As far as I know, you never know what obstacles they're gonna throw at you. The fact that you can't "cheat" and practice is part of it. You horse is supposed to have good basic skills and control so he'll do whatever is asked. They don't ask you to do anything where you could get hurt though.
Gotta go now and get ready for the picnic....seeya!
Looks like Frog already answered.
Safety is an important thing at those rides. But one time the inventors of the obstacles screwed up at one of the rides I was at.
The obstacle was to go up this very steep incline that was long for the steepness of it, and right at the top they had laid to fairly thick logs fairly close together for the horse to step over.
You can always pass on an obstacle if you feel your horse can't do it. You will loose 1 more point then the person who did it the worst. I was in line to do this obstacle, and the steepness of the hill was making me nervous, even tho Belle had climbed hills alot and was in very good shape. My fear is always that the horse will give out before they reach the top and come back down.
Any way I was 1 away from having to do it or pass. This girl from TX on a little Arab was going up. The horse made it to the first log and as he started to try the step over he lost his momentum and started coming back down backwards, sliding and staggering. he finally got about 1/2 turned around, but the girl lost her seat and came off. he kept his footing and didn't ever step on her, but they came all the way donw.
No one else had to do it. The judges felt really bad, altho quit a few people had done it. I think the more people that did it, the more slippery the trail up became.
The girl suffered some pretty good bruises. She was a good sport about it, and went ahead and finished the ride. She said her main problem is where she lives in TX there are NO hills to work a horse on. Her horse had never had to climb anything like that and then especially step over a log at the very top.
Becky