It’s a beautiful day here in Ocala, about 70 and sunny with a light breeze. The preliminary cross-country course has been riding fairly well and seems to be a good starter course for the season. A few horses have been caught out at 5ab, a hollow-type question with rolltop in, landing down hill, then going uphill to an angled brush out. Some riders are adding a bit of a curve to the line, reducing the angle, making it a bit simpler for the horses knocking some rust off.
Another question on course was the Bit of Britain bank complex: a pheasant feeder, six or so strides curving to a one-stride on/off bank, curving to a corner several strides away. It seemed to be fairly forgiving.
The water was another good tune-up for early in the year– an aqueduct (rolltop) landing in the water, many strides curving to a bank out, three strides to a skinny. The three strides rode very long for most horses, but riders wisely sat back and kicked on for the distance.
