Henry had his second Trainer XC ride yesterday and it was, in a word, freakinawesome. There’s video at the bottom, but I pulled screencaps for those who don’t want to dedicate 51 seconds to watching a video.
It rained all night Tuesday at my house, so when I woke up and checked the radar and saw the huge blob of rain headed toward the XC venue, I was sad. But magically, the closer it got, the more it dissipated, and before you knew it everything was clear and good to go. The cross country gods win again. I packed in half a day of work by 10:30 and then headed out, loaded up, and away we went.
It was so hot and humid… like 90 and sticky. I brought some ice water for Henry so that I could sponge him during the ride to help him stay cool, but turns out he handled it pretty well anyway.
The main objective of the day was for Trainer to jump Henry off the Training level Irish Bank, which freaks me out a little. Mostly because it’s giant and Henry still tends to launch off the banks (I’m pretty convinced he’s never going to just drop down them like a normal horse), so I have visions of being left in the ditch on the back side of the bank as he goes gallivanting around the forest without me. She also wanted to jump some of the Training combos, hoping to build his confidence a bit for his move-up.
Turns out, they did both of those things. Henry was a total rockstar! He jumped everything first try and totally gobbled it up. The more he did, the more he strutted. You could practically see his ego inflating as we went along. That’s perfect, exactly what we want!
He definitely did take a flying leap off the Irish bank with a big peek down into the ditch on the way down, and it was not beautiful, but Trainer did a great job of slipping him all the rein he needed, staying balanced over the back, and sticking out the awkward leap. Definitely glad it was her riding him off of that thing for the first time and not me! Really happy that he was so game about it though, there was never any question about whether he was gonna go or not.
He also jumped the Training double up bank to skinny combo, the T water, the T offset feeders, the giant brushy T ramp that gives me slight heart palpitations, PLUS the Prelim coffin and a Prelim box. I was SO happy to see him handle everything so easily! Trainer does such a good job of sitting up, waiting, closing her leg, and letting him figure things out; it’s educational to watch. Someday I’ll get better at that.
He cooled out quickly and was even a little wild when we got home – also good to see that his fitness level still holds up well in the heat.
If anyone needs Henry, he’ll be pimp-walking his way around the barn for the next few days, telling all his friends how great he is. I can’t disagree.
breedrideevent.com 
I will never, ever get tired of watching your trainer ride! Wow! Henry looks freakin’ FANTASTIC!! 😀
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He’s diggin it. I’m getting cautiously excited for Coco!
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What a superstar!! He made prelim look easy 😉 😉 😉 Plus I love his launch off that bank. Weeeee!
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It would not have been so ideal if he’d had to jump the Prelim corner after the bank, but I’m never jumping that shit so whatever. You do you, Henny.
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Man, you’ve really found Henry’s calling in evening. He looks so happy out there on XC!
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I think so too. It’s almost as much fun to watch as it is to ride!
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Henny looks totally awesome!! You can tell he’s having the best time ever 😀
Also, that Prelim table. Nope. Not no way. Ever. But I’m glad Henry didn’t have any problems with it!
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What a happy pony! He’s so game.
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I feel like it was just last week that you were saying I was crazy for suggesting you try some of the Prelim fences… 😉
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I didn’t try them, Trainer did. She’s the crazy one. 😉
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Uh. *picks up jaw off floor* that was amaaazing. Loved watching the video – that boy can jump – and he looks like he’s having a great time! Homie be ballin’!
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It’s his favorite thing ever.
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Man, he looks incredible! Pony has some hops.
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FreakinAwesome!!!
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Great video! Henry is eating it up and your trainer rides him so well!
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Piece of cake Henry! What a boss!
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That is a horse LOVING his job! Are you the proudest mom ever?! You should be. Plus you’re the reason he’s gotten here. Love this so hard!
PS: I will never, NOT EVER, jump any of that. Never.
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I have to admit, I’m having a lot more fun watching than I imagined I would. I think he’s pretty darn cute, and they get along really well.
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My gosh, he makes it look so easy! Looks like he is just cantering along out there, jumping massive jumps like NBD. You must be psyched!
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As soon as I stopped videoing after the box I was like “holy shit”. Horse has some scope in there that he’s been hiding, he totally just loped over that thing like a hunter.
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Henry looks fabulous! Your trainer really gives him a great ride and allows him to figure it out. It’s really cool to watch a horse figure things out. 🙂
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She’s great with the greenies!
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Henny is killing the game, making those look easy and LOVES it
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He really does, and he’s so proud of himself.
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lookin good! your trainer does a really nice job with him. confidence building ftw!
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I wish my upper body would do what hers does, rather than the slightly epileptic thing it currently does.
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Your horse is so unbelievably fantastic. Wow. Thanks for sharing him with us. This blog is so fun. Can you imagine if you had this awesome guy and kept him all to yourself? The internet needs Henry!
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He’s just so GENUINE, it’s hard not to love him. So much try in that little horse.
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omg love how honest he is. your trainer just makes a couple opening rein corrections and he goes oh! okay!
thoroughbreds are the best 😛
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He says “Where Henny go now? There? OKAY!”… it’s a game to him I think lol.
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Henry is fantastic! I can’t believe how he tackled those P fences. What a kick ass horse
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I’m kind of surprised it looked that easy for him. He’s such a minimalist, so finding all this extra scope that I didn’t know was there has been fun.
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Loving your horse!
I’m in the market for some kind of cooling boot. Do you like your ice boots? What brand are they?
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I have Ice Horse on the front and Finn Tack on the rear. The Ice Horse are ok, I don’t love them but don’t hate them. Yesterday was the first time using the Finn Tack so I can’t really commit to an opinion yet!
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Wow, he makes it look easy! And your trainer has an amazing position in every picture. They look fantastic!
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Henny making Prelim look like child’s play… 😉 And your trainer might just have become my new idol- she’s just sits there and looks awesome and is so quick to gather herself back together if she gets launched!
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Yeah I think I would have been a lawn dart at the bank LOL
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Way to go Henny!
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Henny dgaffff! He looks like he’s school every single one of those a million times already!
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Holy shit! Henny is amazeballs!
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This is pretty amazing! I completely forgot that bank had a ditch on the back side. I’m proud to say I did that once in my youth, but now it’s a big old NOPE!
Go Henny!!!
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Yeah that freaking bank is terrifying if you actually walk up to it! As soon as we move up to T I’m gonna give all the fences a very wide berth when we walk the course, I don’t need to see that shit until it’s too late. Ignorance is bliss.
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Henry seriously made all those fences look like no big deal. He’s a cool horse!
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What a rockstar!
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Amazing! Even that fall-off-a-cliff-and-die jump was no sweat for him.
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Wow, he made all that look so easy! What a horse!
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