Feb 18, 2020

Top 10 Tips for Introducing Your Horse to Cross-Country with Tim Bourke

By Jessica Duffy - USEA Staff
Tim Bourke competing Quality Obsession at the 2018 USEA Young Event Horse 5-Year-Old Championship. USEA/Jessica Duffy Photo.

A horse’s first steps out in the cross-country field determine the foundation upon which his entire cross-country education will be laid. How can you give your horse the best chance of success? What are some of the ways you can help teach your horse about cross-country jumping?

“Once you’re safe, you’re able to turn in each direction and you’re able to stop and go, horses should be out schooling cross-country,” said Tim Bourke, Irish five-star eventer and trainer and recipient of the 2019 Captain Mendivil-Yucupicio Award. “Cross-country at that point may be stepping up and down a tiny bank or walking through water or popping over little logs, but I think it’s super important for horses to understand where their feet are.”

Bourke shares his tips for getting your youngster introduced to cross-country jumping.

Tim Bourke’s Top 10 Tips for Introducing Your Horse to Cross-Country

  1. I am obsessed with the quality of the canter. I think that when riding cross-country we have to be able to ride in a controlled manner going forward so we have options when we get the fence, whether it be adding your leg to maintain what you’re doing or adding your leg to collect to be able to add a step. Always go with your gut instinct.
  2. When I’m trying to teach young horses to go cross-country, I think it’s super important to go with appropriate help – a horse that knows what he’s doing. Go out in a group so if you do run into bother you can always get a lead . . . Your horse is bound to scare or overface himself at some point, that’s why you bring a horse along that knows what they’re doing.
  3. Take small bites of the apple – don’t try and take the whole thing in one go. If you’re going schooling it may be the case that you achieve something very simple on the first day and the horse need to go home and have time to digest what he’s just seen and learn from it. You can overface them by asking question after question after question.
  4. When you are cross-country schooling there are two types of obstacles: There are your jumps – your rolltops, tables, corners, skinnies, – anything the horse has to jump. Then there are your footwork obstacles, anything where the horse’s have to be able to use their feet to achieve the obstacle – banks, ditches, changes of terrain, and water. When I go cross-country schooling, I always try to start with some form of a footwork exercise to get them started.
  5. My favorite footwork exercise to start over is a bank. I think that going up the bank is so much easier than going down the bank. Going down the bank is similar to jumping a ditch – there’s a moment of commitment where the horse goes to step back and can scare themselves. The upbank, you can get away with way more mistakes.
  6. In the last moment when the horse decides to do the exercise, it’s up to you as the rider to reassure them and make sure that you’re quite positive on the last step to make sure that they follow through with actually stepping off the bank or actually jumping the ditch.
  7. If, for instance, I’m going to step up a bank and the horse is not wanting to go, my job is to be a bit of a nuisance on his back to move their feet so the pressure stays on. If we can become a nuisance to them and another horse walks past up the bank, it’ll give my horse confidence to follow the other one. If they do the correct thing and step up the bank, the pressure comes off and you reward them and straight away go around and repeat the exercise.
  8. If you train your horse to go away from your aids when you ask them to, you tend to have a horse that believes and trusts in you in the long term.
  9. I think the pace is very important when you’re trying to teach a horse these exercises. I always start with the bank at the walk. That way they learn where their feet are and they are able to use their head and neck to balance and be able to step up and down. When it comes to jumping the ditch, I do the same thing – approach at the walk. You want them to think about landing in the canter, so I will be aggressive about adding that aid to make them come through and land in the canter.
  10. I think riding horses should stay the same approach from start to finish – as they progress in their training, horses should be ready for new obstacles and should understand them. When approaching skinnies, narrows, or corners, think about riding the line and not the distance. If you ride the line you can react to the distance. If you stay on your line in a forward balanced canter, you can react accordingly and still have enough canter to collect from that and make the distance work.
May 27, 2023 Eventing News

Auburn Leads, USC Aiken in the Hunt After Cross-Country at the 2023 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship

Chants of “War Eagle” were heard from end to end of the White Oak cross-country course as the overnight leaders and defending champions from Auburn University tore between the red and white flags Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard of the 2023 Intercollegiate Eventing Championship at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC).

May 27, 2023 News

Horse Owners Urged to Participate in Economic Impact Study for the Equine Industry

The last three years have been a time of great change throughout the country for homes, businesses and industries. Rising costs of living, shrinking of assistance and changes in demographics have affected so much of our world, and that includes the equine industry. However, not all of the changes are easy to identify. This is why the American Horse Council (AHC), together with the U.S. Equestrian Federation, has kicked off what could be one of the biggest studies in more than 50 years with the 2023 National Economic Impact Study (EIS) for the equine industry.

May 26, 2023 Intercollegiate

Tigers on Top: Auburn University Leads 2023 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship After Dressage

Twenty-three teams from 13 colleges and universities have traveled far and wide for the seventh annual USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) in Mill Spring, North Carolina.

May 26, 2023 About Us

Meet the USEA Staff: Programs, Partnerships, & Marketing

If you have been involved at a higher level with the USEA, you probably recognize the names of the two ladies that spearhead all of the efforts of the USEA’s Programs, Partnerships, and Marketing department: Kate Lokey, Director of Programs and Marketing, and Kaleigh Collett, Marketing Coordinator, but a new member of this team has also joined the USEA staff in Heather Johnson, Programs and Inventory Assistant. If you have considered advertising with the USEA or are involved in the USEA’s Young Event Horse, Emerging Athletes U21, New Event Horse, Adult Riders, Young Riders, Classic Series, or Grooms programs, you probably have or most likely will interact with one of these staff members.

Official Corporate Sponsors of the USEA

Official Joint Therapy Treatment of the USEA

Official Feed of the USEA

Official Saddle of the USEA

Official Real Estate Partner of the USEA

Official Equine Insurance of the USEA

Official Forage of the USEA

Official Supplement Feeding System of the USEA

Official Outerwear of the USEA

Official Competition & Training Apparel of the USEA