Conference noted::equitation

    
    First of all, let me tell you how envious I am that you get to do this!
    Sounds like a lot of fun! (and a lot of work...)
    
    From my experience, 3500 M is not all that short.  Most training
    courses are approximately 2500 M, and some preliminary events have
    courses that are 3000 M.  If you have a 3500 M course at 300 mpm,
    wouldn't it take more than 11 minutes to complete?
    
    I would think 300 mpm would be reasonable for pre-novice.  I would
    plan on 12-15 jumps total - but I really don't think you'll need
    all 3500 M.
    
    I'll take a look at my rule book and see what else I can find out.
    
    Good Luck
    
    Amy
    

According to the 1992-1993 AHSA rules for combined training, for Novice horse 
trials and combined tests (copied without permission, and not including any
proposed changes for 1994-1995)

Article 1777, 

Description of the tests.
	a) (Dressage)
	b) The Cross Country course may include straightforward relatively 
	   simple obstacles, solid in appearance, and with true ground lines
	   to provide a positive experience and invite bold, forward movement.
	   Only two obstacles in combination may be included in the course
	   and these must be straightforward with a minimum of 2 strides (33
	   feet) between obstacles.  Bullfinches, and obstacles formed of
	   several elements may not be included. The water jump will 
    	   normally be just a straightforward water crossing.  If it is 
	   necessary to revett the sides of the water crossing, the height of 
	   the bank is limited as specified below.  Other than revetted banks,
	   no other jumping efforts into or out of water are permitted.
	c) (stadium)

Distances, Speeds and Jumping Efforts.
	a) The cross-country course shall be approximately 2,000 meters, to be
	   carried out at a speed of 350-400 meters per minute, with from 
	   12 to 20 jumping efforts.
	b) (stadium)

Dimensions of Obstacles.
	Within the following limits, organizers are at liberty to design 
	obstacles suitable to the quality and degree of preparation of
	the competitors.

	a) Height:
		solid obstacles............0.90 m (2'11")
		brush fences...............1.00 m (3'3")
		    the solid part of a brush fence may not exceed 0.80m (2'7")

	b) Spread:
		Obstacles without height........1.50 m (4'11")
		Obstacles with height:
		   At the highest point.........1.00 m (3'3")
		   at the base..................1.40 m (4'7")

	Ditches preferably should be revetted only on the takeoff side.
	In the case of obstacles with a spread only, a low guard rail 
	or hedge, provided it merely facilitates the jumping of the 
	obstacle, is not considered to add height.  Any low guard rail or 
	hedge intended to facilitate the jumping of the obstacle may not
	exceed 0.50 m (1'8") in height.

	c) Drops...................1.10 m (3'7")
		(for measurement of a drop, see article 1745)

	d) Water:
		Depth at entry or exit, whether flagged or not....0.30 m (12")
		Depth between entry and exit......................0.40 m (1'3")
		Minimum width of crossing.........................5.00 m (16'5")
		
	e) Height of bank or obstacle.............................0.50 m (1'8")



Noters note:  You may want to contact organizers of local horse trials and 
talk to them.  They could also put you in touch with a course designer or
builder (Chris Milanesi comes to mind).  See if you can walk their novice 
courses and see what they have for jumps (and how they are constucted, etc.).
Since you're in MA, Betsey Reeves at Shepley Hill (Groton), Fran Cross at 
King Oak (Southampton) and Susan Coffey(?) at Pembury House (Sutton?) are 
three for starters..

    
    I attended a couple of course design seminars conducted by the late
    Neil Ayer (of Ledyard fame). 
    
    He stated that the most common problem he saw with novice and prenovice
    courses was that the designers tried to make them like mini-Ledyards or 
    Mini-Kentucky Horse Park courses.  (I.e., copies of the same jumps only
    smaller.) 
    
    He cautioned against doing this because the role of the novice course
    is to encourage inexperienced horses and riders and to bring them along
    confidently.  Not to scare them or unnecessarily challenge them. 
    
    He liked to see the dressage and the stadium jumping be the deciding 
    factors in low level events. 

    I believe that the U.S.C.T.A. sells some books on course construction.
    The U.S.C.T.A. has just moved their office to 461 Boston Road, Suite
    D6, Topsfield MA 01983-1295; Phone 508-887-9090. During my various
    trips to Europe I bought the British Horse Society's "Notes on
    Cross-Country Course Design and Fence Construction" 40 page booklet and
    also "Course Design and Construction for Horse Trials" published by
    Threshold Books in 1987 ISBN 0-901366-13-7, a 240 page book.
    
    From some source I don't remember, I heard a figure for the average
    cost of a novice level cross country fence for a horse trials as $3000
    for materials and labour. So a properly contructed novice course
    represents an investment of about $50K! Much efforts has to be expended
    on making sure that the footing around a fence and on the course in
    general can stand up to 75 horses a day or whatever the intended usage
    is.
    
    Both books I mention describe techniques for fence building. Neither
    get into as much detail on how to plan a good course given a particular
    piece of land. Neither spell out what I learned before I built a couple
    of schooling obstacles. Not only do you have to think about the course
    in terms of progression of jumps and the "flow", at any fence you also
    need to consider what happens when a horse DOESN'T jump the obstacle or
    the rider becomes unseated and various other disasters. For example, a
    field fence line is a "natural" place for an obstacle. However, in the
    case of a line of wire fence, I have seen a horse run out at such an
    obstacle and try and crash through the wire fence a few yards to the
    left of the jump, since it did not see the wire in the excitement of
    the moment. If the rider falls off, on what are they going to fall? You
    need to pay as much attention to the area around an obstacle as you do
    the obstacle itself. For example, if there is a large exposed rock
    which is too big to dig up and move four strides beyond the proposed
    site of a fence, that's the wrong place for a fence. By Murphy's Law a
    rider will lose their balance over the fence and go head first for
    that rock.
    
    The schooling jumps, ditches and banks I built were made out of
    available material and were only intended for my use of 1 horse per day
    jumping them three times so I didn't make them "competition quality". I
    still spent more time clearing the take off and landing areas of
    all the rocks and roots than I did building the actual fence. 

re: .4
>    I still spent more time clearing the take off and landing areas of
>    all the rocks and roots than I did building the actual fence. 


I agree with Ian.  What looks like ample room for takeoff and landing when 
you're on the ground, is almost surely not enough when you're on a 4-legged
creature travelling at more than a walk.  You need *lots* of room on either 
of the fence.

re: .previous (all)

I'd like to thank all of you for your replies and excellent suggestions.

My intent is to make a "reasonable" course with the jumps being "natural"
(eg no mock-picnic-table jumps) so's to compliment the property.  The course
will run through open fields, apple orchards and forest. We will do
landscaping where-ever needed to make things look "inviting". This course will
be for exclusive use by boarders at the farm, so even peak usage will very 
small. Safety is an important issue and care will be taken in construction
and design. The idea is to have FUN, not crash and burn.

The jumps are being built with long-term durability in mind. For our plans, 
I see that the course falls into the pre-novice/novice category and this is 
just about right. The course may be a tad long but that give us the 
flexibility to shorten it. 

As for cost, I guess that depends on how extravagant the jumps get. We are
not going to be "fancy" or "elegant". We have all the materials we need
(wood, rocks, sand) and labor is free, so the cash outlay for the project 
will be almost nil.

I've walked/ridden at Shepley Hill a few times and our course will be more
modest and simpler. But, I should give Betsy a call and see if she can offer
me any advice. 

-Ed P (who just sold his horse and has to find another by spring to be able 
       to enjoy this creation.)

    
    
    Have you been to High Pastures in Boxboro?  It was sold quite a few
    years ago (5?), but they used to have a Pre-Training/Training event
    there in the Spring/Fall and I used to ride there when I was in 
    Groton Pony Club.  Whoever is running the place now might let you
    check out their X-country course.  It was very nice.  Does anyone
    out there know who owns/runs the place now?
    
    They had ditches and quite a few stone walls with logs over them.  A
    nice "in and out" verticle made out of birch (very esthetically
    pleasing) I they also had a drop into a stream, or pool of water 
    (which was always a good place to watch).
    
    Anyway, this course also sounds like the size you are talking about.
    
    /Simone
    
    
    

re: High Pastures

Last time I was over there for a dressage show (a few years ago), the cross 
country course had basically fallen into disrepair.  My guess is that by now
whatever jumps are left are decaying and fast becoming obtrusive lumps in 
the woods and fields.  Even good courses require maintenance every year.

Ed,  If you have been on any pace events over at Great Brook State Forest in 
Carlisle, there are some jumps there that are appropriate - the drop, the 
stone walls w/ riders, brush boxes, cordwood piles, etc.  Most of these are 
maintained by ONBH (Old North Bridge Hunt).

	Hi Ed,

	Sounds like an interesting undertaking! 

	I was just down at a place called Pembury House Farm in Sutton, MA
	which has beginner novice, novice, and training xc courses. The fences
	are all nice and fairly inviting. They are also your more natural type
	fences and had good approaches, landings, etc. I considered it a very
	fun, course with nothing scary for inexperienced horses or riders. 

	They have an irish bank, a water combination, a little steeplechase
	type fence, 2 sizes of ditches (3rd going in), helsinki, log over
	brush, drop, stone tables, ascending log oxers, fallen log, step
	jump built out of railroad ties, wooden barrels with fake flowers
	in front, etc.

	The people who run it are *very* nice and they said they'll be doing
	more work on the course this fall and next spring. Maybe you could
	give them a call?

	I think the woman I talked with was Susan Coffey. 

	Good luck in your new horse search; how exciting!

Hi,
In the event that anyone might be intersted in the status of the project.
I'll give a short update. Over the past couple of weeks 500M of trail has
been added to the existing trail system to complete the course. The jumps
were started to be built. In the design we have plans for 12 jumps with the
option of adding 5 more after we see how everything fits together. 

So far we have constructed 6 of the proposed 12 jumps. We have a 2' "rolltop"
(for lack of a better description), a 2'3" bank, a 2'6" stone wall and
three 2' log-jumps. All the obsticals have a 20'-30' "penalty zone" and
suitable go-arounds for non-jumping riders. 

To be built are a 2'x3' ditch, a sheep-gate, a log pen, (2) brush jumps, and
a cordwood jump. The optional jumps include another log jump, a barrel jump,
and a coop.  Everything is subject to revision without notice. Personally I 
like making stone walls. But the bank jump so far has been the most fun and
probably the prettiest. 

If you allow your imagination to follow I will describe a possible
proposed course with the maximum number of jumps we intend to use. The
actual jumps and their placement may vary considerably from the finished 
product but this is to give you an idea what's being designed. So saddle up,
shorten those stirrups and 5, 4, 3, 2,...

At the start-gate you are at the edge of an open field, facing into the
woods, you see a path leading directly ahead and one going off to the right.
..1, (bell!). As you leave the gate at a canter, you take the path to the
right and proceed along a wide grassy path going slightly downhill. Here you
come to a low 18" rail jump (1) (this is your "gimme" fence) once over that
you continue straight until the path opens into another large field. As soon
as you enter the field a quick look to the right will reveal your next jump.
You turn to the right and stay close to the edge of the field. A hundred
yards ahead you see the "roll-top" (2) An imposing jump but only 2' high, it
looks much larger. Solid 4x4 standards and wings, with very small pine trees
and juniper surounding the jump. Once over you start a wide turn to the left
cutting across the field and going over a small hillock looking for you next
jump. On the other side, the hillock decends quickly and you can now see the
2'3" bank (3) about 400' away which you'll go over on the ascent up the other
side of the small vale you are now entering. Your horse will build up
considerable speed comming off the hill and rounding the bottom in a slow
smooth curve to approach the bank. 

Up and over the bank you will race uphill at a full gallop (but remember you
still have 2800M to go!) where you'll see the entrance into the woods to your
right. A wide turn faces you to the path which greets you with a 2' high 20'
wide log-jump (4). Once over that you proceed straight along a wide path in
the forest. You will travel about 500' where you are presented a 2'6" stone
wall (5). As you approach you notice that the opposite side descends, you
realize the fun is about to begin... Over the stone wall the descent is
smooth and gradual for 100' where the trail then turns sharply to the right
and sharply decends at a 45 degree angle for about 50-100 feet. At the bottom
the trail levels and turns sharply again to the left. You are glad the trail
here was 20' wide as the pace you set would have made it difficult turn those
corners. 

You proceed straight through the dense woods along an 12' wide path for about
1000' where you will come to a 2'x3' dry ditch (6), with the opposite side
banked with logs. A simple jump, which once over you emerge from the woods
into a small clearning which you follow the well worn path to the left to the
opening in the trees 100' or so away. A quick gallop uphill bring you to a
fork which you take the right. the path is wide and well worn, a very
inviting gallop can be had. But! the trail turns to the right again,
ascending up a slope and winding through the forest you are forced to slow
your pace between a trot or slow canter for about 500', finally you see a
straighaway and 300' feet away you see a series of log jumps. You easily go
over the first 2' log (7) and then notice the second is a combination of a 2'
log (8a) and 2 strides to a 2' log (8b). The path continues straight and you
can see the bright light of an open field at the end of the trail some 700'
away. You come across a 2' "stick-pile" jump (9) just before you burst into
the bright light of the field. 

You make a wide turn to the left seeing your next jump some 1500' away, you
can gallop nicely here. It is a 3' log pen (10) you approach and go over the
first log into a 2 stride and out the second. Looking ahead you see you will
quickly enter an apple orchard where you will have to negotiate and enter
another field. You zip into the orchard, carefully watching for markers to
lead you to your next jump. The 2'6" coop (11) is a simple white coop with a
rail on the ground, nestled between two apple trees. An easy jump you think.
But your horse may have other ideas. You keep a good pace and canter into an
open field. You go across the field half-way and a quick left turn aligns you
with a 2'6" Sheep-gate jump (12). You are cautious as the field consists of
rolling hills and you don't want to stumble. Once over the gate you now speed
to the far corner of the field where a dark opening in the woods awaits you. 

You enter the dark woods and proceed along a wide path making your way
through a heavy pine forest. A small 2' log jump (13) greets you several
hundred yards along the way. An easy jump. The trail now does a wide S curve
which makes you feel like you are doubling back but emerges on another wide
path that runs straight for hundreds of yards. Here you come across a 3'
brush jump (14). Once over you contine another 100 yards where you turn to
the right. 40' away is a low 2' wood-pile jump (15). Clearing that you turn
to the right again and proceed along another wide path where you will come up
to another 3' brush jump (16). After that you canter along up a small rise as
the trail switches right and left. Rounding the corner you see ahead of you
in the distance the glimmer of sunlight of the exit from the forest and 
meet the last fence, a small 2' rail after which you see 100' feet beyond 
is the end-gate. You gallop emerging from the woods, and race to end-gate 
which is next to where you started. 

You've just completed a course of approximatly 3500 M (2.15 miles) and 17
jumps. I hope you enjoyed it. The described course is still in the working
stages but in the end it will probably look something like that. All the
trail work is done, we are now just trying to figure where are the best
places for the jumps. Most the jumps are utilitarian, and literally strong as
iron. There will be a couple of "portable" jumps that we can move or
eliminate as needed. 

The jumps that are completed are already being heavily used. I am pleased
that they are so popular. Most of the jumps will be designed so we can easily
and simply increase the height to make it a little more difficult. I kinda
doubt we will ever do that, but the option is there. For the more agressive
rider and horse, it is easily possible to do the course twice for a total of
34 jumps and 7000M (4.3 miles) which puts us at FEI CCI distances. Not that
anyone would EVER do that, but if we wanted to know what it felt like... only
the jumps of course, are really wimpy in comparison. I was able to ride the
course 4 times in succession (14,000M/8.6 Miles) to get a feel for course and
to see if the general layout made sense. (only 3 jumps completed at that
time) The entire 4 trips (2 each direction) took me about a half hour to
complete. That was a nice workout! Now I have to find me a BIG jumpin'-horse.
I will be working on this course throughout the winter, and into the spring
when I schedule to have it completed. Unfortunatly, I will not report
any further progress here, as I have just been told my services at DEC
are no longer needed. I guess after 24 years, I've outgrown this place.
Maybe I should build XC courses for a living...

Ed P. (Have chainsaw... will travel.)