Tips for XC self-critique?

[Libby2563]

I can tell when an XC round is really smooth and good, but when it’s not I don’t always know what the cause is or how concerned I should be. Sometimes it’s all a blur afterwards and I have to really strive to remember which jumps were off and in what way, then try to describe it to my coach the next time I see her. Video is great of course, but unlike SJ, it’s impossible for someone to video an entire round or even most of one.

I’m trying to think outside the box here. Would a helmet cam help with this or is the perspective not that useful for training purposes? If nothing else maybe I could narrate what I’m feeling to review later? (I already talk to my horse a lot and loudly, so I guess I’m willing to be “that rider.”) Or what about Equestic or some sort of sensor/tracker that might help me figure out if my pacing is off or if there’s a left/right lead difference or whatever?

For context, I’ve been eventing for about 6 years after riding dressage most of my life and I did my first couple Prelims in the fall. Our two Modified runs this spring were practically foot-perfect but I wasn’t as happy with our first Prelim this spring and am not sure what I did worse or if my perception is off. At this level it feels difficult to replicate the experience of running a course by schooling (not least because many venues remove the Prelim+ fences for open schooling days), so I need to learn as much as I can from each run.

[Gardenhorse]

I’ve never used a helmet cam but I think it would provide at least some information. If nothing else, it may help spark/reinforce your memories of how the jump rode.

I wish we had more event videographers. In Area III in the 90’s there was always a videographer who got most of your course. But I’ve never seen one in Area II since I started re-riding 8 years ago. I don’t know if it’s the ubiquity of smartphones and people videoing each other or just a difference in Areas.

[Dr_Doolittle]

Well, we used to have professional videotapers available in Area 2 that would record your runs; I have several of my cross country rides on DVDs from back then (you had to sign up in advance, of course) - but this service is no longer available at my local venues (alas), and though they were pricey - it was great to have video of almost all of the jumps on course. I think they are primarily out west now, but they also might still do the VAHT in Lexington - or did more recently.

My DH records almost all of my cross country (as well as dressage and SJ) with our small video camera that has a 50-1 zoom. He stands on the highest ground possible and gets a good bit of my runs unless I’m back in the woods (though venues like Hunt Club, CDCTA and Waredaca are more difficult to film because the courses are more elliptical; Loch Moy and Great Meadow are great!), and it’s incredibly helpful to watch. He does have “mad skillz”, though - it really is difficult to follow a rider from a great distance and keep them “in frame”!, but the video cameras are pretty cheap; we got ours for about $125 IIRC. Do NOT use a cell phone! You will be able to get one, maybe two jumps but without the zoom function it’s just a small dot from a distance.

A Go Pro doesn’t really help you much since you are only seeing the jumps directly in front of you, they disappear as the horse clears them and then you are looking through the ears again. I can watch myself and my horse over 6 or 7 jumps (sometimes more at Loch Moy), and since DH is able to zoom in and keep me “in frame”, I can see everything!

(My students really appreciate it when he videotapes them because then they can clearly see what they do right/wrong!)

[Gardenhorse]

Can we pay him to video us, too?

[Dr_Doolittle]

Hahahaha! Yeah, everyone asks this - and if he weren’t helping me (though I have a wonderful student who is now helping me at HTs) and wrangling the dog, he would - and could! - “hang out a shingle.” He has considering offering the service but it would be a LOT of extra time spent - and he helps ME only “under duress” - and basically because he loves me. Under special circumstances, and if you made it (financially) worth his while??

My students are collateral beneficiaries.

[TXnGA]

I have a helmet cam that I love and it is very useful to go back and watch my rides. I use the cambox video, can’t see it in the helmet and doesn’t change the weight of the helmet. Easy to use once you’ve done it a few times.

There was a videographer this weekend at Fairhill May HT- Equireel. They are huge component of video at events in the UK and I’m guess they are expanding the the USA. So let’s support them. What I can tell, they’ve done this event and one other here in the US

Otherwise, the big FEI and HT usually have a videographer as well. I’m forgetting the name off the top of my head, but they do AEC, Galway, Midsouth, Ocala International, etc.

[RAyers]

Back in the olden days, when we rode pterodactyls, and there was no video we would spend hours after each ride/school discussing what we felt and how we thought each jump rode. It is still something I love to do over dinner, discussing each fence.

The modern video camera is a great resource but it really only works if you can describe every part of an approach/jump/getaway without looking at something. Then you will be integrating feel and muscle memory. You connect your course walk to the ride (plan to reality) almost immediately after the finish line in the discussion. You can then go walk the course AFTER and look at your lines and take offs (even in fairly chewed ground you can usually find your good marks).

I can still tell somebody exactly how I rode my first advanced fence line on XC (cell phone cameras were not common, much less helmet cams).

I know you say you have a problem doing this. I suggest you start adding a post ride course walk and re-analyze your ride to develop the mental ability to think and retain information faster on XC. Prelim is when the risk margins get too small for things to have to be thought about.

[Willesdon]

^^^ A post ride course walk does take time but it is a very useful learning opportunity. The best lines will be made visible by the tracks in the ground. As well as the random outliers who wobbled around all over their approach there will be others who were straight and efficient. See how your plan was put into action.

[beowulf]

@Libby2563

Sometimes it’s all a blur afterwards and I have to really strive to remember which jumps were off and in what way, then try to describe it to my coach the next time I see her.

Gosh, I can so relate. I’m always impressed and amazed with the people that can recall their entire round with perfect acuity immediately after the ride. Not me!

I take photos of each fence when I walk the course, and try to walk it at least twice. I always study the course the night before, and then about 20m before tack up for XC. It helps me remember specific details of my ride better - probably because at that point I’ve completely committed the course to memory.

If it makes you feel any better – I jump judge more than I compete and tons of people chat to their horses over fences. Some things people say over fences is a riot

If it was your first run this spring give yourself some credit - the winter can sometimes take the wind out of our sails and the first run is a way to get the rust shaken off.

If you do get a Go Pro or Helmet cam, share the results! I’ve been considering one for a while.

[Libby2563]

Thanks for the input all!

@Beowulf, yes I too have to take photos of each fence and do lots of mental rehearsal. I will also take photos of turns and landmarks for lining up approaches. At my second Training I missed photographing one jump and got lost before that fence, which was literally the one fence that I couldn’t visualize. It was a windy course with lots of different grassy lanes and gaps in the trees, and I picked the wrong gap. Of course when I realized my mistake I announced loudly to my horse and everyone around that I was lost and an idiot. So, since then I am pretty paranoid about my mental rehearsal and being sure that I can visualize every jump and my approach to it.

It was our third run this spring after one unrecognized Mod and one recognized Mod, and those both went so darn beautifully that I was a little disappointed in this run even though the water combo and the intimidating coffin were darn near perfect.

@RAyers, I’m embarrassed to say that a post-ride course walk never even occurred to me but sounds super helpful. I will definitely do that for my next event and might see about borrowing a helmet cam too, to see if it’s useful. While I was awake in the middle of the night thinking about this, I also emailed a BNR in my area who was recommended to me as a really good instructor. I love the coach that I lesson with weekly, but should probably increase the frequency of outside perspectives now that the risk is elevating.

When I ride with a new person I always specifically tell them that I’m open to hard truths if I need to hear them, because sometimes I think people are too nice and my biggest fear is being that scary rider that everyone sees and nobody addresses. I still have never been told any hard truths, though Jimmy Wofford did call my horse “a bit of an asshole” in 2019 when I tried to show jump him in a snaffle for a clinic and had no brakes. (Now our partnership is much, much better and we go XC in a snaffle, but it took a while to get there.) I might have to put that on his tombstone someday…“Here lies Z, a bit of an asshole.”

I also learned that there is more video of my last event than I thought. I thought my coach just videoed the water jump and next fence, which all went very well, but she also got the fences before the water that I wasn’t as happy with. The video validated my memories and feelings about how I rode. Now I just have to chat with her about the why and what I need to do differently, because I’m not as sure about that. A lot did ride well so I think I did adjust correctly as I went, but I want to adjust better and sooner next time.

Part of my self-critique problem may be some level of imposter syndrome that makes me not trust my instincts. I’ve ridden my whole life but primarily dressage (up to GP), and still feel like a newbie to eventing–which, relatively speaking, I am!

[RAyers]

I am going to add another thing here. TALK to the other riders! Ask them how their round was and where they had issues or how a certain line rode. That is another tool I see too little utilized in today’s sport. It could be something that is getting in via dressage and h/j folks. They get too used to only talking to their trainers and not actually analyzing the course or their rounds with the folks who actually rode it. In the past with the courses so spread out the trainer might see 4-5 fences. You had to leant to self analyze and critique.

Talking with the other riders about the courses also grows your friend group! Because of that I have more friends in other areas than I do in my own! You can commiserate, kvetch, compliment, learn and even do the post ride walk together. It works even better when you bring everyone beer for that.

It is good to see you wanting to do this. I truly believe that what you are seeking is how we develop safe riders. Those who only rely on trainers for information are unsafe at higher levels. They don’t have the ability to adjust on the fly or to think for themselves if things go south.

[RooTheDay]

@Libby2563

The video validated my memories and feelings about how I rode. Now I just have to chat with her about the why and what I need to do differently, because I’m not as sure about that.

Disclaimer: am smurf who is nowhere near Prelim yet, but I do teach non-horse psychomotor skills (and even occasionally teach instructors to teach psychomotor skills) and, on the flip side, am pretty coachable. Also the following may be what you meant by “chat with her” but this may well be helpful to someone else, so posting anyway:

Since there is video/she saw you, and she can refer to the video to provide information, a good way to start building this skill may be for you to tell her why The Thing You Didn’t Like happened, and then for her to either validate your hypothesis or clarify that it’s wrong (and if the latter, why/how.) Example that is definitely not a composite all of whose component parts have been drawn from actual events:

RooTheDay is attempting to jump a bounce. Horse stops. RooTheDay jumps the first fence without Horse and lands in a large mud puddle.

Coach: looks at RooTheDay, raises an eyebrow
RooTheDay: That happened because I go where I look and I was looking at the mud puddle.
Coach: continues to look at RooTheDay expectantly
RooTheDay: Next time I will keep my eyes on the horizon and my leg on, and also Scotchgard my breeches.
Coach: Close, but you’ll look between the horse’s ears at the jump until the top rail disappears. Otherwise correct. Go do it again.

Specifically, going through the process of analyzing, drawing a conclusion, voicing it, and receiving feedback on it (even/especially if your initial conclusion is incorrect) tends to work better than a simple discussion! Higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

[subk]

Do you lesson with someone who makes you critique your own jump schools before they tell you what to improve?

This was something Pony Club was good at teaching–the ability to access your own ride. Years ago while riding with Jim Graham I was the only adult in a lesson with a handful of advanced kids preparing for their B and A up-ranking. Because being able to assess your own ride was critical at the top levels of PC–and tested–he would question the kids about a jump sequence before he provided commentary. “What happened at the combination?” “How could you have been better to the first fence?” “Why did you miss at the third fence?” “What happened on the two turns to the left?”

His “system” focuses on "Forward, Rhythm, Balance, Supple, Straight. So his advice to the kids was on each jump sequence to evaluated using those words to form the structure of their descriptions.

“My horse could have been more forward to the first fence.” “We lost our rhythm coming out of the turn.” “We had a good balance coming into the combination.” “He was not very supple around the turns to the left because he tends to counter bend that direction.” “We were not straight over the second and missed our turn to the third.” Use those words to assess each ride/jump/movement. (Works for dressage too!)

If you aren’t doing self assessments at home it is unlikely you’re going to suddenly be able to do them at a competition when under stress. They really are something you should practice!

[EventerAJ]

Great advice from @RAyers and @subk. You should be analyzing your rides at home and in schooling, essentially “teaching yourself” after and during your rounds, with the coach to help you confirm if your feelings are correct or incorrect.

And yes, we used to chat to everyone and anyone coming off course or headed to the start box! “Watch out for fence 5! Steady on the turn to 10b!” or “It’s riding super well, have fun out there!” Wayne in particular was fun, as it took a good 25-30 minute hack from Lamplight over to the XC warmup. You’d pass three or four riders on your way out and back through the woods (and backyards), and it was a constant flow of information and “Good Luck!”

Something that I learned to do as I was moving up to prelim was to visualize my course the night before, and morning of. INTENSE visualization: see your exact route, where the trees are, the bark on the log at fence 2, when your horse will need to steady, when he will pull on you, what that feels like, you’ll be sitting up, leg on, where your eyes will look…imagine yourself riding each and every stride throughout your course. Do it over and over. It will build a strong memory and make your plan second nature; of course you will need to adapt your plan when you actually go out on course, but that strong visualization may help trigger your memory of the course itself when you get through the finish flags-- “Fence 5 did NOT work out the way I imagined!” and what went wrong.

[Libby2563]

I have been thinking about all of your suggestions and have talked with my coach twice now about my last event and about improving my self-analysis skills. This is my plan for the next event in a few weeks:

• Walk XC a second time alone, focusing on lines and approaches but also so I can do some intense planning and visualization in situ (in addition to just in my head the night before and the morning of, like I usually do)
• Walk XC again after my ride, so I can learn from what went well or poorly

My coach is supportive and has started asking me more questions in my weekly jumping lessons. I’m also shouting things out as I feel them, and explaining after an exercise why I made an adjustment or what I felt where, even if the explanation is mostly to verbalize it to myself.

I’m still working on getting to some clinics too. I’m lucky to have tons of opportunities around here, but the timing just hasn’t been good yet. I’ve been watching replays of 3-5* XC rides and also started re-reading Jimmy Wofford’s book. (Why aren’t there nearly as many good books on eventing out there as there are on dressage?)

FWIW, my coach wasn’t concerned at all about what bothered me in my last XC round. Having talked it through with her and watched the videos, I understand why. So I guess that’s a strike against my self-analysis skills, but better to be too self-critical than not critical enough, right?

[RAyers]

I’m surprised you were not taught to walk your XC courses 3 times?

1. general impression and finding fences. Alone.
2. planning all aspects of the ride (strides, aiming points, take offs, getaways, black flag option decisions,…). Done with trainer.
3. last walk is review and verification of plan. Alone.

Depending on level and venue I will walk some course sections up to 6-7 times but the 3 is always the baseline regardless of venue.

[Libby2563]

Well, I could be wrong, but my experience has been that finding fences and planning with the coach can be done as one walk. My coach almost always does her walks as soon as the courses open at 3 pm on Friday, so I wouldn’t be able to walk alone before anyway. Sometimes she’s not available and I walk alone or with another rider. I have walked courses twice before, and re-walked areas of concern multiple times, but I haven’t felt the need for 3+ course walks at Modified and below. There also aren’t typically options to learn at the levels I’ve been riding. As I said, I am planning on 3 walks going forward, with one of those being after my ride.

I think you event out west where events are typically held over multiple days? I can see how that would allow extra time to walk courses many times and debrief with other riders. Here almost all of our events run in one day and we ship in, so there’s not much if any downtime. The XC courses open at 3 pm on Fri and then on Sat am you are shipping in, doing dressage, then getting ready to jump. At my last event I had to get up at 3:15 am just to make it to dressage on Sat and I only had enough time after dressage to re-walk a short section of XC.

[RAyers]

My competition area covers everything West of the Mississippi, yes. We do 1-day, 2-day, and 3-day events. This is not an “East Coast” thing.

I understand your point of view. I am coming from the “old format” school so that is a habit that has been ingrained for almost 30 years.

The point is that this is a method that enables the integration of the course such that you do not actually think about the course while riding and only about the ride. In so doing it enables a better self assessment of the ride. At the same time, if there are tracks that converge and diverge and you automatically know the tracks, you are less likely to miss a turn etc. I used to teach my students that after course walks I would make them ride their bike as fast as possible on the course and see if they could duplicate it without mistakes. It teaches autonomic responses so, again, you dont’ have to think about the course but the ride.

No, it is not easy at a 1-day, but if you plan correctly you can at least get 2 walks in before you go.

[Libby2563]

Yep 2 is definitely doable. I like the bike idea too!

[Libby2563]

Update after my next event. I walked XC three times: first with my coach, immediately afterwards alone at a jog, and again the next morning after dressage. I really liked jogging the course because it approximated (very loosely haha!) approaching the fences at speed, so I could visualize when I wanted to change pace/balance.

I doubt it was because of the extra walking, but XC went SO WELL! It was so smooth and fun. I did get a little impatient in a corner combination and ride it in a straighter 4 strides rather than a bending 5, but my wonderful horse handled that perfectly and otherwise everything went to plan. Then a few weeks later we went back and schooled the Intermediate combos, which went very well but also gave me some things to work on. The Intermediate corner combo was best ridden in a straight, open 2 strides rather than a bending 3, so it kind of worked out that I’d practiced a similar line already. It was all super confidence-building! A couple pics from the show because my horse is such a rock star that I have to brag on him:

I actually think what did help was that I messed up starting my watch and ended up not using it. I generally start it at the 10-second countdown and have it beep every minute, which makes me feel like I’m always playing catch-up. It was much more pleasant to just go at what felt like a good pace. Going off feel I came in just a little over time and nobody else made time either anyway. Now that I kind of understand what prelim should feel like, I might quit the watch or maybe start it just for reference but turn off the beeps.

Then in my SJ lesson last week there was a schooling show course in the outdoor and three warm-up fences in the indoor. It was the perfect opportunity to practice warming myself up (coach set what I asked, and I bounced ideas off her) then going in cold to jump a big course. He did it so perfectly that we quit after just the one course and yet it was still totally worth the drive.

I’m excited about our next two events, which are both at big-name venues that are new to me. I will definitely be without my coach for at least one of those so hopefully my introspection and practice will pay off. I also signed up for a 1.2 m course at a jumper show this week. Last time the warm-up was so stressful that I gave up and just went in. This time I’m taking a friend to set jumps for me. I swear sometimes warm-up is the most stressful part!