I am an endurance rider interested in getting into cross-country. Though I use an English saddle for endurance, I'm not an English rider and grew up riding Western, so I know almost nothing about the English world (I'm hoping to begin taking lesson soon, though!). To mix things up, I'm interested in trying cross-country and probably competing just for fun - I may even try my hand at eventing, but I'm mostly interested in the cross-country riding. Because I mainly do endurance, my horses are Arabians (plus one short-stack-built-like-a-tank QH). Has anyone ever done cross-country with Arabians? Any advantages or disadvantages?
Also, what would I do to train/condition my horse? Obviously, my horses will already have the endurance to withstand the distance and pace (they're used to 15-mile conditioning rides and 25+ mile races), but what else could I do? I'm very excited about the benefits I believe cross-training will have for my horses!