Top event riders Chris Bartle and Tom Crisp provide techniques for negotiating drop fences where horses cannot see the landing. They emphasize giving horses time rather than speed to build trust and use natural abilities. The advice appears in a Horse & Hound article published on February 19, 2026.
In eventing, cross-country drop fences, such as Burghley’s precipitous Leaf Pit or Pau’s rollercoaster mounds, require riders to prioritize time over speed for safe negotiation. Horses naturally handle steps and mounds if allowed to use their biomechanics effectively, according to British eventing performance coach and Badminton winner Chris Bartle.
Bartle stresses the importance of horse anatomy in training. “The horse’s eyes are on the end of his neck and if we restrict the neck through our riding then the horse won’t be able to look forward and use his eyes to read the question,” he explains. “Horses can lose confidence when they are denied the freedom to use their necks.”
Five-star rider Tom Crisp joins Bartle in sharing top tips and one useful exercise for subscribers. A key skill is riding with longer reins to permit neck extension while keeping a connection, akin to descending steps. This foundation starts with flatwork to develop trust between horse and rider.
The techniques aim to help horses read questions and land securely without immediate visibility of the ground below. No specific contradictions appear in the sources, which focus on general principles applicable across events.
