I’m a new to eventing adult amateur. I purchased a mare in October 2019 and she had done a few starter trials. I’d like advice on where I should concentrate my lesson money. I can afford one lesson per week. I’d like to get to an unrecognized BN event by October 2020. There are no eventing trainers in my immediate area. I have a dressage trainer and a jumper trainer that I can trailer to. Should I split it evenly with 2 lessons per month from each? How many cross country schoolings should I plan building up to the event? When you were starting in eventing, what did your lesson schedule look like?
A lot is going to depend on where the training holes are in the horse and in you. Can you school basic dressage on your own? Do you have eyes on the ground at home to practice jumping outside of lessons? Does the horse have flatwork gaps that need fixing before you jump? Do you have trails to get outside and leg up and get used to going fast in the Big World Outside?
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What is your riding background? (i.e., dressage, H/J, Western, trail riding, etc).
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h/j as a kid. I started riding again for about a year when I purchased my horse.
I think it depends a lot of what your and/or the horse’s weaknesses are. Do you need help with your dressage? Does she? Do you have jump equipment at home or do you need to use a trainer’s? Same with xc. Do you have access or do you need to find a trainer with a course you can use?
It’s different for everyone (and even then, can vary). I tend to do one dressage lesson a month and jump school once every few weeks, jumping lessons are usually just coaching at shows or the odd clinic. I know we’re solid for the level we’re showing and not currently looking to make a move up though. I also am horribly competitive and want to put down a good dressage, not a “good for an eventer” dressage test. If you’re looking to go from starter to BN though, you may (definitely) want to put more weight on jump lessons than I do - 2 jump and 2 dressage/ month is a good place to begin. But, you might find that changing once you get into a regular schedule, and hopefully have enough flexibility with your instructors.
If at all possible, you should really try to get out for an xc clinic or lesson. I’m not sure if you’ve taken your horse out on xc yet, but jumping in an arena doesn’t always translate clearly to riding xc. If you’re going to a place that has xc schooling, there’s almost always also an instructor that uses that place - maybe you could see if they could help you out here and there, not necessarily make it a regular lesson? It’s hard to say you need X number of xc schools before a show, without knowing exactly how you and your horse go - some combos take to it naturally, others are totally nerve wracked those first few times out.
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Second the xc lessons. The xc is the unique part of eventing and to be effective you need specific skills that can’t be learnt by riding only in an arena.
Unless you have a lot of experience doing hunter paces and the like, I think you should put most of your lesson/clinic money on cross country lessons.
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I’d start with that too and see how things go. I’d aim for an XC school sometime this spring to see how comfortable I felt and what I needed to work on to be ready in October. Two or three XC schools total might be sufficient if you feel good about it. Since you’re new to eventing you should have a coach there for XC schools though since there are some unique technical skills to learn as well as safety issues. If you’re still in New Jersey I can’t imagine there are no eventing coaches whatsoever nearby. If you’d be willing to post your general location perhaps someone on here could recommend someone? Keep in mind for budgeting that an XC school will cost more than a regular lesson since you probably have to pay a facility use fee, plus trainer fees can be higher since it’s usually longer than a regular lesson.
Since you so to speak, have been out of it for awhile. I’d start with weekly dressage lessons.
This will teach you to deliver a horse to a jump straight and at at an appropriate pace and balance. Then I would add in jumping lessons with someone who knows your aims, and can correct you position and balance. After a month or two, I would keep my eyes and ears open for CC schooling clinics.
From the beginning I would do a good bit of trail riding, focusing on balance and pace on uneven ground.
