starting up a XC course.

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moodymare123

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have been given the responsibility of starting up a training XC course on my yard for the use of liveries and outsiders, and need as much info as i possibly can get. So have any of you built one and can you tell me some important stuff that i need to know? like insurance implications etc.
Also from a riders point of view what do you class as a good XC course?
Any comments welcome :-)
 
A must for me is a good variety of heights! I like to start small them build up as I go round, plus if I have any problems it's handy to be able to drop down a fence height just to regain the confidence then go bigger again. Ideally a water jump, again with plenty of options, also ditches, coffins and steps - they're the kind of jumps which you can't really practice otherwise.
Insurance wise make sure you've got everything covered!
 
We used to use this for the actual construction
http://www.amazon.com/Constructing-Cross-Country-Obstacle-Bill-Thomson/dp/0851313507

Not sure about insurance, but i would think that you would be liable if you built something unsafe or if it was a type of jump that resulted in a fall (e.g. because it was the wrong type of fence for the position it was in; or wrong distance for the height etc.).

To be on the safe side, I would get training from an established course builder (must be courses somewhere). I would also read everythign you can get your hands on regarding designing courses and what each type of jump is designed to test, as there are some really awful practice courses around but also some fantastic ones.
 
BE run course builder courses. Whether they are for people with little or no experience I couldn't say.
 
How are you getting on with this?
A lot in my area have set up 'working hunter' or 'farm rides' which have the same type of jumps in and i cant help but wonder if it's for the benefit of insurance costs being less. Mind you, they all get users to sign a disclaimer etc.
If you buy any of the portable fences - you must make sure you use ground stakes etc.
 
Different heights with enough jumps at each (10'ish); if portable fences are used they must be secured using BE approved system (I walk round and check this beforehand if renting a course); ground is key - well maintained and good grass cover; a water jump that is big enough to offer different options from baby splash through to drop down and step out with an angle where there is fence just before the water and another angle with fence just after. Doesn't have to be built by a BE pro course builder as long as whoever is doing it has experience and knows what they are doing.

No idea about insurance, but do know that one I use can only be opened a certain number of days per year due to agricultural usage restrictions or something similar so that would need to be checked out.

What a great opportunity you've been given!
 
Don't have any experience with regards to the actual build, apart from obviously making sure that all the jumps are staked down.

What I look for when using a xc course is that there are steps, ditches and water :)
 
The other thing is to keep in touch with trends, as once a big course starts using a certain type of fence, others copy it but it can be hard to find it when schooling. So for example open corners aren't very common.

I think you could have some fun not just with the jumps, but also in offering additional support - so for example printouts of recommended combinations around the course. So often there are just a load of jumps spread around a big field, and some riders might like some help putting a course together to practise, especially on their first visit.
 
A variety of fences, technical, skiny, spooky etc!
(Steps, corners, skinys, ditch, water, trackana, spooky jumps and spooky decorations!)
A variety of sizes but I feel sticking to smaller ones would be better than having more of big ones as this is a training field not a course.

I think you will get more customers and returning customers if you have a good training course with different questions with is more helpful for practice and encousgement and exposure than just jumping a few large fences.
 
I look for a varation of heights and also simple combinations and more tricky. A lot of XC i've found have random jumps scattered about with nothing technical :) x
 
I went a long way (to a racehorse yard) just to find a line of brush fences at increasing heights, at the correct striding to encourage a horse to "move on" into his fences. It would not be too expensive, and even with all weather take offs and landings would not be too expensive, but is a facility that not many courses have.

It was worth a 4 hour drive to help a SJ make sense of the gallop and jump of straightforward XC fences. It helped find the rhythm and have the horse draw forward into the fence, and the rider to stop fiddling!
 
As a horse owner on a yard with a cross country course I would say definitely have various height options for each jump. We go from piddly little logs type things to giant rolltops without much in between. We have a massive set of steps but not a smaller option. My horse (or more likely me) now has a problem with roll tops because our first ever experience with one was with a 90cm high 120 wide one which scared the life out of him and me !! Plus, even people who only want to jump smaller jumps like to have interesting things to jump IMHO.
 
Best thing would be to go round a few courses. All our local ones are good but offer different things , we have one with wide open fields and another with a sweeping track that takes you round. It all depends on the land and what is lready there . I would second the ground being very important round the jumps . Good luck
 
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