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Practice jumper rounds at horse trials

The hunter/jumperization of evening.

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I generally skip the warm up round at schooling shows if one is offered, but I could see how tempting it would be if one is trying to compete to win ribbons. I HAVE had bad competition rounds at schooling shows and then have asked to do a second round after the one that counted – which I was given permission to do. It’s one strategy. Heck, I’m cheap, I didn’t want to pay to do a second round at a schooling show unless it was needed. Turned out it was since I had a stop in the round that counted.

I hope this NEVER happens at recognized horse trails in Ontario, FWIW. It is something that sets eventing apart, I think. And @Jealoushe I know of only one venue that DOESN’T offer xc schooling at some point before the show, and I love them for it, it’s so fair and challenging and good.

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yeah I’m not against schooling at all, its more the unfair advantage when some are able to ride the course on a very regular basis. But that’s horse sport, its not always fair. Luckily I always have good XC horses anyways :stuck_out_tongue:

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Oh yeah, schooling is great, but I never ride whole courses when I do either way. But I also don’t really get jumping or cross country schooling just a day or two before the show either. Lots of people do that, but it’s not in my riding DNA because my teachers taught that the last jump school was a week before the show, and the day before is a quiet calm hack. I’m sure there are reasons to diverge from that, but I’ve never done so.

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I’m fine with having periodic schooling days as a way to make money for venues and get use of their courses more than 2-3 times per year!

I just think schooling over the exact fences you’ll be jumping in competition, only one day before you compete, goes against the spirit of eventing. Even if you jump them in a different order. Part of the question an event horse is supposed to answer is jumping stuff he didn’t get to look at beforehand, and that goes out the window if he gets to sniff the Liverpool from every direction during arena familiarization and jump it a couple times before he competes. If people want to school for training purposes rather than to give them a specific edge in the competition, great, let them do it after their competition round.

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The ones I know about are some of the Horse Trials at the Virginia Horse Center. Show Jumping is held in the Colosseum, and that is a bit imposing for horses that are only used to “regular” indoor arenas. They regularly held a show jumping competition, in the Colosseum, the day before the start of the Horse Trials. I do not know if they still do.

The only actual RULE about it is that (after 3pm the day before the start of the competition, “Riding close to Cross-Country obstacles, or riding in the Dressage or Jumping arenas prior to the actual competition is forbidden, unless specifically authorized by the Ground Jury, under penalty of disqualification.”( EV 108.2.c)

Also “The Cross-Country course will be closed to all competitors on the same date. The course closed date must be published in the prize list of the competition.” (EV108.2.d)

Some courses are never open for schooling, some are open up until the Wednesday before the competition. I do not know of any closer than that.

There’s a big recognized HT in Kentucky that does a fun jumper afternoon the day before most people go (the only exception is that I think start of Prelim dressage begins afterwards, but everyone else starts the next day). It’s very low key and it’s a different course than what the HT runs. I always really enjoyed it, kicks off a wonderful weekend of “old school” eventing.

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I’m at the Fork this weekend, doing Novice. If I had read the omnibus correctly and realized that you could do a ring familiarization on Thursday in the form of a 2 min go in and jump some fences, I absolutely would have. We are jumping in the stadium, and most lower level horses haven’t seen that kind of atmosphere. Pretty sure my SJ is going to be wild today bc my mare seems pretty wound up by the people walking above her.

Re: warhorse event series. Yes, you can go school the day before. That is what makes it so appealing to riders on green horses, new riders, riders moving up a level. We will go school but not show sometimes too. I don’t usually if I show the series, but I think it’s an excellent opportunity for people for all the reasons they need to do it. We have multiple safety vehicles on the course, riders must have a grounds person, and you can’t just fly around and jump the entire course (I’m often safety and I will chase someone down if this happens), you have to do the fences individually or sometimes if the way is clear and your grounds person can see all fences you can string a couple together.

Any sj rounds I have ever seen are added AFTER your ride. The fork is the first I have seen do the Thursday.

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I had never seen schooling jumping rounds before the event at a recognized HT. I was really surprised when I saw Tamie Smith’s post about the ring familiarization at the Fork. I suppose I can understand it for a venue like that, where the stadium arena has so much atmosphere that the horses may not be used to, but does seem a bit unfair to those who can’t get there the Thursday before the event for a schooling round.

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I guess it goes hand-in-hand with a lot of “regular” (non-championship) horse trials being held at mega-venues instead of ordinary horse parks and farms. Now you have horses and riders that are just starting out or moving up and new to the level doing their first showjumping round in big stadiums with tons of atmosphere, rather than standard show rings or jump fields.

If people are complaining about the jump around at Alltech for Maydaze, that’s the first show of the year for A LOT of people and Alltech is extremely intimidating for seasoned horses. The show is having difficulty with another conflicting show on the grounds and normally doesn’t use Alltech.

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You generally aren’t jumping the course you will for the competition, it’s generally just in the same arena. A majority of the time the jumps are fairly plain

Regarding maydaze in KY, they are only offering two heights, neither of which the riders will be competing at. It’s either 3 foot or 2’3”. No proper competition heights. Unless the novice riders decide to jump the 3 foot

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“Ring familiarization” as it pertains to dressage is (at the discretion of the organizer) is standard at FEI events. What the riders are allowed to do during that time is again up to the organizers, but generally, with the all weather footing, rider are allowed to work inside the boards.

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Yes, I’m familiar with dressage ring familiarization. But Tamie Smith included pictures of stadium jumping in her FB post about ring familiarization, which was what was surprising to me. Apparently it was actually these schooling jumping rounds, but that’s how she referred to it in her post.)

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lots of places in area 6 are now offering this. schooling rounds the day before the show.

The two events that are posted (so far) in the Omnibus for Area VII both have schooling rounds the day before. Probably not the same course as what they will be jumping on show jump day but the same ring.

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I’m pretty sure Tryon offered arena familiarization over a few jumps in the Tryon stadium because the upper levels/ FEI show jumped under the lights and that can be EYE OPENING for many horses. So that they were able to expose their horse to this is fantastic - many horses in the past have not done so well walking into that arena the night of the SJ round and being shell shocked with the experience.

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There are a handful of places in Area 6 & 7 that offer schooling dressage tests and jumper rounds. While I appreciate eventing’s courageous spirit, I like the schooling rounds from a logistics perspective. I grew up riding in Area 3, but I live on the west coast now where events are 1) much further apart, 2) much sparser, and 3) offer an even sparser schooling calendar. I’m an AA re-rider who leases and relies on others for transportation. I drop $1,000–1,200 a show (Events are typically 3 days here so 4 days worth of hotel, training, trainer accommodations, transportation, food, and the entry). From the Bay Area, its $150 to get to Woodside. $300–400 to get Twin Rivers.

So yea, pride be damned. I work really hard to scrape together a budget to event a few times a year. And if I can get more practice for an extra $30, I’m going to do it.

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But what about those that can’t afford the extra day off work to school the showjump course beforehand? Should they still spend their significant amount of money to go to the event and just suck it up and accept being at a disadvantage?

People used to find creative solutions to practice at home or other local places before events and made it work. Use stuff you have lying around to make spooky fences, a tarp for a Liverpool, etc. Sure, it’s not as near a guarantee that your horse will jump around nicely as schooling the course ahead of time is, but it was accepted as part of the sport.

At this rate soon we’ll be letting trainers school their clients’ horses at events.

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