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We get asked all the time ‘how do I get started’? Here’s a guide from Cunning Stunts ‘Team Boss’ Emma Burton
Well, why not? You’ve seen the photos, watched all the head cams, and everyone seems to have an absolute ball. So you decide to give it a go yourself…… but how?
Firstly it’s important to understand its almost impossible to recreate a team chase without being at a team chase. It’s a unique sport, and no matter how much schooling you do you still can’t predict how your steed will feel when surrounded by 30 nervous riders in the warm up with a tannoy blaring, the odd loose horse galloping by and riders trying desperately to find their teammates! So you don’t need to have three friends on your yard to give it a go.
Many of the top teams are filled with people who only meet on the day, they school their own horse as they see best to suit them, and if things need adjusting after the first run they can adapt.
If you want to team chase, you can. The events are varied, there isn’t a standard height for each class, and the distance and terrain go from one extreme to another. But you are lucky. Team chasing is incredibly addictive so many of us have been around for decades, and we are more than willing to recruit you. So we can offer advice and guidance all the way. There are novice courses starting at 2 foot, there are novice tracks where you will approach a 4 foot hedge at fence 4. If you and your horse or pony can jump a local hunter trial safely, you can team chase. Where you go after that will depend on you!
The one common denominator amongst team chase riders is the joy of being on the road. They must really love it because if you take team chasing seriously you will be travelling for hours each Sunday.
But it is also possible to just do your local event each year, every single one of you are welcome.
All affiliated events are listed on www.teamchasing.co.uk , these events run under the British Team Chasing umbrella and you can run knowing the course will have been inspected and approved. There are also a few unaffiliated classes, these will not be listed on BTC because we cannot assure you the course is of our standard.
Luckily there are few instances these days of unfixed fences and the ensuing rotational fall but having a governing body is certainly reassuring.
So you can go clear round a hunter trial, you have looked on the website and found an event within easy reach, now what? You need to know more about the course, and you need to find other riders.
Most events now embrace social media, and have their own Facebook page where teams advertise spaces and riders can ask for a run. There are also several independant pages doing the same thing. Or pop an email to the secretary and they will help if they can. You may find a single team short of one rider, or a group who runs several teams who will help you find a suitable one.
If the course you have your eye on has fences you are happy to run over, and you have found a team, bingo! Pay your run money to the organiser and start getting excited.
It doesn’t matter how many seasons the riders have done, we are all incredibly excited before the first event. I said before, its addictive.
It doesn’t matter what you have achieved before, we are all equal on the start line. And often terrified. And filled with a mixture of fear, adrenaline & most probably a smidgen of alcohol. A hip flask is one of the remnants from team chasing’s hunting origins. You don’t need to partake, but a quick toddy – providing you are of ‘drinking age’ - can bolster up the flagging confidence. Two toddies is pushing the boat out and three is just scary. After all, you need to remember the course and stay with your team!
There are minimal rules involved with team chasing. That is one of the attractions. You need a saddle, and you need a bridle. You need an up to current standard body protector and skull cap. You need public liability insurance and your mount needs to be up to date with the vaccinations as dictated by the BTC. All of these get checked, sometime with spot checks and sometimes on declaration so ensure you are ready. Other than that you can use any bit, or bitless bridle, any saddle either astride or with a leg over, and nobody minds if you wear those bright pink breeches! In fact for some teams its part of the uniform……
A team is timed during its round. The time starts when the first horse breaks the start line and stops when the third team member crosses the finish. Some classes are speed ones, fastest team wins. Some are based on a bogey time you have to try and hit on the nail. Burty’s Top Tip, enjoy your round and don’t try to predict it too much, slowing down to try and hit the time then finding you are too slow is really frustrating. Just try to flow, work as a team, and keep everything crossed.
To do a speed class you need to be 16 years old, which has been frustrating for many ‘future jockey’ 15 year olds but time spent doing bogey classes will still be worthwhile. To run in an open you also need to be sat on a horse exceeding 15 hands, when you walk an open course you’ll probably want one nearer 18 hands though.
As a very general guideline it takes around an hour to walk the course and another hour to declare, tack up, find your teammates and be ready to run so arriving two hours before your allocated start time is a good starting point. Ideally walk with your team, sometimes you can plan how to tackle a tricky fence or perhaps the pen. These pens appear in some team chases and can vary between two fences 30 metres apart or a small tight box you jump in and out. But the rules are the same, you must have 12 hooves inside the pen before you jump out or you will incur a penalty. The best way to approach it is for the first two riders to steady up until the 3rd is close and pop into the pen, then that third rider indicates to the others when they are inside. Sometimes they scream GO, sometimes they fly past the other two and lead out, or as in a championships team a few years ago they shout ‘I’m in, I’m in, I’m’ in at the top of their voice. They all work. The fourth rider can pop over at the back without worrying about being close up, no extra points for 16 hooves!
Once you set off try to work together. Lots of shouting, lots of encouragement. There will be people on the ground shouting too! The order you run in can, and probably will, change. If the leader has a refusal but the second horse jumps, you just carry on. There’s a good chance the mischievous pony will suddenly decide he’s missing his new-found friends and whips round to follow, this game is renowned for giving a horse a real love of jumping and galloping.
A rider is allowed three stops at a fence, or five stops over the whole course. After that you are generally requested to hack home, timings are always tight with organisers trying to get everyone a run so it’s impossible to have single riders trying to complete.
One other difference between this sport and others is sympathy. You won’t get much if you return home with green skid marks on your pristine jodhpurs. Your new friends will pat you on the back, direct you to the photographer who captured your spectacular dismount frame by frame, they will probably buy you a beer. And they will laugh about it. Because we have all been there, and once the round is over they just want to set you up ready for next week!
Jumping a horse is always thrilling. But pulling up after the line and being hugged and slapped by your team mates who are all grinning and squealing, there’s nothing else like it. Team chasing is unique…. join in, stay safe and kick on!
VIDEO LINKS.....
https://youtu.be/jfdEsLUMw3A
https://youtu.be/yXME3mCBhaA
https://youtu.be/r67Yc3FPLVE
https://youtu.be/gfKrYIKomII
https://youtu.be/HZmw0-AtKG4
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