Great article, thanks for posting! I think for me it’s a go/no go situation. ‘Going slower’ as some sort of OK to run XC on too hard ground still makes no sense. Coaches with a vested financial interest not to cancel XC runs for their riders probably think that makes it better, but nothing I’ve seen here, anecdotal or otherwise seems to support that.
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Same–I have a fox hunter and an eventer. The fox hunter is currently eventing (to his dismay) this season. I’m meticulous on footing for the eventer because he has an old soft tissue injury. The foxhunter? The crappiest horse show footing is basically a golf course to him vs. hunting. He’s also a Sherman tank and impeccably sound with giant feet.
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It’s also harder for them to get traction on rock hard ground, and they’re liable to slip. So going slower may not just mean pace, but how tight you turn, and an inability to gun it like you might could do if your horse was able to get a good bite into the ground.
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Excellent point.
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Maybe it is the word choice… I’ve seen juniors wipe out for the last couple of weekends in Maryland because they are kicking around tight turns and the horse slips. So maybe when you hear people say “go slower” they mean “go more carefully” or “don’t kick and pull like you normally do”?
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Yes, I’ve seen that pretty much every summer at Loch Moy - it’s almost always kids! Last summer we were jump judging, and they actually had to make an announcement over the loudspeaker advising riders to slow down - a good bit of slipping and a few wipe outs - hills were a problem because they didn’t rebalance, just kept rolling along. 
Good point, I never really thought of it like that but it makes sense. Honestly though, if it’s that hard I’d probably scratch.
Ugh right now I’m wondering how much of our season will be on anything other than rock hard ground! I’m near @Dr_Doolittle and @DGEventing, and we haven’t had significant rain in many weeks. The grass looks like it’s August. This is our second weird dry spring in a row. I already don’t compete mid-June to mid-August due to the heat, humidity, and hard ground. Sometimes Sept and Oct can be surprisingly dry too. At this rate all we’ll have left is April!
Off I go to do rain dances before Seneca.
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Don’t people put studs in for XC or when stadium is held on grass?
I always stud up on grass. Even at my lower levels. I think it was Jimmy Wofford who said “At what level do you want to start slipping?” Soo hard to scratch though. Doing all the clinics, conditioning, vacation time spent in Aiken/Ocala/Wherever, money spent, coaches saying “just go slower” but inside knowing it is not great for your horse. Still, what a cool journey with (mostly) great people and amazing athlete partners.
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I used tiny studs for dressage on grass too at MCTA. Even at BN.
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