Starting out in Eventing

[JessicaD]

Hi all, Having been quite happily hacking for most of my life I have now decided to have a go at eventing, obviously low level and am looking for recommendations for good eventing websites which can give me a good insight on where to start. For example, where to find a trainer, which courses are good for cross country schooling and really just how to go about starting out in this discipline. I have done a small amount of unaffiliated dressage and jump for fun at home but cross country is new to me entirely. I have stumbled across a website called e venting which was very informative. Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks, Jess.

 

[Moody-Mare]

Hi all, Having been quite happily hacking for most of my life I have now decided to have a go at eventing, obviously low level and am looking for recommendations for good eventing websites which can give me a good insight on where to start. For example, where to find a trainer, which courses are good for cross country schooling and really just how to go about starting out in this discipline. I have done a small amount of unaffiliated dressage and jump for fun at home but cross country is new to me entirely. I have stumbled across a website called e venting which was very informative. Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks, Jess.

Will be keeping a close eye on this thread! I'm in the same position as you!!

 

[TiaPony]

E-venting
Shoestring eventing has course pictures which are useful
Eventing worldwide
This forum!

 

[wench]

The BE website has a list of acredited trainers.

It would also be worthwhile going to some BE events, to see what the XC courses actually look like. BE90 is up to 90cm.... sounds easy, however the max dimensions on spread fences are actually quite large, and brush fences are allowed to be up to 20cm higher than fixed fences, so you could actually end up jumping 1.10, not 90cm.

 

[JessicaD]

Thanks for your replies. Wow 110 sounds huge!! I'm off to Badminton and although I don't want to scare myself off I am hoping to walk the course and take in as much as I can, maybe have a chat with the guys on the BE stand about the low level stuff.

 

[Firewell]

Why don't you look at the BE website fixtures page and pick a local event with the lower classes. Go and watch and walk the course. Choose somewhere that is holding an 80t class and a BE90 class. That way you will know what to aim for and see the courses you will be doing.
I would ask around and find a good event rider that teaches and have some lessons, hire a course and get them to go with you and teach you how to ride the different types of fences.
Joining a RC could also be helpful as they will hold sj and xc clinics where you can also gain more experience. I'd also get out and about and do some unaffiliated showjumping as well and hunter trials.

 

[dafthoss]

If you post where you are based then some one local might be able to recommend you a trainer to help you.

Have a look at the local pony club websites and see when they are running their events and go watch and see what its all about. They run smaller classes than BE and are will often let you continue even if you have technically been eliminated so would be a good place to start.

 

[miss_wilson]

I did the 80 at kelsall last Friday! It was our first event, we had been cross county schooling and show jumped but never done a full cross country course before! I just thought I would go for it! I loved every minute of it! Definitely recommend the 80 as a starting point!

 

[NaeNae87]

I started eventing last year and I love it. I started off at Pony Club events and this year I have moved up to EA (the Aussie BE) events. We are doing EvA65 until the middle of the year and will be moving up to EvA80 in August.

It's great fun and you will have a ball! I have found E-venting has been really helpful and I have also picked the brains of friends who have been out and about alot longer than I have.

I have an awesome coach and I have learnt a heap from bombarding him with questions and also watching him ride.

Go out there and have fun, you don't have to have "all the gear", as long as your gear is safe and clean you will be fine.
I started off with a Dressage saddle, 2 saddle blankets, Open Front boots and a bridle for my horse and for myself a body protecter, helmet, a second hand show jacket and stock, second hand jods and short boots with leather gaiters which was all perfectly fine and acceptable for PC eventing over here.

 

[wench]

I did the 80 at kelsall last Friday! It was our first event, we had been cross county schooling and show jumped but never done a full cross country course before! I just thought I would go for it! I loved every minute of it! Definitely recommend the 80 as a starting point!

You may be alright "just going for it", however if you have an ungenuine horse, and haven't prepared yourself properly, chances are you will end up getting eliminated, on the floor, having wasted a load of money. (This is me speaking from experience!)

The more lessons and unaff you can get in the better - it will help to prepare you better. Look on it as an investment, not wasting money.

If you look through threads on here, there are many "eventers" complaining about the standards of riding at the lower levels. Do you really want to be pulled up by the stewards for dangerous riding?

I would also offer to fence judge for your local PC/BE event. You will then get to look at other people riding, and see how it should, or shouldnt be done.

 

[Bustalot]

I am in a similar position to you. I have a younger horse that I want to event, but i haven't done much in the jumping sense so looking to start from scratch.

I am this year just going to be starting with a few clear round showjumping classes to get the feel for going out jumping away from home. We have a XC schooling course near us also that offers very small jumps. So again to get the feel of riding in an open field and the idea of XC without overfacing me or the horse with bigger fences we are not ready for. I am also looking into jumping and XC clinics with riding clubs or any other association (all unaffiliated)

Once I am happy that horse and I are comfortable with the XC idea I will have a look at a few hunter trials moving onto un-affiliated ODEs keeping it all small till we are both happy.

In between all this will be upping the faster work out hacking at home to help with my horses fitness and stamina.

Then plan that the start of the season next year will be competing bigger unaffliated ODE courses. Clinics from the BE trainers, riding over affiliated courses in the clinics. Then between the middle/end of next years season hoping to do my 1st affiliated event.

Thats the plan anyway!! I want to give myself plenty of time as i have never done anything in this sense before. If it gets done quicker then brilliant if done slower then so be it. I have a young horse and so plenty of time.

I also reguarly go and watch the BE80/90 competitions in my area. So I get an idea of the level of riding required (or not!) as in some cases! Get an idea of the types of questions asked at affiliated level. Also it gives me the kick I need to get the motivation to keep going to reach my goal. Plus its always a fun day out

Good luck

 

[chestnut cob]

I want to do some eventing too, having never done affiliated stuff before. I've done a few little unaffil events over the years, as well as unaffil DR and SJ. My plan is loads of lessons/ training and practising at home, getting out to lots of unaffil DR and SJ. Have some HT coming up, as well as XC schooling and training beforehand. I'm aiming for an unaffil 80cm in July. My friend who teaches me has suggested lots of lessons/training, XC schooling as many times as I feel I need it along with HTs, then making sure I get in some DR and SJ practise on grass. Thankfully the horse is very bold and should be fine with the XC. He's green SJ but it's just practise more than anything else. So far he's been very bold jumping at home and away, including all sorts of fillers. He's fairly young and had only hunted until this time last year, so all of the SJ and DR stuff is new to him.

I don't see the point of going straight into eventing as although he's genuine, that's only going to take us so far. I'm really out of practise so for me, I feel my time is best spent on training and as many little unaffil shows as I can manage, to get the experience and both of our confidence up. Because he's green and I'm out of practise, I also have my YO's groom (eventer) ride him once or twice a week so I can make sure it's all going in the right direction. Or, if he's learning something new... the first time he jumped fillers, I had them jump him in case I had a confidence failure. I'd much rather he learnt correctly from the start. The plan is basically to play around as much as possible, do some unaffil ODEs this year then hopefully we will be able to do some BE next year. We are both fairly brave; I've done a fair amount of unaffil SJ, DR and HT over the years, and we've both done plenty of hunting (together and separately) so I'm hoping we have a good grounding to be starting with

 

[ReggiePerrin]

I second the suggestion of starting out with some Hunter Trails. I've just started this year and we'd done about 4 lots of xc schooling before we went to our first HT. We did the 75cm class which was lovely as most of it looked tiddly and I knew I could get him to walk over it if I needed! We've just done our first unaffiliated ODE and although it went better than I could have hoped for, in an ideal world I'd have liked to have done a couple more HT before I had to think about stringing all 3 phases together. It's such a fab sport, just make sure you get lots of help and support

 

[wench]

I would say also worth going to a BE event if they run xc schooling after an event... quite often the unaff 3ft can be built a lot smaller. (I have done this!)

You get round the local PC ODE at 3ft, think great I can do this, get to a BE event, XC walk... and think whoops that looks rather large...

 

[anna22]

I am just starting out too. I have been round lots of schooling courses but never a BE-style course before. So booked some lessons around the kelsall hill one this week, last night was the first: the course rode lovely (interspersed with extreme napping as we were in a group), although did ask questions and the brushes are big! Thankfully we've been schooling 100+ so he didn't bother but I would definitely recommend going round some proper BE courses before actually affiliating...

A good instructor and plenty of practice, I am quite glad my first 2 events were cancelled as I honestly don't think I was prepared enough a month ago. It's great fun and once you and your horse have that bond and can fly round xc it feels amazing!

 

[anna22]

I would say also worth going to a BE event if they run xc schooling after an event... quite often the unaff 3ft can be built a lot smaller. (I have done this!)

Very good idea! As mentioned by others... big brushes!!

 

[Orangehorse]

You need to be jumping confidently at home larger than the fences you will meet in a competition, so they look easy to your horse.

Also go to some competitions on foot, to see what the courses are like and what will be expected of you both.

Do you belong to a riding club? They will have training sessions and some low level competitions and you will find someone there who will help you with how to tacke the fences across country, because different things need a different approach. They will also help you with horse and rider fitness. When you practice cross country fences you tend to go round in a group and I think that the horses get tired towards the end, so don't do too much in one day. Also, prior to your first competition, hire a cross country course and go round as if you are in a competition, i.e. try not to stop! It doesn't have to be very long, but it will get you both used to going from fence to fence.

Start low and easy, so you both gain knowledge and fitness and experience and find it fun.

There are some good DVDs - Lucinda Green's is a classic on how to tackle various typesof fence, and I expect there are several others around too.

 

[posie_honey]

i'd do unaffiliated in all 3 first - then move up to unaffiliated ODE's - you get some run over BE courses anyway - then once you are happy at the level you want to compete at and are getting reasonable scores then - and only then - consider BE

i say this due to a few things -

1. Price - local stuff is usually cheaper

2. atmosphere - a local ODE will prepare you both for the buzz of a bigger comp = a BE comp will feel totally different with far more people, tannoys, buzz etc - no point going straight into that if you are also unsure of what you are doing/nervous etc - it might just blow your horses brain!

3. you at least then have a chance to actually complete all 3 parts safely and enjoyably. why pay top notch entry fees if you are not really ready for that level?

NB - i took the route above - i was doing ODE's at 3' and still went in BE at 80 level and came 3rd i was over the moon and it was a wonderful experience! i then moved up to BE90 and had a bit of a shock at the height difference (in SJ funnily enough - XC is not an issue at that height) so just did a few (came 11th, 10th and 8th so was still competative) then worked again on SJ at a higher level - i hope to do some more BE this year (actually had a year off last year due to moving house)

 

[miss_wilson]

You may be alright "just going for it", however if you have an ungenuine horse, and haven't prepared yourself properly, chances are you will end up getting eliminated, on the floor, having wasted a load of money. (This is me speaking from experience!)

The more lessons and unaff you can get in the better - it will help to prepare you better. Look on it as an investment, not wasting money.

If you look through threads on here, there are many "eventers" complaining about the standards of riding at the lower levels. Do you really want to be pulled up by the stewards for dangerous riding?

I would also offer to fence judge for your local PC/BE event. You will then get to look at other people riding, and see how it should, or shouldnt be done.

You are right, but the reason i went straight for the BE 80 was that i know my horse and what she is capable of, and i wanted to go to something that i knew would be well run.

 

[nannubu]

We are aiming for our first BE80 in July (with possible RC Area comp before that). I would recommend, as others have, plenty of practice at all three disciplines. We try and get out and about as much as poss (difficult with job and babies but we try!), and will have done a couple of RC and PC UA ODEs beforehand.

XC schooling in a group or clinic can be amazing in terms of getting your horse thinking 'forward' without the chaos of the hunting field. My horse was a little ditchy and didn't look back after a few sessions following a more experienced horse over ditches.

Also, remember that BE courses are alot more dressed than UA: so think about getting some practice over more stylised fences (strange shapes and so on!), colours (Kelsall Hill is v colourful!), flowers and strange things likes sacks of potatoes lying about.

Also, British Eventing Course photos and Unaffiliated Course photos are both on Facebook, are fab in terms of letting you see photos of courses so you have an idea of what to practise.

Good luck! We expect exciting reports soon!

 

[wench]

You are right, but the reason i went straight for the BE 80 was that i know my horse and what she is capable of, and i wanted to go to something that i knew would be well run.

Thats why I said you may be ok.... but if you have an ungenunie horse, or havent done enough preparation, chances are you will come a cropper.

Had BE80 been around when I was battling with my horse, I would have stood a much greater chance of finishing and not getting chucked onto the floor.

 

[birchave0]

I did my first ever BE ODE this year (age 40!), we did the BE80T class and although this is the training class, the standard is still very high.
And don't fall into the trap of "it's only 80cm" like I did! As others have said it's that is the minimum height, the brush fence on my course was 92cm and one of the others was 96cm. The SJ was well built and nearly every fence had a back rail on, the double only had one stride too.

I would start doing some UA prelim dressage, join British Showjumping for the Club membership, classes start at 70cm and all the tracks are built by a BS course builder, it's great experience and a competition environment too.

Hunter trials and XC schooling are great too, although if your horse has hunted you are probably half way there

Check out the BE website and see what events are running near you this season. Go along to one or two, walk the courses both XC and SJ, watch the dressage, get a feel for the whole thing and you will know what is expected when you decide to put an entry in

I loved our first BE event, it didn't go to plan (what ever does? lol) but we had a fab day and even came away knowing the next one would be even better!

link to official photos

http://grossick.thirdlight.com/viewpicture.tlx?containerid=16312135543&pictureid=16312618101