Starting out eventing

I was going to try to start eventing next year with my horse Phoebe.
We have both done cross country before but I have never really done a proper one day event on her and I'm not really sure what she has done.

My problem is that there is no available eventing coaches round here so I don't know how to go about starting out in eventing.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Shauna xXx :P

Eventing can be very dangeous if your not ready for it, I would get yourself out and about at unaffliated 1 day events before considering eventing as then you can determin what your horse and you can handle as a pair. You will also meet people at these events that you may beable to get advice/lessons from.
Eventing is also very expensive so I wouldnt want to pay out all that money if you don't no what your horse can cope with, your horse wil have to be mega fit for this as sometimes you will be required to go away on a 3 day event(if you wanted to of course).
There are alot of very high top riders out there eventing, so maybe go watch a few events, see what they are like and get intouch with the good trainers.
I hope this helps
Roxanne

Thank you Roxanne and one thing I have been doing all year is watching eventing because I have wanted to get into it for years so I was watching the biggest events we have here in Ireland and I am still up for it even considering the danger factor one thing I know Phoebe is very fit she could be a bit fitter but that shouldn't be a problem but I am wondering how do I get myself fit enough for it??

Shauna xXx

I am also new to eventing ... I have not yet competed and I'm currently training a thoroughbred gelding in the fundamentals of dressage and jumping. I need to know the etiquette for proper showing. Do you do the entire jumping course in a half-seat? I'd appreciate any pointers. Thanks!

Bumping this up

In Australia there are many pony club one day events if you are a member of pony club, and also "chicken days", I am sure there is something similar where you are from.

Basically you just turn up and there are a few low levels that you can do, like only 60cm (2 feet) jumps and prelim dressage. Sometimes there are even lower ones. Generally they are pretty casual and people don't go all out in getting prepared, the cross country course is short and the jumps are quite low and achievable so your horse doesn't have to be mega fit. You should try to find some of these to try out, just to see if you like it.

At home there are things you can do to prepare. Dressage is the basis to almost all english riding, and in top levels your success is dependent on your results in the dressage. Its the first event and you can lose heaps of points. So if I were you I would practice lots of basic flatwork and dressage, and just getting your horse soft and responsive.

Then, if I were you, I would go out to open fields, and work on some large circles and even straight lines, ensuring your horse was responsive and calm as they were in a flatwork area. I had OTTB and he was fine in the arena but we would go out to a cross country course and he just would try and run and run. We did some low events but it was always a fight. If you can get your horse responsive and calm on a cross country course you are going to be a step ahead.

Then practice your jumping, build some solid fences, like little hedge things, barrels, tyres, and practice doing some drop jumps. If you've done cross country before you should be fine though.

I don't think you really need an eventing instructor. If you don't feel confident in either your dressage or jumping ability, then just get a dressage or jumping teacher, and they can help you with that. Cross country is basically show jumping but faster and over solider things, and if you have experience cantering across open hills and such it shouldn't really be difficult at all.

Start low though and work your way up.