How to improve your memory for walking courses

Walking a course at an eventing venue is more than checking that the fences are where the course map says they are. It is a chance to build a clear, physical picture of the route before your horse commits to it. That picture holds dressage letters, showjumping turns, cross-country lines, combinations, distances and small terrain changes that can turn a straightforward plan into a harder question.

Memory becomes useful when it is attached to a purpose. If you can see the first corner, the related combination and the ground beyond it, you are less likely to arrive at the next obstacle still working out what happened two fences ago. You are learning a sequence and the reasons behind each line, rather than a list of objects.

Eventing makes this a partnership problem. Your horse sees flags, shadows and footing, while you carry the plan and instructions from the course designer. A rider with a brilliant memory can still lose time if the horse is unbalanced or if the route was never translated into a rideable line. That blend of training, travel and honest reflection is what I share through Mania in the Middle.

Here is a practical way to approach a walking course, from arrival to the start box. It suits a nervous novice at a small club event and an experienced rider preparing for national competition, provided the notes stay simple, the horse remains comfortable and official course information leads.

Start with the shape of the route

Give the course walk enough time before you need to focus on your own warm-up. Read the official course plan, note the start and finish, and identify the order of the phases if you are competing on a combined test. Look for the route’s overall rhythm: where it asks you to slow down, where it opens into a gallop, where a tight turn leads immediately to a related fence, and where the ground could catch a tired horse.

Walk at the speed you expect to ride, not at a hurried inspection pace. A generous-looking fence can demand balance at speed, while a harmless downhill can become a question about impulsion. On cross-country, note distances, landing shapes, flag visibility and permitted options. In the dressage arena, anchor each movement to a letter. In showjumping, mark turns and related elements without turning estimated stride counts into rigid promises. Your walk should identify choices and priorities.

Give the route useful landmarks

Landmarks should be distinctive, stable and easy to name. A weathered fence, a large gum tree, a water tank, a shed with a white door or a line of cypress trees can become an anchor. Use one feature for the fence before it and another for the fence itself, such as “water tank, then red-and-white vertical”. That prevents you relying on a single blurred image when the arena is full of flags and banners.

At an Australian venue, the landmarks may be less formal than you expect. A rural course can run beside a gravel road, a stockyard, a cluster of hay bales or the area where the floats are unloaded. Bright sponsor signs can help, but sunlight, dust or a change in wind can make them disappear. Pair a permanent feature with a temporary one, and write down what you actually saw rather than what you think you should have seen.

A short verbal narrative can reinforce the visual memory. Say, “After the jump by the tank, lengthen two strides and ride left to the brush”, then tell the story to yourself in the same order. The language matters less than consistency. If you call the tank “the water tank” on one pass and “the blue shed” on another, recall becomes harder. Keep a personal glossary in your notebook and use it whenever you return to the course.

Break the course into small chunks

Long lists are exhausting, especially when nerves make every unexplained detail feel important. Divide the route into groups of three to five elements. “Entry, downhill, brush” might be the first chunk; “bank, step, water” the next. Give each group one landmark, one action and one transition. This keeps working memory focused and gives your attention a natural place to reset.

Create a visual shorthand that is quick to draw and easy to read later. An arrow can show a turn, two short strokes can mark a related element, and a circle can highlight a drop or a question. Avoid inventing a private code that will be impossible to decode in the warm-up ring. Add three details to each symbol: direction, distance and rhythm. On a related fence, record the canter count. On a cross-country fence, note whether the line asks for a longer stride or a steady, balanced tempo.

Make the chunks work for the horse as well as the rider. A combination that demands a controlled canter needs a different cue from an open gallop fence that needs forward rhythm. If your notes contain only geometry, you may remember where the fence sits but not how to approach it. Say what the horse needs to do, then choose a short word such as “wait”, “steady” or “go on”. The horse cannot read your notebook, but it can respond to a rider who knows the next cue before the flags appear.

Practise recall, not just review

The commonest trap is rereading notes until recognition feels familiar. Recognition is passive; recall is retrieval. Close the notebook and describe the next three fences from memory. Try it from the start, from the middle and from the finish. If you cannot retrieve the next element, look at the map, then close it again and rebuild the sequence. This small effort builds a stronger route than simply seeing it a dozen times.

Use spaced practice across the days before the event. On one evening, sketch the major landmarks. The next morning, say the route aloud while making breakfast. At the venue, walk it slowly, then check your notes. After the warm-up, retrieve the final combination and the approach to the finish. Mental rehearsal can help too: picture the horse’s ears, your eyes finding the next flag, the rhythm of the canter and the moment you breathe before the start. Keep the rehearsal calm. Your memory also responds to physical care, so protect sleep, eat sensibly, keep water close and take a few quiet minutes away from the warm-up bustle. A short brain dump—three landmarks, two transitions and one rule—can empty the mental whiteboard when extra pages of notes would only add clutter.

Remember the horse and Australian conditions

Your horse is part of the memory system. If the route contains repeated turns, narrow approaches or changes of balance, plan how you will keep the canter rhythm and your position. Rehearse the aids, not just the picture: sit trot, half-halt, supporting rein, leg and eyes up. A horse that receives the same signal in training and competition has fewer surprises to process. Clear preparation makes the remembered line easier to ride.

Australian conditions can alter the route before the start. Brisbane and Perth can bring intense summer heat, Sydney and Melbourne can deliver a wet or windy change, and country venues may have dust that obscures a flag. Check the weather, eventing updates and footing reports, then walk the course again if conditions have shifted. Australian paperwork gives related-element distances in metres and dressage scores in SI units, so check the units rather than importing numbers from a different rulebook. Consider horseshoe and stud choices with your farrier and veterinarian, and never ask a tired horse to keep repeating an unfamiliar line simply to prove a route is memorable.

At many Australian club events, the course walk threads past the volunteer barbecue, raffle tickets, trade stands and the local produce market. Early starts, floats arriving at dawn and a canteen serving lunch are familiar parts of the day, yet each can pull attention away from the fences. Bring a family member or training partner to hold your notes and keep time. These wider stories of horses, travel and community are worth exploring in Legends of the Road.

Turn your notes into a pre-start routine

Choose a system before you reach the venue: a sketch, three landmarks, five chunks and a single cue word for the most important decision. A small card in your pocket can hold the route’s shape without reproducing the official course plan. Write the rider’s actions beside it—look, balance, wait, accelerate—and keep the wording short enough to recall while your horse is waiting at the start. A familiar routine protects working memory when your pulse is racing.

Use the event information to support that routine. The competition schedule can show start times, class formats and the order of phases, helping you decide when to walk, when to leave the horse resting and when to build a final mental review into the day. If the schedule changes, the organiser’s current instructions take priority. A tidy routine should make the pressure easier to manage, rather than sending you rushing around the grounds because you mistimed the walk.

After the course, compare your memory with the official plan and the actual route. Which landmark was too vague? Which combination did you underestimate? Keep one correction rather than a page of extra symbols. If something was unclear, ask a course official or experienced person within the rules and request a factual clarification, not an unofficial shortcut. The goal is a safe, accurate plan that can flex when the ground, the horse or the competition changes.

Memory gives you a starting point, not a guarantee. A good course walk turns the map into a sequence of rideable choices, and a simple note system keeps that sequence available when nerves arrive. Try one technique at the next event: draw the route, speak it aloud, walk it at riding pace and test yourself before the start box.

Make the next walk a two-way conversation between rider, horse and course. Keep the first note simple, rehearse the important cues, protect your attention and let the official information lead. Turn the course from a list to memorise into a route you can understand, ride and remember.