United States Eventing Association

Cross-country is the heart and soul of eventing; it's what separates us from the other disciplines. Our sport is unique in that we do three very different phases, and though we ride at different speeds and in different positions, it's important that we are consistent in the way we communicate with our horses. The basics of flatwork must carry over to the jumping phases.

Ninety percent of training a horse is getting the horse to understand exactly what you want them to do. In general, horses are generous and willing creatures who want to please us; very seldom do they behave badly on purpose. Horses don’t come out and say, ‘Let’s make Mom’s (or Dad’s) life miserable today by going as poorly as possible - most prefer to do the right thing, as long as they know what that is.