Judging your horse’s cross-country speed is a fine art and one that requires practice if you are to avoid picking up time faults for being over (or under) the optimum time.
Each level of competition has a different metres per minute speed and it will be signposted somewhere. Good places to look are near the start line, in the secretary’s tent, and/or in the schedule.
We asked CCI5* event rider Emma Thomas, the 2024 under-25 British Champion who finished best of the British first timer’s at Burghley in 2023 (she was 18th aboard Icarus X), how to ride cross-country at speed in a safe way — and it has little to do with galloping as fast as you can.
Calculating speed
At the higher levels of eventing, minute markers are useful as checkpoints around the course when you’re competing. They ensure that the rider knows whether they are behind or ahead of time while travelling around the track.
Speed can be calculated while course-walking in a variety of ways, either with a measuring wheel, a sports watch, or with smartphone apps.
If you’re competing at the lower levels, you’ll need to be able to ride by feel, knowing where you are in the course and an understanding of how quickly your horse is travelling.
Getting a feel for speed
Practising over a known distance with a stopwatch can be invaluable when trying to get a feel for a certain speed.
You can use the time taken over a set distance (ie between two markers) to calculate your natural cruising speed and whether you need to speed up or slow down.
Remember that when you’re riding a course, there will be fences to factor in and these will slow you down.
“Speed training is specific to each individual horse,” says Emma.
“If you have a lazier horse, find them a fast work partner to ‘inspire’ them and make it more fun.
“Whizzier horses are generally better galloped alone to maintain calmness.
“Naturally fit horses with a good gallop technique will need less speed training than those who find it difficult,” adds Emma.
Practise at home
You can practise speed training on the gallops or out on a hack.
“If you have a hacking area with good ground, measure the distance with a wheel and make your own minute markers along it,” suggests Emma.
“You can then add some fast work when you’re hacking and also practise riding at a certain speed.”
There are two types of speed training that event riders use:
- Interval training
“This consists of short sprints accompanied by short rest periods to increase a horse’s ability to exercise intensely and recover quickly,” explains Emma. - Endurance canters
These are longer, slower canters that increase general fitness and get the horse used to going at speed continuously for extended periods of time.
Hills are also incredibly useful.
“Any type of fitness work done uphill gives less concussion on the horse’s legs,” says Emma.
“It also benefits their hind end and core strength.”
Walking the course
Course-walking is as much of an art as riding. It is specific to each horse, and visualising how they will feel at any given point on the track
is key.
“Think about how much time it takes you to balance your horse back to a jumping canter from a gallop before a fence,” says Emma.
“For some horses this can be three strides, for others it can be 20!”
“Relative to this is the topography around the fence. If you have a downhill approach you need to start your balancing aids a bit earlier, whereas uphill you could leave these a little later.”
Walk the lines you intend to ride — and remember to look back at where you’ve come from to make sure you have come the most direct way.
Taking long lines unnecessarily will waste time.
Thinking ahead
Thinking ahead is important when you’re riding against the clock.
On the approach to an A element when tackling a combination fence, your focus should already be on the B obstacle, and so on.
“If you wait for the landing of one fence before thinking about the next it is often too late,” advises Emma.
“For precise angled and turning lines find something in the distance to use as a marker to line up with before the A element.”
Save time at fences
Efficiency over fences can be improved by balancing for a fence at the correct moment (earlier rather than later) and dispensing with late and unnecessary extra aids.
You can practise this at home:
- Start with a single showjump that you feel confident jumping.
- Ride a couple of laps of your arena or field in a forward seat to build up a cross-country rhythm.
- Come down a couple of gears so that you’re in a correct jumping balance and then approach the fence.
- Look up to a point in the distance so that you can’t try to predict the stride pattern.
- Count the rhythm out loud.
- Maintain a soft, half seat body position and make no adjustments in front of the fence, instead allowing the horse to meet and measure it on their own.
- Repeat this until you both feel comfortable and fluid.
- Then repeat the exercise while cross-country schooling.
“By teaching the horse to measure their own stride into a fence they can be quick from any take-off point,” states Emma.
“By practising this ‘fluid’ jumping feel, horse and rider will be able to balance for the fence later, allowing for longer periods at top speed.”
Use the right gear
A confident cross-country horse needs to have a range canters and gallops that you can use during your round or schooling session.
These are key to speed, safety and having a smooth ride so that you can meet each fence at an appropriate pace.
With correct and clever use of these five cross-country gears, you will be able to complete a course clear and within the optimum time. Find out more about these gears here.
Also bear in mind that a horse that is rideable and adaptable is quicker than a horse who fights against the contact when you ask them to change gear in the approach to a fence.
Land and go
The landing side of a fence is typically the least efficient moment.
“When the horse’s front legs reconnect with the ground, they shift the momentum backwards,” explains Emma.
“This can be improved through teaching the horse to sprint away on landing.”
As soon as you land from a fence, forget about it and look ahead to the next one.
Adapt a ‘land and go’ strategy — this will help you to think forwards and keep moving at a good pace.
Main stock image © Your Horse Library/Kelsey Media Ltd. NB Emma Thomas is not pictured riding.
