“Ten Important Considerations When Walking the Cross Country Phase of Eventing”
About Jonna
– If you would like to know more about Jonna then listen to his previous chats
First Chat – 042 – Jonathan McLean
Second Chat – 144 – Jonathan McLean 2 – “Ten Tips for Initial Foal Handling”
Third Chat – 172 – Jonathan McLean 3 – “Ten Steps for Further Foal Handling”
Listeners’ Choice- 211 – Listeners’ Choice Chat (042)
Fourth Chat – 292 – Jonathan McLean 4 – “Ten Tips on The Weaning Transition, Safe, Horse Friendly Ways to Interact with Young Horses”
Fifth Chat – 318 – Jonna McLean 5 – “Ten Training Tips From Weaning to Yearling”
Sixth Chat – 348 – Jonna McLean 6 – “Ten Steps To Starting The Young Horse Under Saddle”
Seventh Chat – 378 – Jonna McLean 7 – “Ten Points to Remember When Training Your Horse”
Listeners’ Choice- 394 – Listeners’ Choice Chat (172)
Eighth Chat – 543 – Jonna McLean 8 – “Ten Essential When Breaking In/ Starting Young Horses”
Ninth Chat – 556 – Jonna McLean 9 – “Ten Tips on Proofing the Riding Aids (From the Round Yard to Open Spaces in Walk, Trot and Canter)”
Tenth Chat – 568 – Jonna McLean 10 – “Ten Things to Remember About Proofing the Aids”
Eleventh Chat – 580 – Jonna McLean 11 – “Ten Potential Problems When Riding a Young Horse Outside for the First Time”
Twelfth Chat – 592- Jonna McLean 12 – “Ten Questions To Ask About A Potential Horse Purchase”
Thirteenth Chat – 606 – Jonna McLean 13 – “Ten Questions to Ask About Training Direction”
Fourteenth Chat – 619 – Jonna McLean 14 – Case study 01 “Frankie”
Fifteenth Chat – 631 – Jonna McLean 15 – Case Study – Ten Steps to Train/ Retrain Benny, The Retired Racehorse
Sixteenth Chat – 645 – Jonna McLean 16 – “Ten Steps to Teach the Horse to Start Jumping”
Seventeenth Chat – 658 – Jonna McLean 17 – “Ten Things To Remember About Coaching A Nervous Rider”
Eighteenth Chat – 670 – Jonna McLean 18 – “Ten ‘Must Know’ Strategies When Teaching Horses Who Rush Their Jumps”
Nineteenth Chat – 697 – Jonna McLean 19 – “Ten Tips For Retraining The Horse Who Stops and/or Runs Out Of Jumps”
Twentieth Chat – 711 – Jonna McLean 20 – “Ten Potential Problems With Horse Friendly Solutions For Cross Country Riding”
About This Episode
“Ten Important Considerations When Walking the Cross Country Phase of Eventing”
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“Ten Important Considerations When Walking the Cross Country Phase of Eventing”
1) It is often helpful do you have a mountain bike and also a measuring wheel to take you.
2) You should walk the cross country a minimum of three times, so if you have multiple rides that will involve quite a lot of walking.
3) The first walk is really a basic orienteering exercise to find out where you start where you need to go where you need to finish and getting a feel for the terrain and the surroundings.
– This also sometimes a bit of a social catch up with other competitors, so it is a good idea to ask them their general perspective on the first walk.
4) The things you are looking for on your second walk, now will get a little more serious. Try not to be distracted by others on the course from now on!
– You are now looking at more of the critical aspects, weather forecasts, suitable studs, terrain and footing variations, distances between related fences, and also the general appearance of the obstacles according to your intended line of riding.
5) This final course walk, should be done as close to the time of your start time, if possible. This is so you are able to see the obstacles with the same sun angle as you will be riding them at. (This is not always possible)
6) Try not to get too caught up in the problematic obstacles. (Often more you walk it the more comfortable you will feel with these).
7) This is also the walk that will start to give you an idea of how the terrain, and obstacle placements, will affect your ideal time to complete the task.
8) Now that you have walked the course a few times you should be able to see what part of the cross-country track will cost you time, and what parts of the course you can make up time.
9) This is what makes minute markers difficult, because it does not take into account the terrain, footing and obstacle placements.
10) Often if possible riding your bike parallel to your line, will give you an idea of how the obstacles will appear to you when going quite a bit faster on a horse.
Things to remember
- Try not to be in a hurry doing your first course walk
- Use all your observational skills to make sure that your intended line of riding takes into account all the competitors before you. This will change the footing so whereabouts you are in the draw, needs to be kept in mind)
- The questions we need to ask ourselves are has my Horse seen this type of obstacle before? Has my horse seen this type of obstacle in a similar perspective? Has my horse ever had difficulty reading this obstacle?
- Plan for the fact that as you progress through the course will become quite tired and slightly less responsive in the latter half.
- You are always better to have time Faults than jumping faults
- Never be afraid to take your time to do the options, and understand all your options at all your fences always
- The aim is to be able to complete it safely, and your horse have the ability to be able to trot up sound for showjumping the following day
Jonna’s Contact Details
Phone: 0417 116 471 or +61 417 116 471
Email: jonamclean@gmail.com
Website: traintowin.com.au
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/jonna.mclean Train To Win Facebook Page
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