XC schooling any advice for first time?

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LMR

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So i'm off to my first xc schooling with my dressage horse! We do showjump at home occassionally but thought for a change and to help with her fitness I really fancied going xc!

I've got a body protector (hoping I can move in it once it warms off as currently look like a robot lol!) and a skull cap. I usually just jump in a snaffle but thinking i might pop a breastplate or martingale on just for something to hang onto if it goes wrong :)

I was originally going to book a lesson but i couldn't do the dates that the instructors could do so thought i'd just go for a pop anyway and she may not like it and seems a waist if I have an hour and a half lesson with a horse who isn;t keen.

Any other tips? I'm going with a friend on her horse so can follow her over jumps. Is it best to start this way or just try her on her own. She isn't naturally a spooky horse and does always try. Also is it worth just starting off in a jumping canter (more collected) then moving her up a gear as she gains confidence?
 
I would definitely put something on to use as a neckstrap, as for what pace to be in I would expect a first timer to start in trot until you know how the horse takes to it, I would not follow another horse unless it is required but would probably take advantage of doing so when introducing ditches and water, your horse needs to be encouraged to look at what it is jumping so having a lead is not always beneficial if they don't take in what they are doing and just rush along to keep up.
I would not be approaching any fences at faster than a steady canter on the first session, you may not be training her to be an eventer but for safety purposes keeping it steady will benefit her more long term, give her a bit more of a blast in between fences if you want but be very careful about approaching with too much power over small fences as if they enjoy it they can tend to take over and forget you are there which is not ideal when you want them to look and learn what it is all about, plenty of time to develop the gears if she takes to it and you go back another day.
 
be positive said:
I would definitely put something on to use as a neckstrap, as for what pace to be in I would expect a first timer to start in trot until you know how the horse takes to it, I would not follow another horse unless it is required but would probably take advantage of doing so when introducing ditches and water, your horse needs to be encouraged to look at what it is jumping so having a lead is not always beneficial if they don't take in what they are doing and just rush along to keep up.
I would not be approaching any fences at faster than a steady canter on the first session, you may not be training her to be an eventer but for safety purposes keeping it steady will benefit her more long term, give her a bit more of a blast in between fences if you want but be very careful about approaching with too much power over small fences as if they enjoy it they can tend to take over and forget you are there which is not ideal when you want them to look and learn what it is all about, plenty of time to develop the gears if she takes to it and you go back another day.
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Ditto. I would jump from trot the first time over everything (jumping no more than 70-80cm first time), except for water which would do from walk (then trot out - read up on how to introduce water jumps successfully, as it is a multi-stage process if you want longterm confidence). Then after trotting a few singly, i would short-bouncy canter a few in a row, then move onto then next batch.
I would also make sure i had practised everything i could at home and on hacks first i.e. imitation ditches, gone through puddles, corners and skinny's etc.
There are lots of good books out there on how to introduce cross country fences for the first time too.
 
Thank you for your advice!

I thought i would only do our collected canter but a friend told me its xc and would be dangerous if I didnt go with a bit more pace. However I didn;t want to fly around and cause an accident. We practice logs at home and have done corners and skinnys with showjumps but there is no ditches. Been to the beach and can get into the water so dont think water will be a problem but will definitely walk in. Will try eveyrhting from trot and if need a lead will do. We're not planning on eventing its more just to do something different rather that being in the school or out hacking. THere isn't much hacking where we are so can get a bit boring going around the same route.

we wont be jumping any bigger than 80cm!
Do you have any recommendations on books?
 
Why does your friend think it is dangerous to canter xc fences? fair enough if you are jumping something big you need power but that as you know does not equate to speed, most horses are more than capable of jumping from walk, as Lucinda Green uses in her clinics, just a musing but I think this is part of the problem people are having with xc in general that they think xc means galloping about and it is interesting to read that someone actually feels it dangerous to jump relatively small fences out of a decent collected canter.

I hope you and your horse have fun, you may find she enjoys it so much you decide to event her!!
 
Agree with 'be positive'. One year, mark todd broke into a trot before a nasty upright with a downslope at BAdminton (or might have been Burghley - it was some time ago), so no, you don't need a lot of pace all of the time; and certainly not for smaller cross country fences. Most people go too fast.

For ditch practice, make sure he will jump a very dark water tray type thing (i use black tarpaulin, but some people worry about it rustling) and look for any shallowy bits out on hacks. You mention going to the beach, so if you have an obliging other or a couple of kids then scraping a shallow ditchy type thing in the wet sand works too. You are right that water shouldn't be a problem but if the XC course has a drop down into it as well, then make sure you go through the water and up the drop a couple of times before going down the drop.
re books - i like virginia leng's training the event horse and blyth tait's eventing insights (can't remember the others i have) but there are lots of other books by well-known event riders. Most of my books are not recent, so maybe someone else has some good ideas of more recent books.
 
Lucinda Green did some programmes for horse and country TV that had a mixture of horses with various experiences of xc Inc some doing it for the first time. It might be worth seeing if you can find some clips from them on the website or if they are repeating them at the moment. I think you might even be able to buy them on horse hub if you have an iPhone.
I seem to remember she did a lot starting at walk e.g. up and down small drops and over ditches and into water to build up confidence and started off using blocks etc for skinnys
 
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