"Hi

I'm Cleo Price and I'm 13-years-old and I want to ask a question about cross-country and eventing.

I've recently taken part in my riding club's two-day event and I found it really fun and exciting, but when it got to the cross-country phase it fell to pieces. I was riding a fairly excitable pony and I really wasn't that confident, which wasn't helped by the nasty fall I'd had the day before and on the same pony. Consequently, the pony got very tense and we only got to the second fence until we were eliminated after three refusals.

I have a really encouraging riding teacher but I'm not sure what to do. I guess I've learned from this experience, but do you have any tips for getting more confident on cross-country? I used to be quite a nervous rider but have mostly conquered my nerves - it's just at the cross-country that I need to grit my teeth and carry on with, but its really hard. Hope you can help."
Cleo Price

Olympic bronze medallist Sharon Hunt replies: "I think it would be a really good idea for you to go XC schooling with a trainer, maybe in a group and certainly with someone who can give you a lead to help build your confidence and so your pony grows in confidence too.

The most important thing is that it's fun, so following a friend is perfect as it will be an enjoyable day for both of you. It's probably wise to only attempt the jumps that you're comfortable with at first - you can always move on to the bigger ones next time. I think it's important that we push ourselves, but not too much - a bit at a time is best.

Once you have successfully completed the jumps with a friend and if you feel confident, you could do the jumps again on your own to gain even more confidence. One final tip: doing a pairs class at a XC competition is a great idea as it's brilliant to have a friend to enjoy it with.

If you get eliminated again then I'm sure the show organisers would let you go around the course again at the end of the day for training purposes, or you might be able to hire the course so you don't feel that it's been a bad experience.

Best of luck Cleo!"