What is cross?
Have you ever heard of cross-country? It is the most spectacular moment that occurs during an eventing competition. Indeed, the obstacles, which are often very impressive, require a lot of courage from the horse as well as great endurance because they follow one another on a course that is timed over several kilometers. What is cross-country really?
Cross country, an event that requires many qualities
The horse that gallops from one end of a cross-country course to the other while swallowing up the difficulties one after the other on a course, deserves great admiration. Indeed, the aim of the cross-country is to demonstrate the agility as well as the speed and endurance of the horse in addition to its jumping abilities. In lower level events, the cross-country is considered to be a long-distance event in itself.
At higher level competitions, the cross-country is preceded by road races and steeples. At the start of the cross-country, the horse is already fully used. This is why some riders try to cover both road races and the steeplechase in a relatively short time.
The reason is that the rest time between these first three phases and the cross is long enough for the horse to recover for a few minutes before starting a long effort. For such an effort, the horse must be sufficiently prepared and have the accessories available that go with said effort. La Sellerie Française offers the best accessories for your horse.
An impressive route to cross
It must be said that a cross-country course generally extends over a distance of 2000 to 4200 m depending on the level of the events. That said, the obstacles must be fixed and imposing in terms of their appearance and their shapes. As for the height of the fixed part, it must not exceed 1.20 m.
On the other hand, the obstacles are usually placed on terrain accidents, both downhill and uphill, in front of or even above the hole. This makes these obstacles both impressive and much more difficult to jump.
In the course, many obstacles are made up of several parts and therefore require several jumps. For example, a coffin has a right that is located on a descent. We also see a ditch in a flea jump as well as a second right in a flea jump which is located on an ascent.
Recognition, an essential before any game
Before the event, a detailed cross-country plan is distributed to the competitors. However, reconnaissance on foot is essential before embarking on the cross-country. This is not necessarily the least sporty part of the game, because here, there are three or even four kilometers of the course that must be discovered.
In general, a single reconnaissance will not be enough to get a precise idea of each obstacle as well as its approach to correctly memorize the course.