Trotting on a cross country course 80cm

S

SJW23

Member
Joined
26 June 2015
Messages
19
Visit site
In the title really - I just wondered how it is viewed at riding club level horse trials/eventing 80cm if a horse is doing lots of trotting across country between fences.

Is it automatically assumed the horse is unfit or will people understand that the horse or rider may be green or simply prefers to trot?

My horse is a Welsh section D (a very big long chunky one!) who is difficult to hold together because of his size and his preferred natural pace is trot.

He has a cracking bold scopey jump for a Welsh cob and adores his jumping but I find that he will always (in most disciplines!) trot instead of canter where he can but could trot all day long and I have put in lots of fitness work. He is lazy too which doesn't help and being a Welshie - when I up his feed he becomes extra spooky.

Just trying to get some tips for our next RC level ODE at 80cm coming up soon and although we have XC schooled lots and done short runs of fences together, we haven't done very many full ODE's/XC tracks. Obviously slow time faults are not on my agenda, I am much more concerned about going clear if possible and enjoying ourselves!

Thanks in advance for any replies!
 
I dont personally see anything wrong with it. It would seem a little strange to the people who consider themselves advanced and are out to win everything, but I have seen friends go trotting into jumps before, and some stages like a drop or going into water you want to trot to have some element of control of an otherwise green horse to those types of fences. Hell even the professionals trot into some huge drops, they know not to canter everything.

If he is fit and can manage most or all of it in trot, I would just go for it. How is he going to do the dressage element though? I cant imagine thats just walk/trot?
 
I think it is perfectly acceptable to trot in parts of the xc at RC level, I would question it at BE with the cost of entries being so high but it still would not matter as long as you are safe, have enough impulsion to jump when you get there and the horse is not getting distressed because it is not fit enough.
I don't think many people will even notice unless they can see a lot of the course and even if they do unless they are involved with running it they have no reason to comment or speculate as to why you are in trot, cobs generally do find trot easier than canter so until he learns that xc is fun and best done at a good canter enjoy going at your own pace, aim for a clear round to gain experience and you may find he catches on quickly so you can get a good round with less time faults later on.
 
Thank you for the replies!

Rachk89 - he does a lovely dressage test (although the canter can let us down as he gets heavy in his forehand) and we dressage up to novice and attempting elem, generally with great results. He copes fine with canter in a test and canter Sj mostly, but generally lands in trot and needs picking back up again.

Asking him to canter forward for 5/6 mins is a different story though. If I trot him for a while and then ask for canter he seems to get a new lease of life/energy to carry on again but will break to trot wherever I don't keep him going- he works me hard XC!! There are 2 water sections at the RC Horse trials so I can fit trots in there and there is a wooded section which should be quiet to get another trot stint in. Then hopefully he will be happy to canter the rest - he will probsbly canter when we head home as he is nappy! Maybe the trot is laziness but I am hoping to susss him out at the first few XC courses we try and see if he learns what he needs to do and to enjoy it!
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with it as long as you still have the power when you get to the jumps. I would just suggest that you are extra vigilant about being caught on a course and be prepared to pull over to the side to let faster partnerships overtake.
 
The only thing is that you might go badly over time which would usually be set for a good hand canter. Depends on the rules. Also as the poster above says you are also likely to be caught up by the pair behind you so be prepared to give way quickly.

But other than that - trot can be safer, giving the horse time to look, as long as you make sure you also have enough power to then jump safely. If you have the option it might be better to drop heights a little bit as a full up 80cm might be a bit challenging width wise. Especially if you are on a venue which hosts BE 80's.
 
To be honest at RC level I rally don't think you'll find yourself too out of place doing a bit of trotting here and there.
Will he canter for longer periods a home? The only reason I ask is because you mention he can be nappy and my exracer would sometimes refuse to canter in order to try and evade what I was asking and nap!
 
Shay said:
The only thing is that you might go badly over time which would usually be set for a good hand canter. Depends on the rules. Also as the poster above says you are also likely to be caught up by the pair behind you so be prepared to give way quickly.

But other than that - trot can be safer, giving the horse time to look, as long as you make sure you also have enough power to then jump safely. If you have the option it might be better to drop heights a little bit as a full up 80cm might be a bit challenging width wise. Especially if you are on a venue which hosts BE 80's.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shay - It is at Llanymynech siothe course is long but flat - we have schooled over the course about a month ago following the BE event and he flew everything confidently in canter. I imagine the course will be very similar if not the same. I plan to tackle fences in canter, just the long open stints we may have to add in some trot. When we XC school, we canter but tend to only string 2-5 fences together and the rest so I am just imagining him doing 5/6 and then breaking trot for a bit. I am not particularly bothered about going over the time by a few minutes, (His trot is not slow and does still cover the ground) but should somebody catch us up, I will of course get out of their way! 80cm is the smallest height offered but there were only 2 fences that height/width wise he would need to be in canter for - he can clear the others with his eye shut! We have been schooling 80/90 and we show jump 80-1m. He is also the longest horse I have ever seen so fence width is never usually an issue!

Be posetive - I have just seen your comment 'unless they are involved with running it they have no reason to comment or speculate' - does this mean that they have reason to comment or tell me off if they are running the event?
 
No I meant it is nobody's business how slow you go but if the organisers did feel you were not safe, which from the sound of things is very unlikely, they can ask you to pull up and not allow you, or anyone who is deemed to be unsafe in any respect, to continue.

Don't worry about what other people may be thinking was what I was trying to get across in my post, enjoy yourself, go at your own pace and have fun, you are doing it for yourself no one else.
 
I think be positive meant that they are probably not interested/involved with you personally to bother you, but someone running it may worry that there is something wrong and so come and chat to you - unfit horse, struggling with behaviour, not up to level etc. If they do chat just tell them that his long distance canter needs work so you give him plenty of trot breaks which he finds easier. He is fit and capable but green XC so you wanted to make it as easy for him as possible. I doubt they would tell you off (unless you are going so slowly that you are endangering other partnerships, but good practice of moving aside for passing and fence judges that know what they are doing (pull aside a slower one if look to be overtaking near a jump) means it should be fine.
 
Thanks LouisCat - Not really, at home we do lots of long fitness hacks with long trots and I always include a couple of hills in the hacks. I am increasing the canter work and I have found a brilliant steep grass hill locally which the hunters in the area use for fitness - we have been going up that once a week along with another long hack with a grass track - we did this bridle path last night and it is undulating ground - we can canter for 1/2 minutes happily. We then go to trot to go down a large hill and pick canter up at the bottom again - he is then happy to go for another minute or two. The short burst of trot seems to be enough for him to carry on again? So by doing this we are almost doing interval training I suppose but we don't really have anywhere to practice a longer canter stint.

For the napping - I have travelled him with another horse and he napped really badly to this horse and tried to run out of fences. When we went again with the same horse but travelled seperately he was a little nappy but listened to me much better. I think asking him to leave the rest of the warm up will be a challenge and may get some trotting to evade like your horse does.
 
I have trotted at BE events when required both in Novice/1* and lower levels. Mostly coming into drop fences but I did trot in several places in the BE90 at Bicton a few weeks ago as the track went through the woods which was so slippy, even with studs in, and I was on a 17hh horse who would have fallen over if I cantered.
However, if someone trotted around the entire course I would think it was strange. You also need to bare in mind that you would have to be very aware of what us going on around you as you would be overtaken by others behind you and they would have preference over you when approaching a jump.
 
Trotting during negotiation of fences is perfectly reasonable. Trotting between fences on normal ground would be extremely unusual imho. I have seen it at low-level BE, but be prepared to have people assume that your horse is not fit enough (because that's the usual reason it happens).
 
The only things that matter are safety and not spoiling other riders rounds. What the general public may wrongly assume is their own problem. My initial concern was the pace of the horse whilst jumping . But if the horse has the scope and power to clear the fences at a trot ,thats fine. If however the horse had been used to bowling around xc at a good canter ,I would be a lot more concerned. I think it would be both physically and mentally draining for such a horse to keep changing pace and loosing a rythem.
 
SJW23 said:
For the napping - I have travelled him with another horse and he napped really badly to this horse and tried to run out of fences. When we went again with the same horse but travelled seperately he was a little nappy but listened to me much better. I think asking him to leave the rest of the warm up will be a challenge and may get some trotting to evade like your horse does.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, leaving the warm up and getting over the first fence are sometimes the hardest part of the course!
 
One of my geldings recently trotted around a 90. He is super confident and bold and flies around at 80 or at 90 in training. But his first 90 in competition on an unknown course = the rider had more anxiety than usual (it was RC team qualifier so she felt pressured) + the horse sort of said Whoah, they're a bit big and different and slowed himself down to give everything a good look, picking up a bolder canter for the more straightforward fences. The result was some time faults but a beautiful clear round. A few people did comment but he looked keen and clearly not tired or backing off, just using his brain really ... brain a long way away from legs! He's not a young horse (10) but looked about 5 on the course bless him.

ETA: he did not trot on the "gallop" stretches between fences - more on the approach/negotiation of fences.

Second edit (apologies!): Lots of cantering out hacking with many canter pace changes might help your boy, but you might find him keener to canter after landing a few jumps anyway x
 
Last edited:
I trot in between fences at times because my horse can pull like crazy when he gets going and can be very sharp at fences and duck out just as easily and I worry about falling. So I will often bring him back to trot in plenty of time for the fence, or sometimes will trot between the fences if I am a little unsure of what he is going to do or if the ground is particularly hard or boggy or there is something I know he will shy at.

To be quite honest its nobody's business if you choose to trot around the whole course! You have entered and paid for the competition, people can assume what they like. I more often than not go competing for a day out, quality time with my horse, and a bit of fun and do not care whether or not I come first or last! Of course its nice to win, and in the right circumstance I go all out to win, but if the circumstances are not right, my horse is spooky, or I don't feel confident I will not put either of us at risk for a ribbon! I'm afraid I have had to many falls and trips to A&E in the past due his spooks! Try reasoning with a horse who terror in life centers around seeing a Dandelion Leaf on a grass verge, yet is happy to be pinned in between a hedge and a slow moving combine harvester or for a cow to sniff his a*se whilst stuffing his face of grass in a field, and you will see my problem.

I certainly don't trot around a course because my horse isn't fit enough, he could go twice the distance of the XC courses I compete at (in canter) if he wanted to.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Honestly, I would do more XC schooling and fitness work before going to your first XC and then maybe start with just a hunter trial. You and the horse should be fit enough to canter round the course before you set out.
 
SJW23 said:
Obviously slow time faults are not on my agenda, I am much more concerned about going clear if possible and enjoying ourselves!

Thanks in advance for any replies!
Click to expand...

I've seen and heard of many accidents where unaffiliated people gallop round a XC course most usually at their horses detriment, going to fast for the track or the ground conditions and slipping, or having a nasty accident when their horse refuses a jump. Sometimes you will see a horse or pony wallop a jump with their feet, jumping too fast and too flat.

You go and enjoy yourself and don't worry what others think :)
 
Agree with Horsemad12, if the horse is too green and unbalanced to canter the majority of the course then some more training and an easier event might be a better option. There's nothing wrong with the odd trot, and particularly at a drop or step etc but when there's no jumps about then the horse should be able to canter.

From the sounds of things, the amount of work you are doing there's clearly not any fitness issues and 80's really are not that fast so you shouldn't get huge amounts of time penalties for the odd trot at a fence.
 
Horses have to learn what is required, so being asked to canter for a "long" period is something that he has to learn, after all
Welsh Cobs are natural trotters, not gallopers. A horse can jump up to 4' from a trot and I know of young horse trainers who would only ever jump out of a trot out hunting, to let the horse see what the question is - not a big hedge with a yawning ditch obviously! And a trot approach is often the best speed for a tricky fence, certainly in the early days.

But I tend to agree with those who suggest that maybe you aren't quite ready for a competition and need some more practice cross country.
I doubt if anyone will care too much that you are trotting, but there might be one or two questions raised, after all there is a time element.

Can you hire a mini cross country course and have a practice at cantering over a short course of easy fences, tow or three times with a short rest in between, so your horse gets the idea.
 
Llee94 said:
I have trotted at BE events when required both in Novice/1* and lower levels. Mostly coming into drop fences but I did trot in several places in the BE90 at Bicton a few weeks ago as the track went through the woods which was so slippy, even with studs in, and I was on a 17hh horse who would have fallen over if I cantered.
However, if someone trotted around the entire course I would think it was strange. You also need to bare in mind that you would have to be very aware of what us going on around you as you would be overtaken by others behind you and they would have preference over you when approaching a jump.
Click to expand...

I agree, my only concern would be if someone came up behind you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top