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The first fence in a course is one that should be the least influential fence in the course and the one a course designer must get right. Jump 1 should set horse and rider combinations up for the challenges later in the course. It should be the easiest fence in the course but still in touch with the fences that are to come. Horses tend to be a little sluggish earlier in the course, so number 1 should be a fence a rider can ride forward to, to get the horse going forward and confidently.

Traditionally it is good practice to set the first fence going heading towards the In/Out Gate. By heading towards the gate, it encourages the horse to naturally go more forward. This is especially significant with green or inexperienced horses. At lower levels I almost religiously have the first fence heading towards to In/Out Gate. See pic 1.

In an ideal world all courses should have the first fence going towards the gate, however when designing multiple courses at a show this is not always possible. Also experienced horses are far more tolerant to jumping the first fence going in different directions. My general rule of thumb is either have the first fence not going away from the gate as shown in pic 2. The other option is to set the first fence a long way from the gate so it will be out of the horse's line of sight. Avoid having the first fence going directly away from the face of the gate, even at the highest levels, see pic 3

The first fence can be a vertical or an oxer. If it is an oxer, I like to build it slightly ascending with the front rail set 5cm lower than the back rail. I also like to build the oxer to the minimum height or 5cm below the rest of the course. The width should be approximately the same as the front rail height. Verticals as fence 1 can be tricky. For experienced horse fillers are ideal to produce a more solid looking fence, but at low levels fillers at the first fence can be too spooky. I like to set at least 4 poles in the first fence but even then, I see getting knocked down more than it should. Recently I have been in a habit of using 4 poles and crossing the bottom two. This allows the front of the cross to protrude out a little and make it a far more inviting start to the course. See pic 4. Again, the first fence should be slightly lower than the rest of the course, but not too low.

By setting an inviting first fence in a course allows both horse and rider to get going into a course and for them to prepare for whatever challenges that are set later in the track.

See the latest Strides Course Design tutorials, visit Strides Tutorial Series on our News page:

Tutorial 1 - 3 stride - 20m rule


Tutorial 2 - Roll back turns


Tutorial 3 - Quick corners


Tutorial 4 - Balanced corners


Line distances - Imperial vs Metric


Tutorial 6 - First Fence in a Course