For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we look back at a column David O’Connor wrote about cross-country riding for the Between Rounds section of the August 12, 2005 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse.

Our horse world, especially for eventing, has changed.

And one of the biggest changes is that no longer are a majority of our lower-level competitors coming out of equestrian backgrounds. Now, a lot of our competitors are business people who have “real” jobs and ride horses as a hobby, not as a full-time or even as a part-time occupation.

Many have never even lived in a rural area. Yet these are the riders who are the sport’s future, so we have to come up with more innovative ways to teach them the tools that they’re going to need to be safe galloping what’s left of the countryside.

It does no good to say that everyone who wants to ride in horse trials needs to foxhunt or ride races over fences to become proficient at our sport. Most people simply don’t have either of those avenues available to them–and they never will.

That means we have to be really honest and look into the basics of what aspiring riders need to enjoy eventing.

First off, let’s remove the horse from our discussion. Let’s say that you have the perfect horse (don’t we all wish!) for the level that you want to achieve. He (or she) is brave, and you have perfect communication because of your mutual trust. OK, now that we’re in horse Nirvana, let’s get working on you.

To begin with, you’re going to have to work on your seat, specifically on the independence of your seat. Beyond the hours of riding, this really takes a study of the horse’s motion and of your ability to not only follow that motion, but also to become part of that motion.

This really is the key to riding: Being able to become part of the horse’s motion so that you can affect it.

And that’s where most people’s riding breaks down. Because the horse has to deal with the inability of his rider to move with him, he then starts to adjust his body and his movement to protect himself from discomfort. This automatically prevents the horse from letting go of himself and prohibits those important concepts of straightness, impulsion and engagement from fulfilling themselves.

Let’s be honest–a lot of people simply are not fit enough to be able to physically deal with the motion of their horses. This is a big problem. A lot of people dance around the subject, but if you’re not taking care of yourself, then you’ll never achieve the level of communication that you desire with your horse.

Fitness isn’t just about being really strong, really fast, or able to run a marathon. It’s about being flexible and supple in your muscles, and that takes work.

Some people may not care about their fitness or have athletic goals (and riding is an athletic goal). But if riding competitively is one of your goals, then you should be fit enough to ride your horse’s movements so that he doesn’t have to compensate for you.

Through your own instructor, you should be able to break apart your horse’s motion so that you can understand it and then put the pieces back together. This is a first and important step. And it can be done with some simulations and ring work. You’re only limited by your imagination as to the exercises that can help with this.

That work should give you the solid foundation you need to deal with all of the different situations that happen in the jumping phases. You can find a ton of exercises in hundreds of books and articles that lend themselves to understanding the mechanics of jumping. After that, it’s a matter of practice–preferably perfect practice.

They say in the gymnastics world that it takes 10,000 repetitions to break a bad habit. Well, it’s far better to just not create those habits in the first place. Specialists in any jumping discipline can really help you practice perfectly.

Now for the cross-country education, the most important point. Cross-country riding is really an instinct game. It comes down to individual moments that you instinctively recognize and react to.

Most of your training, after the foundation work has been established, is about trying to train your instincts. Repetition helps, and having instructors obviously helps too. But remember that no one else can help you in the moment you need to use your instinct.

A trainer can tell you that the moment of change is going to happen, or that it did happen and you missed it. But that moment is always going to be yours and yours alone.

So break cross-country down into compartments that you can deal with. What are the positions that I’m going to need to be in a place that I can be effective at all times? Do I recognize when my horse has changed his direction, speed, balance or rhythm?

If you cannot recognize when any of these things change, then you’re not going to be able to react to the ever-changing situations on a cross-country course.

How do you acquire, develop and practice these concepts and instincts? There’s no question that if you have varying terrain to practice over, that’s an advantage. But if you don’t, then practice your galloping position in a ring. Shorten your stirrups to jockey length and practice the position that a race rider uses to gallop down the backstretch of a racecourse. Their legs are quite straight and their buttocks are way out of the saddle.

You don’t need to be going fast for this exercise, and it’s the quickest way to get strong and fit for the galloping position. It also helps a great deal with your balance, and you’ll find that it seriously helps all of your riding in that you have to ride by balance and not by grip.

If you have a big ring or a field, then you have room to practice lengthening and shortening the canter or gallop. This is a must exercise for the cross-country horse.

Imagine yourself galloping along and then preparing for a fence. This situation can be done with rails on the ground or just in your imagination, and it’s invaluable for the cross-country pair.

What you should find is that if you relax, your horse should take you forward. The real work starts as you prepare for an imaginary fence. Repeating this over and over will get your horse to respond to you faster and faster.

We actually use simulation a lot to teach people the correct position for drop fences and for going downhill. We use a hand-powered mechanical bucking horse, the same thing used to teach saddle bronc riders their technique. We use it to teach riders how to deal with drops and banks without having to ask a horse to do it hundreds of times.

My point is that there are simulations out there that can be used to help learn the technical side of riding. Just use your imagination.

Like all things athletic, riding has a technical side and an instinctive side. We’re trying to practice our techniques to a point where we don’t think of them so that our instincts can take over, just as in any other sport. We have to work hard at it, but having a horse jump cross-country effortlessly is absolutely worth it.