Get set to event
Part three: Cross-country
The phase you’ve been waiting for – cross-country – is fun and adrenaline fuelled. But forward planning is the key to success, as Gilles Serbource explains
In this feature… ➤ Improve your position and your confidence ➤ Hone your XC skills without a cross-country course
There’s a magic about watching a horse-andrider combination flow over the ground and fences around a crosscountry track. But while it might look magical, achieving it yourself is a matter of preparation and training – for you and your horse.
Position pointers
However experienced your horse, a successful partnership across country fundamentally depends on your position and ability to control your own balance while keeping your horse engaged and moving forward underneath you. The key is to keep your body relaxed and to stay in rhythm with him, so you’re in tune with your horse’s movement rather than going against it. Trying to remain completely still will result in you blocking his flow, which will then affect the fluency of his canter, gallop and jump.
"By keeping things low key at home you will refine your own technique and your horse’s, too"
Photos: Jon Stroud. Gilles runs GP Equestrian, facebook.com/GPEQU