So who honestly believes THEY could ride round Badminton or Burghley?

Say if you sat me one opposition buzz and I could actually stay on I probably could get round, but only if I had my eyes closed and he knew the way :D

No chance I'd ever do, my 'dreams' are firmly set in showjumping roots, am brave enough for PN, but have an over active imagination and anything bigger isn't healthy :eek: :o
 
when I was younger and braver and had Rocky the wonder horse, I would have certainly given it a go, but not nowadays, no way!!

My friend qualified to go Badminton with her little 15hand NZ TB but didn't get in.
 
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Nope, no way could I jump the course as a whole. Individual jumps, yes, I would deffo give it a go, but I wouldn't do the leaf pit, not sure I would do Capabilities Cutting either, or a couple of others.... I always walk Blenheim ever year and there are only 2 fences I wouldn't have a go at because I am a big wuss when it comes to drops LOL!

Saying all that, I have no interest in eventing myself, so have never done it seriously, but I look at them as I look at hunt fences, and the combinations I look at as SJ exercises. When you make some of the fences into SJs in your head (so take away the timber and replace with poles) it makes it SO much easier to consider ;)

Oh and I would require a bottle of port first LOL!
 
Ha ha - if they made it combined training with just the dressage and SJ then I would!!-but not over those XC fences!
 
I think if I was on a wonder horse like one of Olly Townend's and he was with me, I could school round it, one jump at a time, then have a break!!!;)
Ridding ability wise, I have evented. But as for doing it in competiton, No way!!!! nerves would never hold out.:eek:
However I have a three year old i'm working on now and always said I want to do Badminton with her but I'm realistic i'm heading for the grass routes on the two days before real Badminton starts!!!!
Do you think if I gave Olly a ring he'd teach me round the course on his top horse!!!!! mmmmmmmm thinking no!!! oh well the dreams continue. :)
 
15 years ago I would have given it a go!! Not saying I would get round but had the bottle back then....although probably not the talent!

given the chance now on a good horse, I would try the first and last fences! they look jumpable...
 
If I had the right horse, then yes, I would love to have a chance to ride around a 4*!

However, I can accept that I will probably never find/afford a horse that talented! So my dreams at the moment are a considerably less dream to jump around a 2*!
 
If it were merely just having the courage/bravery then I would say yes, but unfortunately, you need to have talent, experience and knowledge, which sadly I lack :(
 
I have always said 2* would be my limit as a one horse amateur but who knows where confidence in your horse gets you and takes you. You also need a great deal of luck.
Chatter1 proves that a good horse and some guts can take you further than you ever imagined. Max was her first proper eventer and is now at 3*.
There are loads of riders on here who are perfectly capable of riding at 4* like LPP, The Mule etc
 
No way novice looks plenty big enough to me.

But if i had to take 1 horse it would be spring along he makes it look easy.

Ive been told my mare would jump around intermediate but not with me thanks im hoping to have a go at a be100 next yr and that will be my limit i think
 
No way novice looks plenty big enough to me.

But if i had to take 1 horse it would be spring along he makes it look easy.

Ive been told my mare would jump around intermediate but not with me thanks im hoping to have a go at a be100 next yr and that will be my limit i think
 
I don't know. It would very much depend on the horse I had - some horses fill you with confidence, others don't. I'd probably give it a go if I'd worked my way up there obviously. I wouldn't go from novice BE to 4* that's just suicidal!
 
I'd love to have a crack, but realistically doubt I'd ever be able to... however, if I had unlimited funds, time for training etc, I'd certainly give it my best shot ;)

Realistically, I'd love to go intermediate, and would be happy doing that :D
 
There has to be something seriously wrong with anyone who faces a 4* course. Barking, all of them, even though I'm secretly envious!!

No horse could be expected to face such a course, on a daily basis. The level of trust, between horse and rider, goes beyond the sublime. That the horse has such trust in the rider, staggers me. I have a near "God Like" regard for them!!

I once attended a clinic, given by a very well known and successful International rider. She was asked how she faced the 4* courses, and she replied, "with a huge whiskey inside me"! Not, perhaps, the most sensible way of approaching it, but I have a degree of understanding.

It's the belief that anything is possible, I suppose. I take my hat off to them.

Alec.
 
If you put a support rod in my spine, gave me a huge dose of painkillers and a horse that could, I would love to, love to, but I am dreaming. I,m too old and too broken to do it now, and too fat and out of form.
But whenever I watch I want to be there and riding!!!!
 
Not in a million years. My knees go weak at the sight of a cross pole!

Little sister on the other hand... I think she has the guts, and she's bright enough. However there's the small matter of finding the right horse (within budget), and having the lessons, and paying the entry fees to qualify etc. In short, I think she might have the talent, but having the opportunity is another thing. Although we have a very lovely 7yo ex-hurdler....

But when all's said and done, who really knows what they're capable of- I spoke to an amateur who'd done Burghley (quite a lot of years ago) and she told me that she never believed that she'd have the guts to do it, but what she did have was a horse she believed in and that was all she needed to get round.
 
I am stupid enough to try. I am stupid enough to jump very big, very solid things on my little 13.1h who has so much scope she makes it feel like a little hop.

If I could have a 16h version of her, I think we'd have been out eventing a very long time ago.

As I stand right now though, its a no, but with enough money, and time, I'd certainly give qualifying and going a very good shot, then love every minute.
 
I'd like to hope so in time with a saint of a horse and a lot of lessons :p But I doubt it will ever happen, and if it did come to it I'd have to go round the XC course in the middle of the night removing the back rails off of all of the corners and filling in some of the ditches :p

I'll settle for grooming at Burghley next year!
 
well it's the ultimate dream but I think the best I could manage would be having a go at the brush out of the water (because it looks fairly 'small' and it's not solid!), not as part of the combo!!! just on its own from a straight approach after I had polished off half my hipflask and I'd like to be riding Sir Percy. Then if we managed to scrabble over that I would tell everyone that I had comepted at 4* level on my own self produced horse! hahahahaha ;) Nah I'd fall off at the first jump just from the sheer difference in speed, power, and shape of jump produced by a 4* horse.

Might be able to have a bash at some of the dressage, not saying it would be pretty! and just wouldn't even dare look at the sjs, they are terrifying!!!!!!!!!!!

Maximum repsect to all *ed riders they deserve it
 
Take out al of the big scary fences XC and i would give it a shot on my boy! :p :D Would give the SJ and DR a go on my boy (although the dressage would probably even struggle to resemble to shwepps advert of the bull doing DR) ;) but the sj def. XC.. probably the first, last, and one or two of the lovely galloping fences without big ditches underneath!

No, in all seriousness there is no way i would attempt it now. It is a lifelong ambition, but ive never felt a horse XC who i have thought.. i would trust this to take me round a major 4*... so no. However if i had a really strong partnership with a really talented horse, then maybe, and if i ever got that oppourtunity i would love to!


... one can dream ;)
 
Not a cat in a very hot places chance.
I go green at the sight of a trotting pole.

Now GP dressage test? With unlimited funds, good horses, plenty of time and training. That might be a possibility but still would not be good enough to ride at any of the big shows.

But then Jo blogs off the street could manage that to I think.
 
No danger! I am under no illusion that I am anywhere near good enough! I would love to do Blair 1*, that is the life goal for me, maybe one day... But having walked the 2*/3* courses there, I just can't fathom being good enough to jump those big fences.

I also wouldn't make it past the dressage phase...! ;) And may need to W/D before the SJ as I think I'd rather take my chances with the XC than the scary fally downy poles! (TM Nic! ;) )
 
Well obviously yes, having completed the 70cm MK3DE not once but twice then if Kizzy hadn't gone lame then we could have been in with a serious chance
 
Possibly if you tied me to the saddle, anaethatised me and blindfolded me then i might get over the first or the last jump but considering i have heart failure at the sight of a small cross pole i doubt it xx
 
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