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We Are Flying Solo

April 26, 2012

Your CHP Novice Coursewalk

Team Flying Solo basecamp

Mea culpa for no helmet cam, but I CAN give you a coursewalk, plus a few bonus bits of fun.  So take a deep breath, put yourself in the Carolina sandhills, and gallop out of the start box for your horse's first Novice course.

A simple log pile to get things going.  Then a huge U-turn to...

The ubiquitous CHP cabins.  Run down the hill to...
The BIG brush.  It has wide steps on both sides.  Say hi to our buddy Sue!
Gallop up the hill to the coop.  No visual distractions here.  Focus on your jump.
Run through the tree tunnel to 5 & 6.  Since they are numbered separately, you ARE allowed to circle between them.  But I want to challenge my horse, so we ride straight through.
The course had a nice flow up until 6.  Then it went all wonky.  You galloped down a steep hill and wound through several tree paths and made an odd turn to the table at 7.
Now you immediately rebalance down the hill so your horse is ready for the baby sunken road and rolltop at 8.  Sue is getting tired of being in my pictures.  Too bad!
Down another steep hill to the trakehner.  Encore had never jumped one before so eyes UP, light tap with the go stick and LEAP over and charge up the hill to wind another crazy line to 10.
Sue insists on being the human element for scale.  Now that you have found 10, it's a simple cabin, than a hard left turn.
The water at 11 is a simple run through, keep your eyes on your next jump and don't ogle.  As an aside, this is only HALF of the big water complex at CHP, is it not amazing??
Sue threatens to tackle as you pick your way through the trees at an angle to 12.  Encore knocked a hind leg here, it was an awkward turn and he got an off stride, but he made it work.
Now you get your stirrup back, dodge a few more trees and go down another steepish hill to 13, and immediately balance so...
You can run through the second water at 14.  Don't miss your line because you have charge up the hill to...
15 A & B.  This is a combination so NO circling.  Up the bank, one stride, jump, then a horrible right turn IMMEDIATELY to...
Our not-so-friendly 16.  But it was a terrible line.  You can see the finish flags right behind it.  Sigh.
Then, ostensibly, you have done it!  As I noted earlier, after jump 6, the course notably lost its flow.  For a Novice horse, he should be able to gallop nicely through it in a rhythm and the jumps should come up naturally, as they did with our previous, much beloved course designer, Jeff Kibbie.  But he has moved on, sadly, so it will be interesting to see how things develop.  I will send in my event evaluation to provide some feedback, organizers do value those, so send yours in too!

And just for fun, Indian Smurf made some new friends:

Our VERY favourite starter, Bill -- you can often find him at CHP and several of our area schooling trials.  He always makes you laugh and relax before you set off and was recently featured in EventingUSA magazine for his awesomeness!
Our TD and friend, Cindy (who is also our national Adult Rider coordinator) and her apprentice TD, Tim, enjoying the shade of the golf cart and having a smurfy good time!


  1. Urh. I didn't realize how ridiculously close you were to the finish. Bummer. Better luck (and riding!) next time!

  2. I approve of your course walk.

  3. Hannah, in Area II, well, at least at my sample size of n = 2 recognized venues, either a trakehner or a big ditch is standard at Novice. I don't think I've ever ridden a course that had both questions on it though.

    CFS, the weird wiggly track was the only challenge, the jumps themselves were appropriate, the design was just, agggh!

    SB, yes, sooooooo close.

    Dom, I accept and enjoy your approval. ;-)

  4. I can't believe you didn't make it over the last fence- if he was going to refuse I thought it would be the 500,000 other ridiculously tough questions that came up before that last fence ha. Those all looked pretty tough for novice!!

  5. Lyndz -- RIGHT? I am sure the jump judge was entertained by me telling Encore as we circled, "You already did all the hard stuff, you idiot!"