XC school or at least jump some decent sized fences in it before you compete. They are a useful piece of kit but I once saw a very scary accident in a clinic when a well known trainer put one on a horse and he fell at a jump he clearly didn't see.
Tarrsteps Thanks for that. I did think last night think I will have a play in it before I use it for a comp. I have got a SJ schooling session next week so I might pop it on for that and see how we go.
Good idea to use it in a comp situation before, too.
Honestly, the accident has stuck in my mind years later as one of the scariest XC falls I've seen. The clinician - well known for being very hot on safety - popped it one the horse because he was getting his head up above the rider's hand (although he had jumped successfully for years up to YR level like that). He jumped a few small fences okay and then went to a combination with a step up as the second element, piled straight into the first element without even seeing it, fired the rider into the bank and slid along the ground to pile on top of her. I still get chills thinking about it. Luckily and amazingly everyone was fine but it was a good reminder that even the best can get it wrong and to never assume something will be fine with your horse just because it's worked for someone else.
Knowing what I know now, I suspect that horse had some sort of physical limitation but had developed a successful coping mechanism. It was removing that mechanism that caused the wreck - he simply couldn't change his way of going, at least not that quickly.
I am not a massive fan of using sheekskin nosebands for XC. They can really inhibit the horses' visual. Better just to ignore the head going up and soften the hand on the approach to the fence. Like Tarrsteps said, some horses just have a certain way of going and as a rider you have to let them get on with it rather than using a gadget.