Cross Country Course

A horse and rider on a cross-country course

Cross country, the second phase of three-day eventing, is arguably the most difficult. It requires a brave horse with speed and stamina! Horse and rider are required to negotiate a series of natural obstacles in a set amount of time. Courses are often over two miles long. Riders receive a course map and are able to walk the course before the event, but horses see the obstacles for the first time on the day of the show!

This is the phase I am most concerned about with Gina. As a hunter/jumper horse, I doubt she has been exposed to many logs or ditches, and I don't think she has ever been ridden outside the confines of an arena. It will be a challenge to get her used to these things at our current location, too- we have a large hayfield available, but it's full of holes and there are no jumps. It will be tough to get my girl used to cross-country if we never have a chance to school it!

That said, there are a lot of things we can work on in that hayfield. Walls can be created out of moldy hay bales. Regular jumps can be set up in the field. Some barrels can be rolled out and jumped over. And of course, just getting Gina used to going out and about outside an arena is invaluable experience!