The only area I am familiar with is the Radnor / Plantation field area. Would be coming from 7 hours away and would like to school my two youngsters at places with lots of ditches, water and banks. We would hope to stay three days and do a couple of venues. What are your suggestions?
Bucks County Horse Park has really inviting jumps, nothing terrifying but a really fun place to school and great trails as well. You won’t be that far from the Horse Park of NJ either, but be sure to check the dates for both places since they’ll close to the public for events/shows etc.
I would suggest you check out Fair Hill, which is right across the border in Maryland and has a number of schooling days: https://www.fairhillinternational.com/fhi-cross-country-schoolings/
You probably know about Radnor PC grounds and Windurra http://www.boydandsilvamartin.com/facilities/ already.
Depending on where you are coming from maybe stop in NJ first and do HPNJ or Flora Lee.
I didn’t know they allowed schooling at Radnor. Is it very far from Boyd’s place? It would be great to have access to two sites. Thanks for the tips.
I think it’s under an hour from Boyd’s (so is fair hill). but not sure they have open schooling, I think it might be the pony club grounds only, not the competition fences. I’ve never schooled there though. Fox Crossing in Unionville has some lower level stuff as well. But I would probably try to coordinate with a Fair Hill school and do that and Windurra, personally. You can stable at Fair Hill relatively cheaply and it’s maybe half an hour to Windurra.
I’d time it to school at Fair Hill, and hit Windurra. You may also still school at Laurel Hill in Unionville. Good for lower levels. You used to be able school at Carosel in Delaware but not sure that has anything anymore. Not sure if you can go over to Phillip’s without taking a lesson from someone there.
Radnor only has one open schooling day a year, right after their horse trial (Monday or Tuesday?)
Yes you can school at Phillips without a lesson, just have to call ahead
Really? How much? Do they have interesting banks? My 6 YO is having some down bank issues.
This has been very helpful. BFNE, I like the idea of Fair Hill and Windurra. Are there usually tons of riders at both venues or is it relatively orderly?
So I am a bit confused…. Doesn’t Windurra belong to Boyd? Or are they on the same property as Phillip?
Windurra is Boyd’s. True Prospect is Phillip’s.
Ive never ridden there, just been a ground person. I think it was the same as Boyd’s…$50? Not 100% sure. Banks into water. I was there with some Training level folks so didn’t pay much more attention to what else was offered. Sorry for the lackluster response 
Yes. There often a lot of people…but not always. Not helpful I know…the schooling days can be a bit nuts at Fair Hill but other times I’ve been there and its been quite. Same with Windurra.
Boyd owns Windurra. And it is different that Phillip Dutton’s place but they are pretty close to one another (within 10 minutes). Boyd has a TON of stuff including a lot of different sized banks. Phillip has a water jump, lots of ditches and a few banks.
Laurel Hill has some nice baby banks too (ditches, and water as well).
yes…we are VERY spoiled in this area (and it is why there are a lot of eventers based in this area)
I was at Fair Hill Sunday, and it was pretty quiet. 'But it was Father’s day, and hot too! I think I’ve only ever seen it crowded once at Windurra, and I go there often, but usually at non-peak times. I don’t think I’ve ever schooled there on a weekend.
A lot of construction going on at Boyd’s next to the ring and X course. At least there was a few weeks ago. Doesn’t interfere with the X course. Just a fair bit of earth moving equipment, a lot of dirt being moved around. That phase of the construction process might be over for the time being. Personally I think its good to expose horses to this sort of stuff, distractions, noise etc.
As Bornfree said, Boyd has built, installed a lot of stuff to work with. So even if there are a lot of horses on course it is plenty big enough to accommodate pretty much everyone. Pretty serious set up, lol.
Fox Crossing also offers xc schooling and it’s @ 10 minutes from Boyd’s. Never been there to school but I’ve heard they have a lot of options.
Thanks so much for the feedback. What I really need is a safe water complex that offers a gradual introduction to jumping off ledges into water. And Ditches of progressive difficulty.
