Thanks everyone. I think what I'm going to do is call the organiser and have a chat with her. She would know if the course would be too difficult for us but what I am most likely to do is jump the lower class and then once I know what the course is like next time I'll go back and jump the higher fences.
Some horses don't have any respect for low jumps, and it sounds like Captain is one of them. I would go with your initial plan (higher jumps) and don't let those other folks scare you off. If he's doing well for you, it doesn't matter what he did for the other person - not all horses get along with all riders. (My first horse actually resented other people trying to ride him and would scare the daylights out of them. A friend just rode him at a walk for five minutes - with me riding her horse alongside - before getting off and said she felt she was sitting on a volcano getting ready to blow.)
You can dress up plain jumps with brightly colored tablecloths (the cheap plastic kind) draped over the poles, balloons, kids' playballs, flowerpots, etc. Or maybe hang plastic water buckets from the poles.
I always wanted to get those stupid little wind-up monkeys that crashed cymbals together and line them up on a jump, just to see if Rocket would freak out, but I never did... sigh. That could have been fun.
That's it exactly. He's a lazy horse who tries to avoid work and won't jump properly unless the fences demand his respect.
My boss was telling me the other day how ,when she was eventing, there was a picnic table jump with a table cloth. she went to jump it and in the last second a gust of wind blew up and apparently there's a picture of her horse clearing the table cloth by a good foot!!
I'd LOVE to do something like that with Captain. I'm almost certain he would jump it and I don't think he'd be trailing his feet through those.
I am going to sing to a different tune and say go for the lower course. If you do not have much cross country experience and your horse has a history of knocking down fences i personally would not risk it. Cross country courses are not the most forgiving and i wouldn't want to rattle my confidence or a horse's. I'd always do something somewhat smaller than what I school at home.
But that's just me. You can always just go with it, walk the course, get going over it and if all else fails you can always stop and tap out if the course is not going well. There is no shame in calling it quits if truly needed. If not rock the socks off it. Cross country was always my favorite event.
See I was told that he doesn't care about show jumps but that he is a beast doing cross country. Although I am definitely lacking in experience given that the last time I competed cross country was on a 13:2hh pony 6 years ago.
I'll admit, I'm with Paige. Train a level above what you are competing, especially with a newer horse.
My other concern is that the horse probably isn't as fit as ideal, if he's only been back in work for a month. Taking it a little easy is probably not bad for him either.
I'd say go for the lower level, and if it all goes well, you and the horse had a great experience and you move up next time. I'd rather see that than put the horse in a situation where he may not be successful.
I think that's what I'll probably end up doing. I'm so used to us not training at home and only actually jumping at shows that I tend to forget he needs to get accustomed to it. We have 2 jumping lessons soon as well.
I have ridden for years and only ever accidentally jumped(no no walk over it!) so no advice! Just want to say good luck!
Thank you!
Go lower. You can always go higher in your next one if you have no issues. Also has it been a while since he hunted?
When he hunted was he a first field horse? Hunting is very different from going cross (having done both myself) cross asks different questions of the horse. Its not just the height to worry about, but the difficulty of the questions is much higher.. the jumps at that level are not only bigger and wider but they are often designed to 'fool' the horse. The lower jumps will be easier all round.
For your, and your horse's safety I would go lower and see how it goes.
AKAIK he wasn't hunted last sea on but he was the season before. Since it was him with his owner riding him I would say that he was lol. Thank you for putting it in perspective for me. My boss said there shouldn't be any real challenges for us but I think she forgets that I've only been riding him since January and only seriously riding him for 2. Plus before him I hadn't ridden in 5 years.
My thought would be to pick what is most likely to make the horse feel good and successful. Yourself as well.
My other concern was already voiced, and that is the condition of the horse. It might be better to go smaller while you're getting him back in shape, before asking for larger jumps.
We already are doing quite large jumps (the only jumps I have access to are 2 quite large gorse bushes in a nearby field) but I agree that that is a lot different from taking him onto a cross country course.