Cruise Control: Adjusting Cross-Country Speed

Here are some tips to helping you achieve the pace you want to ride successfully around your next cross country course.

PLANNING YOUR RIDE

Know your speed to go the distance.  Prior to competing place your horse in an area where you can gallop for 400 - 500 metres unhindered.  Mark out each 100 metre point.  Time yourself galloping along the track so you can get a good feel on how riding 250 meters per minute (mpm), 300, 350, 400 and 450 is like.  It is important that you get a really good sense on how this feels so you can judge your speed accurately at a competition.

Measure the course. Every cross country course you ride has been measured by a technical director.  They measure the course officially, and that number is used to set the optimum time of you riding that particular cross country course.  In the lower grades they measure the corners wide, jumps in the centre and all tracks generously, where as the more advanced courses, more challenging lines and jump angles are taken.    On saying this, you will also need to figure your own pace, so the logical place to start at a competition is to know how long the course actually is.  To do this you will need to measure the course as well.

Figure your pace on the day. Now that you have measured the length of the cross country course, divide the distance by the optimum time to find the average speed you need to ride your horse at to achieve the time limit.

Here is an example for you: If the official length of a training-level course is 2400 meters and the optimum time is six minutes, the average speed should be 400 meters per minute (mpm). But if the track you choose and have measured is closer to 2600 meters, you will need to ride at a speed of around 430 mpm.

Plan your ride. Now you need to work out how you will ride that average speed.  

As you walk the course, try to get a sense of how it will flow and feel to ride. Where will you have to ride more slowly and where can you make up time. 

Terrain, footing, jump type and location will all matter to how quickly you can travel over the course.  You will also need to consider your horses preference for certain jumps such as the water.  Many riders will need to approach the water more slowly to give their horse a chance to have a look and not become flustered, then make up time in other areas.

Pay special attention to places that will slow your pace for an extended time. A twisty, narrow track through trees will do it, even if you think you're going fast because trees are whizzing by.

A series of jumps clustered together will also slow you down and again you will need to look for clearer space to again make up for lost time.  You may have to drop back to 350 mpm and make up time elsewhere.  Ideal places to catch up on the clock are areas with good footing and no jumps for 30 seconds or so, where you can comfortably increase your pace to 450 or 475 mpm.  Most courses will include a stretch that's open or has one simple fence two-thirds or three-quarters of the way through it where you can encourage your horse to really stretch out and make up time.

Map it out. Now walk the course a second time picking out markers to help you judge your pace when you ride. If the optimum time is six minutes, find the areas where you want to be one, two, three, four and five minutes into your ride.  Even if the optimum time is an unusual number, like five minutes and 51 seconds, divide the course into simple increments--quarters or full minutes. At three minutes, for example, you should be halfway through, or about 1200 meters into a 2400-meter course. Pick out a marker there--something easy to see and remember, such as a big tree on the right between jumps 10 and 11. Jot these areas on your course map, and review them as you walk the course for the third time. Once you have done this you will have the markers are in your head when you ride, and this will prompt you to automatically to look at your watch and check the pace you are going.

Do remember however, the markers are never as important as the jumps.

ADJUSTING SPEED

When you are galloping your horse along you will need to let them you know that a jump is approaching.

Eight or 10 strides out, bring your shoulders back and get a little closer to the saddle to begin shifting his balance back over his hindquarters, this tells him that a fence is coming.  With experience you horse will feel this cue and look for to next obstacle coming along.

After you've made this initial change in your horse's balance, you want him to take responsibility for balancing himself as he sizes up his job, so your arms don't have to do anything more than bend further at the elbow to accommodate as he shortens his frame.  If he does this, you can leave him alone so he can focus on what's in front of him, not what's sitting on his back.  You should expect that your horse is soft in the bridle, his raised head and pricked ears show he's got his eye on the jump. If your horse acknowledges the jump this way and your speed is appropriate, most of your job is done. He is in balance.

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