methods of learning

Each fall, Waredaca hosts a long format Classic 3 Day Event for Novice, Training and Preliminary, run over championship courses. It's intended to be both a test and celebration of the sport, the riders, and their amazing horses, and includes all manner of educational opportunities for qualified participants.

Not least of which are introductions to (and mini-clinics on) riding steeplechase and roads and tracks. Instruction is provided by world class professionals who are on hand all weekend for questions, encouragement, and insight. This year the clinics and course walks were led by European, World, and Olympic team rider Eric Smiley, and Olympian and Burghley winner Stephen Bradley. (Notably, Stephen Bradley is the last American to have won at Burghley.)

partying at the Waredaca Classic 3DE after finishing cross country day. +100 for having a brewery on site!!

My friend Rachael qualified again this year, after an extremely poorly timed hot nail ruined their weekend last year. So I and a few other friends got to spend the weekend playing support crew, while conveniently also being on hand to soak up some of the learnings ourselves haha.

And. Ya know, per my usual habits, I wanted to share with y'all my impressions from all that haha.

Truth be told, this should probably be like 3 different posts bc there are a few distinct aspects that had an impact on me... But I didn't want to put off writing any longer, so here we go with this.

excerpt from Eric Smiley's book. emphasis mine... hint: this passage is a theme

My first step down the rabbit hole began when I tagged along for the T3DE course walk with Eric Smiley. During which I (obviously) took copious notes haha. But I also peeled off a few times to take a closer look at the N3DE course while Eric talked technicalities of riding the T.

Bc let's be real. I've spent all season walking T courses, schooling T questions, working/yearning for that eventual move up. But we're still just plain old not there, and I had already concluded that we'd finish the year with more positive N outings. So, why not get a closer look at an N championship course, right?

T3DE course walk with Eric Smiley, wherein he tried to explain that this up bank - down bank (with hedge) - to wedge (not pictured) combination isn't actually bonkers 

Plus, I didn't write about it at the time, but I volunteered at the Morven Area II Novice Championships a few weeks back too - and also walked that course. It looked flipping fantastic, with all manner of interesting terrain and variations of style of fence. Particularly, the first few elements looked like a proper test and I LOVED the first water: a slightly-less-than-straight line through a small pond then direct up a steep mound with a log on top.

HOWEVER. What really struck me from Morven's Area II Novice Championship course was.... there was neither a ditch nor a bank on course for N. Certainly there were combinations for both on T and the levels above... but nada for N. Hrm.

hint: is confirmed to be bonkers

So yea. It was at that point that I started wondering what sort of courses an N rider had to tackle to make the next step to T seem more realistic. Thus my curiosity to study Waredaca's N3DE course, also billed as a championship course.

But anyway. More on that in a few. Back to my notes from Eric Smiley's colorful commentary on the T3DE course particularly, and cross country more generally.

this was the 3DE Training question that i was pleased to see repeated in Novice form on my recent waredaca course, tho you can sorta see there are flags on the other side of the mound for another (equally inviting) T fence, whereas our N combo just had the first fence and mound. still tho, it's a clear visual progression from one course to the next!

He got us started by declaring that fences ARE related on cross country. For instance, you may have an angle early on course, then a corner later. Or a skinny early and then another even skinnier skinny later.

The well designed course should be a progression, and you'll see if it you're looking for it. Generally speaking, the courses are testing your stage of schooling.

looking at the first water complex on course. there are lines for P, M, T3DE, T and N3DE here. notably, my starter N from a couple weeks later did not touch this water

Furthermore, Eric expounded on how you "warm up" for this progression by describing how he runs his clinics: First thing he has riders do in a clinic on jumping day is canter a pole 3 times. Question is: "What has your horse told you?" Has he said which way he drifts? Whether he has made a plan? Whether he’s on deck?

Has he told you at the practice pole whether he’s going to run out at 24? Has he told you he’s going to need help making a plan or whether he will do it himself?

closer look: T3DE and M share this center line (elements circled in red) of two stride line of logs dropping into the water.
regular horse trial T has the yellow circled line on the right -- log drop into water at A, then mound up to house at B

I actually brought this example up in a recent lesson (er, yesterday, post coming soon!) wherein my trainer noted Charlie was much straighter than last time, and I said he'd been leaning hard left all warm up so I'd been working on it. Turns out -- isn't that exactly what the warm up is for?? (hint: yes)

To the same point, Eric also said that the benefits you receive from steeplechase are enormous. The phase (which replaces any informal warm up you'd do for cross country at the standard horse trial) is there to get the horse into gear mentally and physically. And it is in this phase where you should be inventorying what the horse is telling you about their readiness.

close look at the other side - P (green) has a roll top inside the water, then a skinny out at B
and N3DE? the log that technically does not constitute "having height" so it can be at the water's edge (jumping out).
i understand the idea here, but c'mon. where's the progression? the step up is enormous from that little log on the championship N3DE course to the regular horse trial T log drop into water with house on far side, right? /rant

Once on course, Eric encouraged riders to "allow the presentation of the fence to tell the horse what’s up." Specifically, he warned: If the jump is going to re-balance a horse, don’t do it yourself.

Meaning, if the jump has some sort of intrinsic aspect that might make the horse sit back and adjust (like the ditch under a trakehner, or a giant mound behind the roll top), then you don't want to layer your own half halt on top. The risk is you'll in essence double the effect and possibly run out of petrol.

it's useful that waredaca literally has a brewery right there on the premises

Instead, Eric advised riders to keep riding the horse to/at the fence and let the horse figure it out. Keep riding forward. He called the trakehner in particular a fence style with a "natural re-balance." The ditch, clear ground line, and sloping profile do all the work for you, so that the rider can just keep coming to it.

This theme was much repeated throughout the entire course walk. Eric encouraged riders to "Sit up, Look up, Get up. Look where you want to be."

yep. totally bought the book. "Two Brains, One Aim." some chapters are more interesting to me than others but so far i'm liking it and finding it directly applicable

It sounds simplistic, but actually ... Yea. It is. And he really means it to be that way. He used Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton as examples here - as riders who make things happen. Doesn't have to be pretty. Doesn't have to be perfect. But it has to happen, or, ya know, it doesn't happen. It really is that binary.

Eric advised riders against getting overly technical. And against getting too stuck in the details of the thing. Again, he was adamant. Make things happen. Get the job done.

final chapters. full disclosure, i haven't read them all yet

In essence, Eric's overall warning was to not overthink things. Or over analyze. Which, uhm, haha, cough cough... Well, y'all know that's a bit of a hard pill for me to swallow. I want to know it all. I want the data. The trends, the margin of error. Historical context, calibrated measurements, and predictable outcomes.

Which, according to this particular world class professional, jusssst miiiight be doing a disservice to my overall mental state and philosophical approach to this sport lol.

Fun fact: I may or may not have finished that course walk musing whether I'm emotionally pre-disposed to a philosophical mindset diametrically opposite of what's required in eventing...

Which... Ha, well if that isn't a recipe for an identity crisis, I don't know what is lol.

are we there yet??

Luckily I already sorta went through all my own tortuous mental contortions this summer about "But do I really want to??" And already determined the answer to be, "Yes." So. Nice try, Eric haha. But just because I'm overly analytical doesn't mean I'm gonna quit!!**

Obviously not his intention tho, let's be real. But it did give me a lot of food for thought. Clearly I'm not about to abandon my desire to analyze and understand and study all the things. Or (case in point) document all the things too. Bc that's just how I roll.

But maybe I need to do a better job of categorizing all that data, that information, in terms of overall "usefulness." What data is going to help me act in the moment? What will help me make things happen? And what ultimately ends up being a distraction?

In other words, do I need to know the exact distance between that hedge-topped down bank to the narrow wedge? Or, rather, do I need to know whether my horse has been drifting left or right, or has been on board and making plans along with me the whole ride?

There's probably more I want to write on this subject (and other tangents), especially as we go into the navel-gazing daze of off season haha. For now tho, let's leave it at that.

There's so much to be gained from opportunities to discuss riding and courses and overall mentality with these seasoned professionals, and I'm extremely grateful to have had this chance. For any of you sitting on the fence about signing up for volunteer jobs at local events -- these are the sort of interactions, observations and conversations that can arise from nothing more than the luck of being there in that moment. So, ya know, go for it ;)



**Srsly tho, that was obviously not his point. He's an extremely encouraging sort and I would 100% ride / audit / drink a beer with him again in the future!

MDHT - Cross Country!

Alright, let's dig into some excellent cross country media paired with brief(ish) commentary on the ride and day and experience etc, shall we?

gosh he's just the handsomest! 

Basically, if you've been reading 'Fraidy Cat Eventing for any length of time, you'd be forgiven for thinking that we pretty much exclusively compete at Loch Moy. Because... Wow yea aside from our home events, Charlie and I haven't successfully completed a horse trial at any other venue since... Fair Hill in 2017... Oops.

total pro chillin at the trailer - we got lucky and parked next to a van so we had way more room than normal to spread out. also look how foggy it was in the morning!!

I promise it's not for lack of trying tho!! We got through 2.5 phases at Plantation before being eliminated on xc for refusals that one time... And have made multiple efforts at Full Moon - once withdrawing after dressage and another time being eliminated by rider fall in show jumping. I've also sent in all manner of entries over the years that ended in scratches, including to Seneca, Fair Hill, and lord knows where else.

It is what it is tho. The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy are simply wonderful events and we love going to them. And since the venue has become so familiar, we tend to generally have good experiences there. So. Ya know. We keep going back lol.

such pretty decorations on jump 1

One downside to the familiarity tho is that... The novice courses kinda feel a little boring now. Actually, I have a whole post rant spinning around in my head right now about what I perceive to be a widening gap between novice and training xc courses that'll get written eventually.... But now isn't the time for that.

Because let's be real. Maybe on this particular day I needed boring. Just needed to go through the motions, execute my plan, demonstrate our experience and schooling.

homeboy knows how to leave the start box now!! nice long run to jump 2 too

The course got us started off well for those purposes too. A nice inviting profile at jump 1, followed by a loooooong gallop to fence 2 -- perfect for getting Charlie into the zone!

slightly unimpressive table thingy for 2

He's become pretty reliable about leaving the gate these days, but it's still nice to have some time to find a rhythm anyway. Jump 2 was a simple table positioned at the entrance into the "woods" and Charlie handled it easily enough.

we've jumped this literally a million times

Tho wouldn't ya know it, that goofy horse actually tried to run out at jump 3. He didn't really suck back or anything, and he's not particularly subtle or nuanced in his evasions lol. Rather, he just tried to pull out to the left.

charlie tried to run out at it, tho!! what a goon. we jumped it anyway tho

Which... Ya know, No, Sir. Let's not, tho, m'kay? Obvi it's a fairly small jump and Charlie's not a particularly flexible horse so I just held the right rein and he was basically like, "Shit I guess I'm stuck, might as well jump it!" and proceeded to do so.

nice uphill turn to another sorta squat table thingy

Obviously tho that's not really my favorite feeling, ya know? Esp bc he was also feeling kinda strong and unruly. We had a nice bending uphill turn to the above log table thing tho and Charlie took me straight to it so who knows what his deal was at 3...

then a turn back around to this simple pheasant feeder. love the backgrounds in these pictures tho

Same story to the next jump - we made the turn going back toward the barns and Charlie cruised right up to the dead center of this pheasant feeder jumping it in a lovely balance right out of stride. Good boy, sir!

weaving through the trees to another table thing to leave the woods

He definitely wanted to run tho. And obviously I was less accommodating about that considering his attempt at exiting stage left at the log. Our next jump was the same position as some jumps last time we were out here, and sorta heads back to the trailers, which are all off to the left of the above frame.

We already have a pretty strong left drift and Charlie is usually a bit preoccupied with running back home lol so I knew I wanted to be careful about getting to this fence. He was a good boy tho and jumped it well enough.

we've done basically this exact same configuration of water to jump a few times now

Then we sorta careened down the hill to the water, which Charlie just cantered through like the easiest thing in the world, taking a direct line to the roll top on the other side.

charlie has become quite good at it ;)

I have an almost identical picture of Charlie from his last BN run where this same style jump was positioned more or less in the same place. He's definitely got this figured out haha!

wheeeeee!!!!

Actually this next little portion of the course is included in the "Clips" video footage below, thanks in large part to local volunteer extraordinaire Meredith (thanks!!). Charlie was aces, tho. Good boy!

simple hanging log

From there we turned toward the back half of the cross country fields. Loch Moy introduced a Championships series this year for their starter trials (they offer six STs a year) and ran the championships divisions for the first time at this event. It's actually pretty cool and they made slightly separate xc tracks and everything.

a couple clips from friends - major thanks Meredith for catching video!! :)

Except... Well, it only furthered my perception that our own novice track was too watered down lol. The championship class got to drop down the bank while normal N just did this hanging log thing. It's not my favorite style xc jump - I prefer something with a little more mass, but Charlie was fine.

have also jumped this a million times. and charlie also tried to run out, wtf sir?

Tho go figure, he was a complete squirrel to this garden gate that he's seen at almost all levels lol. We jumped it kinda weirdly... But hey, we jumped it. And that's what counts, right?

we took no chances to the chevron tho, followed by that up bank in the background! 

He got really strong after that tho, and combined with his attempted run out at the garden gate and the fact that our next jump was skinny, I came reeeeeally close to doing a circle.

But dammit, right at the last minute I put my foot down and decided that, no mother fucker. We are not circling. You're gonna whoa and you're gonna jump this chevron directly in the center and proceed like a schooled animal lol.

gosh i love his face tho <3

Which, obviously, he did haha. Just on the backside of the chevron was a microscopic little up bank, but I still made sure to really bring him back into balance for it anyway considering the last time we went up a bank he kinda splatted into it and pulled a shoe lol. He was fine tho, good boy!!

probably the biggest jump on our course - these log oxers are pretty great

From there we cruised on directly to the log oxer - another jump we've seen at multiple levels. Personally I really like this jump and maybe Charlie does too bc he was perfect over it. Kinda wish the next photographer had been shooting this one instead of the next one....

followed by the smallest jump on course lol... this little tootsie roll shared with BN. 

Considering the next jump was, erm, tiny. Like, seriously, there were three photographers on course and the one who took the above shot ONLY shot this one fence. I'm sure there's all manner of factors that go into how they choose their spot - like lighting and background... But c'mon. Riders want pictures from the most impressive jumps lol, right? Or like... The water, or something. Ya know??

next was the ditch! regular N just did it alone, but the championship class added a coop at B. obvi charlie and i went for it too ;)

Anyway, Charlie was feeling good so I decided to get a little creative with the next section of course. Again, the championship course seemed to kinda cannibalize regular N's options, so they got a bending line half coffin and regular N got a standalone ditch. Bo-ring! So I jumped the coop anyway haha (you can kinda see it in the top left of the above pic).

we jumped that blue roofed house in our clinic with martin a couple weeks ago...

From there we had a nice little uphill pull where I let Charlie run a bit more before getting to a nice big red house, which he jumped more or less just fine.

second water was just a crossing, no jumps

The end of the course was kinda anti-climactic, with a long uninterrupted run to the water, where we just passed through. Then another long run back to the finish line.

final jump was another tootsie roll -- kinda unfortunate bc it's not something you really wanna just gallop at lol

Tho they didn't exactly give us something substantial to run at for the finish haha -- rather instead it was another one of these ugly tootsie roll jumps with a false ground line. Not.... Not my favorite. Oh well tho. Charlie was pretty gung ho running for the finish and took a slightly awkward flier to it, but did it all the same. Good boy!

helmet cam video here !

Yay for running through the finish line tho!! Honestly at a certain point, that was kinda what I really really needed, I think.

Like... There were things I didn't love about my ride. Like I didn't really want to let Charlie run after his squirrely moments early on course. And generally I still felt like maybe the ride wasn't as smooth as I wanted. There were also a couple funny moments where I struggled to keep my hands/reins/neck strap/crop all organized lol.

But ya know, those are just kinda the details, right? The stuff that I can only really work on and address by actually getting out and running these courses.

grass is always greener on the other side!! literally lol, bc they watered the course all summer haha

Plus, apparently it proved to be a tough day for a lot of riders. I can't even begin to tell you how many crying kids and teenagers I saw!! A giant wind storm and cold front blew in the night before and I'm guessing a lot of horses were just a touch frisky. A lot of riders had trouble in show jumping (including multiple falls at jump 1) and more than a few walked home from xc without completions.

So it's all relative, right? It's easy to get wrapped up in dissecting what I didn't like about the ride, but honestly at this point I'm focusing instead on the importance of getting it done at all. Plus enough riders had enough little bobbles that we moved up a couple places after jumping to finish jusssst inside the ribbons in 7th place. I'll take it, haha!

And now, a couple days later, I feel increasingly glad to have another run in the books for this year. We really needed it. If everything goes to plan, there are still a couple more entries on the 2019 calendar too, so fingers crossed there lol and hopefully more fun updates to come!

Training XC Course Walk @ Morven Park

***First up, a quick announcement***

MCTA needs volunteers for the upcoming USEA Horse Trials at Shawan Downs. The competition is held over the weekend of May 4-5, although volunteer positions are available throughout preparations the whole week prior. If you're local, please consider signing up! No previous experience is needed, and it's a great way to spend the day at a beautiful Maryland venue, watching world class riders like Boyd Martin gallop around!

****

Ok, moving on. As I already mentioned, one big advantage of spending the day at Moven with Amelia last weekend was getting to tag along for her coach's Training and Prelim course walks.

This is the 3rd recognized T course I've walked from nose to tail (4th overall if you include starters). My impression remains..... well, impressed. Esp coming hot on the heels of that MDHT unrecognized T course, this was a much needed reality check.

course walk meta data via Altitude Profile app

Charlie and I have a LOT of work to do before I'd feel comfortable aiming him at this entire course in one go. Schooling-wise, tho? Tbh, most of this course looks like something I'd be relatively comfortable trying out in schooling conditions. Which at least is a good sign lol.

From a meta-data perspective, it wasn't the most intense in the world. Not terribly long at just over 2km (which includes my extra steps for walking around each jump) and with some gently rolling terrain. The max change in elevation is only 12m, far shy of the ~30m we'd see at Fair Hill. We have access to ~25-30m hills at home for fitness work, so this Morven terrain looks well within hand.

full height log at fence 1, with the table at fence 4 looming in the background

From there, tho, the course immediately begins testing my gumption haha. With a full height log immediately out of the start gate. The log doesn't look like much, but it *is* tall.

I really need to get serious about testing Charlie's and my "start box style" haha bc if we can't get out of the gates reasonably well, jumps like this just aren't going to be kind to us. Like we learned at Plantation, too, if Charlie takes enough hard knocks at the beginning of a course, he's a lot more likely to want to quit on me.

nice coop with cutouts

Anyway, tho, the course starts with a little loop. I didn't like riding a loop at the beginning when we did it at our Novice at Loch Moy last year, mostly bc it keeps repeating the whole "leaving the start" feeling. But this loop actually looked fine. Jump 2 had an inviting approach and was just a reasonable coop.

A trend on this course: some of these simpler jumps are also extremely wide between the flags - makes for easy steering haha!

steeplechase rolltop - wiiiiide but inviting

After coming around the loop, this steeplechase fence is pointed directly at the start box. So, probably Charlie would grab the bit and drag me over this thing trying to go back home again haha. This fence in particular looks pretty big to me, but it has a very kind profile to the horses. I'd typically expect to see this style fence topped with brush to keep the horses "up," but this one has a log on top.

max everything table + mushroooms. gulp.

Jump 4 isn't as tall as the brush fence later on course, but in every other regard it's the biggest on course. With the start box immediately to our right, it's possible that Charlie would be a bit distracted or uncommitted. Plus. Ya know. These tables are still pretttty terrifying to me haha. Details, details.

trakehner, seems like the ridges on the log might help keep the eye UP??

Assuming we survived the table, and were able to successfully continue galloping away from the start box, this trakehner comes up after just a little bit more of a gallop. I actually thought this was one of the more inviting trakehners I've seen. But who knows. Again, this is a style jump that Charlie and I have virtually no experience with, and that really needs to change.

straight forward feeder

After the trakehner, we would cross a mucky little stream section, then continue on to the biggest uphill portion of this course, catching this simple feeder along the way. This jump poses zero concerns to me. Obvi tho anything could happen haha - at Plantation we got high-centered on a coop, for chrissakes.

double up banks seem doable but would take some riding

Continuing up the hill to the highest elevation point on course, we meet this double up bank. Charlie *has* schooled this question before, although he wasn't particularly thrilled or keen about it. Having had that experience tho, I feel like I'd know what I needed to do to ride Charlie through this. And it still looks better going up than it would in the reverse LOL.

very kind line, even if the fences are big

Looping away from the double ups, we reach this line that's very similar to the Novice variation I did with Isabel at Loch Moy, except obvi with T jumps. And they aren't even flagged A-B.

chunky but friendly roll top

Charlie has demonstrated enough confidence with the size of T jumps, including styles more technical than these, that I would expect these jumps to go well for us and feel reasonably confident that we could accomplish them today with minimal fuss.

tallest fence on course, but horses fucking love brush fences amirite?

Returning down the hill, we have a nice inviting approach to this brush fence, the tallest fence on course. Bonus is that it's heading back toward the barns. Charlie's favorite lol. My experience with brush fences is that horses generally read them very well, and can really attack them.

Isabel even jumped a fence pretty similar in size to this one above, and jumped it beautifully. You can see just the tips of the brush framing the bottom edge of Isabel's picture on my side bar to the right. So again, I feel like this is something Charlie and I are ready to take a shot at in schooling.

friendly half coffin too

Then to the half coffin - something I'd honestly feel reasonably confident with seeing on course in competition right now. This *is* a question we've schooled, and that Charlie has demonstrably handled well again and again and again. We've more commonly seen the ditch as the A vs the B element, but we *have* done it both ways.

look how much space there is between the flags for this coop!

Then a galloping sweeping turn to this large but inviting coop with a slight downhill landing, wherein again Charlie would quite possibly grab the bit and take off with me haha. Charlie's handled this type of downhill jump pretty well in schooling, so I'd expect it to be fine.

But I also kinda feel like we need more practice considering the most extreme variation of jumping to a straight down hill was the final nail in our coffin at Plantation.

not even flagged on course, and yet this weird ditch-like stream crossing kinda freaked me out the most LOL

Next we thread the needle between some Prelim and Intermediate combinations at this weird ditchy stream crossing. Training could more or less pick your line, and you can see that the stream bed is fairly wide (maybe 4-5'ish feet?) and flat at the bottom. But with the water and steep banks in and out, I honestly have no real clue what Charlie would do here haha.

with a sneaky jump immediately on that bending line up from the creek bed!

He'd probably try to jump it, but only god knows what sort of dance moves that would entail. So that kinda makes me a little nervous, esp bc the course designer did in fact knit this little fold of terrain into a fun T question. Coming away immediately from the stream bank is a quick right turn to this log jump.

it's a forgiving jump tho

It's a gentle question, tho, and one that should be reasonably easy to answer if you have any semblance of control at this point lol. Again, while this particular situation makes me a little nervous, and while I don't feel like we're ready to see it in competition, I'd LOVE to school it. And am maybe now brainstorming ways to put something sorta similar together at our own farm that's crisscrossed with little streams.

this bending line combination is not even close to anything charlie and i have schooled

Anyway. Following that, there's a nice lengthy gallop back from the far end of the course. Likely a point that Charlie would be really hauling ass haha. Then, boom, this bending line + accuracy question. Beam jump, bending to the right, to a corner on a bit of an open angle.

bonus shrubbery right smack in the middle of the corner's face, daring your horse to glance off to the open left side

Plus that fucking bush. Ugh. Yea. This..... This corner is nowhere near as inviting as those corners at Loch Moy a couple weeks ago haha. Charlie has been jumping bending lines in stadium courses for years now, but we've never seen anything quite like this on xc.

Remember last week when I talked about bitting for xc and used the example of a turning question late on course?? Yea. Well. Here it fucking is LOL. As of right now, this isn't something I want to see on course in competition. Maybe I'm not even quite brave enough to school it yet. But perhaps some softer variation of it will make it into our rides?

actually possibly friendlier than that table from 4

Ahem. Anyway, moving right along lol. This wagon actually doesn't really bother me, which is maybe surprising. I like the hay bales as a ground line. And the jump is smaller than the table we would have already jumped at this point. Plus, heading toward home, I'd expect it to be maybe fine. But ya know. Possibly we should just school some big tables in general, just to be sure ;)

not a big fence, but possibly a big question, since it looks and rides almost like a drop into water

This water bugs me out just a little bit. Like I think Charlie could totally do it just fine, but we'd probably need to warm up to it. Like, say, by cantering in and out of the water alone a few times. Then maybe doing the above and below jumps separately. Which, on this course, would be totally allowed even in competition. Time consuming, but legal.

backside of the fences gives you a better feel for the drop

I appreciate that it's such a kind fence going into the water. But Charlie (and I) have limited experience with this, and we definitely need to school it in a progressive manner so as to avoid developing any sorta baggage.

then turn immediately to this reasonable brush fence out of the water. car for scale. 

Coming out of the water looks fine tho, just another ramped brush fence. Again, it's a biggish fence but not the biggest on course. And horses love brush fences. And the barns are right there in front of us haha, so presumably Charlie would be happily drawn in toward home.

final fence is a simple beam. not something i personally love the look of, but after everything else it should jump easy haha

Then, the final fence - another beam not dissimilar to the A element of the earlier bending line. I don't love it but I don't hate it, and feel reasonably confident that Charlie would jump it today if we happened to see it on course anywhere.

Thus wraps Morven Park's T XC course walk. Overall, putting all the above together in one go feels very, very far away right now. We have some very clear gaps and unknowns. Hopefully tho, by gathering this information, I can continue working on filling those gaps and making sure our schooling mileage keeps moving us in the right direction.

Plus, now I have some fun ideas for schooling using the resources I already have on hand at home haha. And quiiiiite possibly an idea involving some manner of godforsaken shrubbery lol. What do you think, does anything in this course look like something you'd want a shot at? Either in the current form, or perhaps some other slight variation?