Hold the line

When you think of cross-country, you probably envision a fast and thrilling ride, flying over fences. Accuracy may not be the first quality that comes to mind. It’s easy to wing it if you think a fence looks inviting enough, however when it comes to more technical combinations, approaching on a flyer is likely to land you in a sticky situation with no room for adjustment.

The skills required for perfecting your lines out on the cross-country course can easily be practised at home, and doing so will make you feel better prepared for your next outing. Working on seeing a stride, judging accurate lines and creating the perfect canter are the real ingredients behind a successful round. To help, I’ll walk you through one of my staple exercises that you can easily set up yourself at home.

Exercise: Good things come in threes

This exercise teaches you many transferable skills you can use for cross-country – and showjumping, too. Riding over three fences instead of just one gives you more to think about and teaches you to consider what’s coming next, rather than breathing a sigh of relief once you’ve made it over one. You’ll also need to ride accurate, balanced turns and have the confidence that you’ve set your horse up on the correct line.

Set it up

Place three upright fences on an S shape across the arena.

How to ride it

Pick up an active, rhythmical canter and approach part A. Look up and ahead while riding a smooth, square turn into the fence.

You can aim to jump slightly outside of centre to allow more room for your next turn. Think ahead to part B just before take-off, looking towards it and putting a little more weight into your inside stirrup to encourage your horse to land on the correct lead.

Ride straight for a stride, focusing on maintaining rhythm – use a half-halt if you need to rebalance him. Apply your inside leg to the girth to encourage your horse to work up into the outside rein – this will help you maintain control of his shoulders – and place your outside leg slightly behind the girth to keep control of his quarters.

After your turn, ride straight for part B, looking for your next fence before taking off to indicate to your horse to change leads once again, then preparing your turn for part C.

Make a smooth turn as before, then ride straight over part C to finish.

TOP TIP

In your warm-up, try jumping the middle fence on a figure-of-eight to practise asking your horse to change leads over the fence.

Pick up a copy of September Horse&Rider magazine, on sale 11 August 2022, for Piggy’s top exercises on riding lines, skinnies and planning ahead.