over a couple of advanced jumps but only if she feels confident and happy. She has never refused at a xc jump & to be quite frank if she is confident at intermed level (bold as brass at novice) I will likely keep her & us novices will be hopefully doing a BE intermed nxt yr or yr after depending on how much time I have & for both our confidences as we are new to this and the pressure at competition I would much rather have schooled over it. I dont stand much stead by dropping a horse with a professional (with whom they have no bond) because the rider feels unconfident to school but would like to compete at that level! I know we will be fine intermed schooling & if she feels good we can pop a couple of advanced fences maybe.
 
Surely it's better to find out what she can do over simulated XC fences in the school if you want to jump big stuff rather than make a mistake over something unforgiving.

Just read you don't want advice so ignore me!
Nick Turner is running a series of clinics over the winter at Waresley Park. There is a good variety of fences there. Eddy Stibbe who rode internationally at 4* built them for schooling so hopefully they will meet your standards!

Nick has ridden at 4* is a FHBS and is Brazilian team trainer his opinion is worth a lot http://www.ntsporthorses.com/Training-Calendar.html
 
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so if you know shell be fine why do it why run the risk you can do plenty of technical things in the arena that replicate size and technicality
 
The risk? The risk is no greater than the risks shes going to face out hunting this winter realistically. We have already schooled over larger obstacles in an arena (up to 1.30m brush which she insists on jumping over because its plasticy!) But you are limited as to what you can actually do. I now want to go & have a play & build our confidence further rather than dive in at the deep end at a competition. Dont have any venues to offer thats fine, but I am not asking for advice on what I should do merely recommendations on which venues would be suitable.
 
OP - these are my 'musings out loud' on a drizzly morning to share with all the people on the forum who are likely to read this thread. It's not intended to be advice to you as you've stated you don't want it...... ;)

I'm with SC, HM12 and VGM on this.

To my mind, knowing whether you've got an Intermediate or Advanced eventer isn't about its ability to jump individual big fences. It's about carefully taking them through the grades, giving them sufficient experience at each level to ensure they (and you) have sufficient tools in the tool kit to deal with increasingly bigger and more technical stuff, together with increasing speeds at the higher levels.

You don't get this through going XC schooling and stringing together a few big fences to 'see what you've got'.

There's a reason why most schooling courses don't offer much above Novice level - for example, if you look at the options for schooling around Oasby after the BE event, the Intermediate course has been taken out.

What do others think?
 
I have trouble enough going over a PN sized fence in a schooling session - fences feel much better when jumped as part of a proper course - I don't think I ride the same either. I'd rather jump a big fence whilst running as part of a course, not cold during schooling. Thats just me prob being a big wuss though! :)
 
I'm with you MM - it's unnecessary and puts wear and tear where it's not needed. As far as I'm aware, most people run at a level, find the toughest tracks at that level to ride (off the top of my head Barbury Novice and Dauntsey Novice are both good ones), take advice from their trainer, then enter a few int-novices, and if all is still well, do an easier intermediate. I've never heard of anyone schooling over int height and technicality fences because I don't know any courses which leave out those combinations - presumably for good reason. Take Stockland Lovell - they'll leave out the occasional int rolltop or brush box, and there is the odd fixed fence, but all the real questions aren't there. Ditto Pontispool, which ropes off the real questions if they are fixed fences, and all the other schooling venues round here.
 
I agree entirely about tools and experience. I know shes got scope for me its more about seeing how she handles technical questions when they become bigger and harder not going out and jumping a few large fences and assuming Ive got an advanced eventer, the scope is the easy part!. I just want to go and have a nice confidence building schooling round over some larger and more technical jumps to get a feeling of what shes got, where we will need to improve before stepping up a level out competing (as currently shes flying every question asked) and as a side note it would be good to get some nice pictures rather than of the smallest logs on the course as the photographers seem so keen to take! Frankly I think its more irresponsible to step up a level not knowing what to expect as you and your horse have never done it before and then getting taken by surprise than to go on a practice round prior. I didnt ask for advice and I do not disagree with your musings I just want to go out and have some confidence building fun which suits me and my mare, it may not suit everyone but that is up to you as every pair is different.

And spottedcat- wear and tear really? from one harder schooling session? I think thats a little unrealistic tbh. Maybe would be the case if you hunted hard and regularly xc school and then wanted to push it up a level and do it continually but tbh whats the difference doing a short xc schooling session over a intermed course in place of going and doing a full competition at novice/intermed?

stencilface- I agree if I jump any "biggies" Im going to do a "course walk" first and then put it in with a string of fences at a nice gallop.
 
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OP I am right in the heart of eventer-land and I do not know of anywhere that is open for schooling which allows you to jump the technical questions above Novice level. There is nothing at Stockland Lovell, nothing at Pontispool, nothing at Boomerang, nothing at the Dumas place. Most of them don't even leave out the really tricky Novice level stuff. So I think you will struggle - where does your trainer advise going?
 
Personally more technical stuff I would be building in the school to get the ideas. Tighter lines, narrower etc.

Schooling bigger is fine but I think when you say that you have been doing novice and then want to school Advanced that warning bells strike.
 
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Ive not asked her yet. I was hoping to get some recommendations on here then ask her which was the best out of several as shes unlikely to think off the top of her head tbh! I think ALW is going to be the best tbh as you can school over Intermed there. However I am very interested in thistles suggestion of doing a clinic (with Nick) at a bigger level as I think that would be perfect for us. I dont understand why people are getting in a pickle about going and asking a horse a few harder qs prior to stepping up a level Im not suggesting I go schooling around an Advanced course once a month or anything like that!!

LEC -I said intermed and poss a few advanced as in if there was a big table or similar (bigger than intermed level) that would ride nicely then yeh I would jump it just as I would jump a 5ft hedge or so out hunting. Im glad to see you realised that its not going to "ruin a horse" doing a few questions once to build our confidence before actually competing at that level and jumping those same fences.
 
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If you're thinking of going to ALW I have a lesson voucher for a lesson with either Nigel or Ann - you can use it for XC and they have a very good reputation. They usually charge £50 for a XC lesson and I'll sell it to you for £40 if you want - as they charge £25 to hire the course it effectively means you'd get a lesson for £15.....
 
Thanks for the offer spotted cat :) that sounds good as I would like to have some support there so they can tell me how we can improve. Are you not going to use it then? I will look into that and Thistles suggestion of a clinic. I think people have completely got the wrong end of the stick all I want to do is practice a few harder technical questions as we are flying at Nov but may hit something we need to work on, and build confidence, then jump a couple of nice "biggies" just for fun and confidence again, not attempt to jump hundreds of harder and bigger fences on a regular basis!
 
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