Cross-country anywhere with the McNabs

Balancing your need to get out and cross-country school with your desire to compete, while swerving lockdown restrictions and the usual seasonal difficulties is tough. So, unless you’re lucky enough to have those facilities at your yard, you probably haven’t jumped a solid fence in a while.

The beauty of cross-country riding, though, is that it’s about far more than just tearing around a course at top speed and jumping whatever you find in your path. Instead, it’s about cultivating boldness, riding accurate lines and improving your communication with your horse so you can tackle technical questions without a hitch – and those skills can be developed in the school.

Striking the balance

Getting your warm-up right isn’t just important in terms of looking after your horse’s muscles and tendons – it also sets the tone for the ride to come. But for many riders, rather than using it wisely, they’ll simply go on autopilot for a token 10 minutes before picking up the reins and moving on to something more interesting.

Every minute you spend aboard your horse, however, has the potential to do one of three things – it can either train him, undo some of his training, or keep him stagnant. You know for sure that you don’t want to undo any of the good work you’ve already put into him, and it seems like a wasted opportunity if you ride passively and don’t further his education.

Using your warm-up positively and proactively doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel – it just means giving it some thought and structure. Ask yourself…

• do I have a goal for today’s ride?
• what kind of feeling would I like to take into my session?
• how can I best achieve that feeling?

Pick up a copy of May Horse&Rider, on sale 1 April 2021, to find out Kevin and Emma’s top tips on working on your cross-country without being on a course.