This may be fun.
Rank your area’s (or whatever you frequent) XC courses/venues on difficulty.
Based on your experience, how would you rank them. You can split by level or not, however you want, just for fun and to see perspectives.
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This is fun!
My POV comes from someone who has been competing T/M/P the past few years, and coaching at BN/N/T a lot the past few years. I find the variance within BN/N courses to be negligible, so my ranking is more for Training and up.
Area II
Southern Pines HT in March - very soft! Great first outing of the season.
VAHT - softer, inviting, good move up course
Fair Hill HT - on the softer side, good move up
Loudoun Hunt PC HT - average
Old Tavern HT - average
Seneca Valley PC HT - challenging for the level
Morven HT - the fall HT has been challenging the past few years
Plantation HT - only been here once, it was challenging for the level (Prelim)
Carolina HT in March - very challenging
And MDHT is all over the map! I’ve had very challenging courses and very soft courses at Loch Moy. They really change up their courses every time so it’s hard to say.
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Area III
1 Sporting Days - Very friendly, use as a move-up or to regain confidence
2 Full Gallop - Friendly jumps, maybe the footing adds some difficulty
2.5 River Glen- Average
3 Poplar-Average
4 FL Horse Park- Average
5 Rocking Horse- seems to ride a touch bolder than Florida, but encouraging.
6 StableView - I think the courses are fairly average, but the atmosphere seems to add a level of initmidation
7 Chattahoochee Hills- proper water combinations, may get the ditch & wall or tough ditch.
8 Red Hills- My favorite Prelim course.
9 Pine Top - suits a brave horse
I go to Aiken more than Ocala so maybe don’t have an appropriate jusge of these events 
And I think any of the last four may be switched around to the time of year. The Feb PineTops running a bit tougher than the March. The SV opener in January running very friendly compared to Oktoberfest.
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Area VI (MHO based on BN, N and T courses I have ridden or looked at recently)
1. Ram Tap: Average. Unless a train goes by during xc (not me in the vid). Or the police are firing guns at the shooting range there. Or the hum of the power station there freaks your horse out!
2. Twin Rivers: Challenging. The stadium arena feels small, the jumps are highly decorated, and it is surrounded by huge flags and banners, and the warmup feels chaotic. XC always feels a little bigger to me?
3. Woodside Horsepark: Challenging. For some reason a related distance from an open table to an open corner felt hard at N to me. Stadium warmup is small so they only allow a small number of people in there.
4. Woodland Stallion Station: Average to easy. Always a very relaxed atmosphere!
Can anyone comment on Shepherd Ranch and Galway Downs?
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I agree with your analysis of each venue! Although I think I’d change the rating for a couple. It’s so interesting to get different riders perspectives.
For RamTap, I also think the looong walk (where sometimes horses finishing up XC come galloping at you) from the stabling to the warm up arenas should be factored in. I LOVE RamTap, but I do think it’s a challenging venue with all the atmosphere going on. The power plant makes for a lovely photo backdrop ;). While their stadium is straightforward (I don’t think I’ve ever seen weird filler there?), I think their XC can be considered challenging. At BN they have the downbank 6 strides to a coupe! (numbered individually). And the giant cliff you have to run down to get to a jump at the bottom of it. Do you remember when they used to have the blue roll top with the MASSIVE down bank to the shark tooth at T? I never rode that, but man…made me re-think my riding choices LOL. I also want to add that I love that they offer a TRUE modified course. It’s not a “glorified” training course, it’s more like a mini-P, which is what I feel M should be.
Twin Rivers - agree. when they moved that corner from the T course to the N course (the red one), I was (and still am) CONVINCED that corner is NOT in novice specs lol
Woodside - I’ve always felt the Woodside xc course feels softer than the rest of the courses in this area. BN courses don’t even have a ditch. The N corner I’m thinking of there has solid fill on the top, so maybe I don’t understand the definition of an open corner LOL. Is it because there’s space between the bottom and the “top” part of the corner that makes it open? That corner is a relatively new addition, I think they just added it in 2019. Stadium warm up is always a nightmare, but then it feels like a breath of fresh air when you get out into the big open arena to do your show jump round. The filler at Woodside gets me every time though. Why oh why do we have to have rocks and giant "W"s under jumps LOL. And that equine insurance pole never seems to stay up!
Woodland: Agree. Their XC is soft compared to the other venues. Their stadium does always get my blood pressure skyrocketed though. Not sure why but their stadium jumps always look fairly large to me.
Galway: I only evented here once, and it was in 2018, but it was the softest N course I’ve ridden. Stadium had Woodside vibes but the warm up was certainly less chaotic.
Based on all of that, I would classify as the following:
RamTap: Challenging
Twin Rivers: Challening
Wooodside: Average
Galway: Average
Woodland Stallion Station: easy
I’ve never been to Shepherd but have heard great things about it! It’s about a 6-6.5 hour haul from me which is pushing it for me - mentally it takes a lot out of me to drive that far with the truck and trailer - but I hope to make it to one of their events someday :).
You know I think if my horse was ditchy I’d probably agree even more with your ratings - but as you say it’s so individual to the rider and the horse! I even like the ride up/down to/from the barns at Ram Tap but overall, agreed: that venue is tricksy 
Yes the “open” corner on a bending line after an open table at Woodside - I did mean the sides being open. My horse has had a good peek at that before, so corners became my nemesis. Altho the solid red one at Twin feels much easier to me - if it was on the T course before that makes me happy for my hopeful move up next year!
And I haven’t done the “slide” at Ram Tap tho this last event you doubled back to the water complex with all the palm trees towards the end and had to canter down the hill (brakes!) and do a 90 degree turn in the water to a kinda hidden rolltop and I know that caught some out.
What do you think is the softest T course in area VI?
Yep, it was a “natural” corner at T, they painted it red and put it on the N course. I have yet to jump it, I think I’ll just put my leg on, grab the neck strap and close my eyes when I do ;).
Ha! I love that you called it the slide! I’m calling it that now from now on. I just did the Nov event and was happy to see it left out LOL. At the downhill you’re referencing, I thought the N line was easier than the BN line! The N line did have a cabin to a corner (BN just had the cabin), but the approach to the water was easier. That was jump 12 coming up that hill with the sharp turn to the water over the blue roll top coming out. Of course, my trainer happened to be standing right at the top of that hill as I came off and naturally that was the one jump on course I completely biffed. I had to walk a couple of steps down the hill to regather my brain cells LOL.
As far as the softest course goes, my go to move up would be Woodside. Which, I REALLY hope they run this year. On the calendar Woodside currently only has two dates (as i’m sure you know they typically have 3: May / August / October)…both of which have “pending USEF approval”. Also Galway is now trying to compete with the May and August Woodside dates…don’t even get me started on THAT. But back to your original question lol…aside from the Nov RT, I haven’t evented since 2019 and of course things change. But in 2018/2019 I was competing pretty consistently once a month / every 6 weeks and I thought Woodside was the easiest across the levels I’d competed / schooled. If I was closer to Galway I’d probably move up there, but it’s a 12 hour haul for me. Maybe Woodland too, but not sure if they’re going to run recognized events next year (they didn’t this year, just the schooling ones).
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I want to participate but it’s been years since I’ve hit all the Area 1 events here. So my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.
I love hearing about other areas and venues though. For instance, Rnichols shared a photo from what I assume is Ram Tap in another thread, and I agree, the power line grid was quite the backdrop. It’s so cool to see how different areas are and the different fences, too.
I’m really enjoying the XC Course Walks group on FB. People upload photos of each XC jump of a specific discipline into albums and you can leaf through them. I was just looking at a Training level course out in the midwest thinking “Oh my god, I’d love to ride this course”, meanwhile a Novice course closer to home made my insides shrivel a little when I looked at it. 
Someone posted a photo of Pine Top’s BN and it is so straight forward I think I could take my baby filly over it today and she has almost no XC mileage. That’s great and what BN should be. Meanwhile, certain events in my Area make it a game out of having BN be as looky/spooky as possible.
I would say in Area 1 my favorite recognized events for the babies is Coursebrook, Larkin Hill, and Huntington (lots of terrain). I always felt that King Oak and Apple Knoll had mixed questions: some were straight forward, some were challenging for the level. There were events it was understood you didn’t move up at, like GMHA or sometimes even UNH because the weather could be so influential. Overall, I think Area 1 has a little bit of everything in terms of jump types and challenges.
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That red corner rides great so don’t worry. I did forget about another one at Twin that made me wince: the trakehner. I’d schooled the one we thought was N and my horse decided to dump me in it. So my goal was a very firm ride. Turns out it was the BN one, so not only had I never jumped the N one but it felt like a T one! So that took a bit of self talk but the mare flew over it 
Oh yes that combo at the top of the hill cabin to corner! Bloody corners! It’s time for me to get over that fear
Yes indeed: Wishing Woodside had three dates this year, and wishing Woodland was closer. Perhaps I’ll see you at an event one day!
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Feel free to follow my page if you would like to see the courses we have in Ontario! It’s fun to compare what we have here VS the US.
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That’s interesting about Seneca because in my circles it’s considered a good move-up event! In fact the fall Seneca is where I did my first Training and first Modified. I think the spring Seneca is supposed to be tougher than the fall though?
I do agree about MDHT. I love schooling there and doing their various twilights and starters, but the recognized events seem a little all over the place. I heard that Training at MDHT II was harder than MDHT I this year? I’ve found it hard to get into a good rhythm there vs. a more gallopy course.
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Linking to the Facebook group - it’s awesome and has helped me gain perspective on courses across the country - anyone is welcome to join!
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It has definitely helped me gain perspective too. Not to rehash an exhausted topic but it also exposes some level creep which I think is very important for perspective.
I was surprised to see a max corner and a half coffin (in fairness, this “half coffin” had an unrelated fence right before the coffin that was as close as it could legally be without calling it a coffin) on a non-championship Novice course in that group… and a jump in the water exiting. In one BN course, a fence right before and right after water.
These are not illegal things according to the XC Design Guidelines, they are just things that even ten years ago, were not found on BN or Novice courses.
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Here’s a good level creep. Equivalent to Novice in the US.
2 waters. Corner out of the water, fence before the water, full coffin, full trakehner
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.546727863914103&type=3
Another one here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.582016820385207&type=3
I’ve kind of just rolled over and accepted it now. You really can’t event without a boat load of schooling first now. To do Pre-Training/ Novice you need to be doing banks, ditches, coffins, water in and out, 2 strides, corners, etc all confidently and a good canter/gallop.
Not that long ago a corner started at Training level and even then it was just an option. Jumps in and out of water were maybe at Training. Definitely harder these days lol
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I’ll play, don’t have a large pool to pull from and I’ve only done Entry to T but…
Majestic Oaks- easier than average, really welcoming forward galloping courses. Not much terrain. Entry level the water is always just an option. I also probably find it easier because we school A LOT here.
FHP (Ocala/POP)- for my spooky horse, more challenging than average. In and out of the tree line at all levels, they play with the light change a lot. Most recent fall recent had a coffin angled towards some irrigation construction at training, made it hard to bring focus to the coffin itself. The entry course has pretty spooky jumps for entry - mini sharks tooth thing even!
Rocking Horse- average. Lots of more classic jumps (ie lots of tables). They have a corner at novice, but it is narrower than some of the tables, so it barely counts.
Barnstaple- easier than average, but sometimes makes some interesting course design decisions (ie entry shared the first jump with BN and it was set between two fence lines. The rest of the course for entry was barely logs on the ground. They don’t run recognized events though, so I don’t know how it has changed since I last went 3 years ago.
@Libby2563 Oh interesting! Goes to show how it can vary each year, or maybe depending on your perspective and what horse you’re on that day!
In 2022, I ran T a the spring Seneca and both T and M and the fall Seneca. The T in the spring was a touch hard, the T in the fall was “normal” to me (with a drop in the water that proved difficult for many horses), and the M in the fall was definitely challenging.
I remember one year looking at the Prelim and thinking “holy crap!” but I was new to the level, so, there’s that!
I thought it was funny- in the spring there was a trekhaner early in the Training course that got a lot of people, including several falls. In the fall, they switched it to the Modified course instead. So they definitely are paying attention to what works and doesn’t work! I had to laugh that my horse ended up doing it both times since we moved up to M in the fall.
I’ve said this before, but I actually think this is important for the health of the sport. Of course it is disappointing if your highest aspirations are Novice and you have a ditchy horse, but I think it is critical for the safety of horses and riders who are working their way up the levels that these questions are presented when they are small enough to allow the combination to make a mistake. I don’t think it is wrong that you need to have prepared by going schooling before you go eventing.
A “corner” at 2’6" is essentially a table no matter where you jump it. A corner at Preliminary is not. If a horse and rider have to learn how to jump a corner properly at the same time as they are jumping a challenging height for the first time (most horses do not need to put in a ton of effort below Training), you now have a much bigger capacity for error, and errors at that level are not so easily forgiven.
Sure, it would be nice for people who just want to go out and canter over some Novice-sized coops without doing a ton of prep to have an option, but it is much more important that riders who are moving up the levels are being safely prepared to do so. If that means you (the general you, not you Jealoushe) need to jump your coop-only courses at schooling venues, so be it.
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I agree with you… here comes the “but”:
In many areas it’s not possible to school the bogey fence types (tables, corners, coffins, sunken roads, fences before/after/during water) until you want to jump their 3’3/Training level counterparts. Who is going to convince the ammy rerider who only wants to go BN that they need to jump the 3’6" corner for “exposure” since it might show up on their championship course? According to XC Course Guidelines, a corner question can show up as early as BN. I’m from an era of eventing where you wouldn’t encounter your first corner on course until you were gong Training level. Now every other fence is a corner or table.
Where is a BN/N rider going to go to prepare for these fences and questions? While we see them on course, they’re not always available to school. In Area 1, many of the recognized venues don’t offer schooling outside of their shows.
It looks like down south on the eastern side of the US, at least these questions are being offered for schooling in BN or Novice friendly heights. But, how does that help the people confined to a single area, and what happens when you go to Championships outside of your area and encounter fences you’ve never seen on courses before?
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I don’t disagree with you either @Marigold. And have similar sentiments as @beowulf.
Just being a selfish person in this…the closest schooling facility near me that has a few fences above Starter is 2.5-3hrs away. Most are event host farms, not facilities like in the US. So the courses are only open when it works for the owners.
Within 2.5-3 hrs of me there is no water jump. No scary trakehners. No corners, brushes, lines to practice etc.
So it makes it really hard to go schooling, especially if you have babies you need to get out. It’s a full day affair, pus gas and schooling fee. So we are talking 12hr days at least and around $300. Never used to be like this, but in my area it is becoming more and more that you need to have some money if you want to play. And clinics? You’re looking at at least $800 to get there and ride with anyone decent.
I’m not complaining really, more just whining. This is exactly why I am building my own schooling facility, we desperately desperately need it in this area.
I have a few green horses that will cost me a fortune to get going XC and be able to actually enter an event, let alone the time to just get out anywhere. Whine over.
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