Cross-country confidence

Cross-country riding isn’t for the faint-hearted. You and your horse need to be bold, brave and confident if you want to produce a perfect round. But if you’re thinking that doesn’t sound like you, never fear.

As with everything, the work starts at home and there’s plenty you can incorporate into your schooling to help tackle the unexpected out on the course.

With cross-country courses becoming increasingly technical and with greater time constraints, refining your skills has never been more important. My tips will help you practise three types of common, but tricky, cross-country fences in the arena at home.

Exercise 1: Think thin

Skinnies are becoming ever more common on courses, so it’s important to work on your straightness and control in preparation for meeting one. There are various levels of difficulty, ranging from a single fence to a bending line, or even skinnies at different angles, and you can practise each kind.

Set it up

You’ll need a pair of wings and a skinny pole – if you don’t have one, saw an old pole in half. Ideally, have another four poles on hand to use as tramlines or canter poles.

Calm and collected

On a course, it’s increasingly common to find a long gallop followed by a more technical fence, such as a skinny. This is a test of adjustability in your horse’s canter because you’ll need to collect your horse early enough for him to have time to see the fence and understand it. I suggest making sure your horse is in an appropriate canter roughly 10–15 strides before take-off.

Find out how to tackle the technical elements of cross-country with Phoebe Locke’s top tips in November Horse&Rider – on sale now!