But banks ain’t one! Crap, brb, gotta go knock on some wood so I don’t jinx myself.
We headed back down to Pine Hill on Saturday to do a little XC schooling. Mainly we wanted to work on the down banks, but I had my eye on a couple of the “beefier” Training questions as well. Henry didn’t have an issue with the little bank at the derby the weekend before, but still, we need to work on his (and my) confidence at them.
We popped over a few warmup jumps before our group headed over to the water, Henry’s favorite. Not quite sure why this horse loves water so much but I will never complain. We jumped through the first time from Training log to log the long way across, then came the short way over the Training ark to the upbank.
No problem with any of that so we turned it around and did down bank to ark. First down bank of the day being one that drops into water? Only makes sense if you’re on Henry. No hesitation, he plopped right in.
Then we jumped the Prelim ark to the Prelim log into water to the Training ark out, making something a little more complicated. He took a big leap over the Prelim log when I got him there a bit too deep, which made the already downhill landing even more of a drop, but he went.
Then it was over to the Weldon’s wall. Which, really the ditch in front is so small that it doesn’t even count, it just rides like a very upright brush fence. No problem here either, he just popped right over. Well ok, there was no problem with the jump itself but he did spook at the bushes while he was in the air so he landed trying to duck right and then kind of fled through the woods. I’m pretty sure he will never stop being spooky at Pine Hill no matter how many times we come here. #nevertrustabush
After that we headed over to the trakehner, which definitely does have a real ditch under it. He took a little peek off the ground but jumping it was never a question. For as spooky as he can be about open ditches, Henry is pretty brave when you put something over top of it.
And then last but of course not least, we headed over to the banks. We started by jumping down the single (same one as last weekend), then the double, then finally the triple down to the bench. Same line we came UP last weekend. Henry picked his way carefully down the triple the first time, but went. The second time he had figured it out and nailed it. What a good pony!
So, hopefully now our down bank issue is at least mostly fixed. At some point we will have to circle back around and tackle the Irish bank that was the cause of this whole undoing, but I’m waiting for Trainer to squirt her baby out so she can deal with that one. I’ve tapped out.
But now I do feel better enough to enter one more show for the season, a schooling HT in June. They run the same courses as their recognized, which are no joke, so it’ll be a good last test for us before spending the $$$ on the recognized Trainings in the fall. They also have a giant freaking down bank that T shares with P, so let’s hope Henry’s still feeling cocky by the time we have to face it!
yessss! one of my eventing coaches says that, for a lot of horses, once you can put a couple banks together in a line (either going up, down, or both), it can often ‘click’ for some horses such that it stops being this standalone scary or awkward thing and suddenly becomes FUN. so awesome Henny figured it out!
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I noticed that the only ones he actually truly steps down are the ones where he has another bank afterward. Otherwise he sticks to his patented HENNY LEAP. You do you, bro.
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lol @ squirt her baby out
he looks great popping down the steps there. good for you guys!!
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I was gonna say “after she foals” but that didn’t seem right…
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So fun! He looks awesome! I’m thinking he’s figured out banks. A horse that loves xc is the BEST
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Or re-figured out banks. He had it for a long time before that stupid Irish came along and then *poof* mind blown.
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i definitely see a thought bubble over Henry’s head saying EFFING HELL THIS IS FUN! Looks like a great day was had (Much better weather there than East Coast)….glad he is figuring it all out> And yes your poor trainer…squirt her baby out….She should abuse you more. WAIT she does! 🙂 Love her already…
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She’s just as awful as I am, she deserves all the abuse she gets just as I deserve all mine.
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as awful as Bobby? Nope i don’t believe that 🙂
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No one is as awful as Bobby.
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Go Henny!!
Btw-it is really weird seeing the two of you decked out in different colours.
The colour is great on both of you but….nah.
Henny def. looks like he had funnnnn.
If he ever gets to the ocean he’d probably be gone…or is water only fun when jumps are involved?
P.S. Awesome pic of beefcake Presto on instagram. He really made up for everything…
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Ha! I do have quite the full wardrobe of navy and yellow, but I try not to wear the same colors every day. Plus I had to wear my fancy new black OTTB sunshirt.
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I was hoping that gif would include footage of the “spook at the bushes while he was in the air so he landed trying to duck right and then kind of fled through the woods”. Because damn. I really wanted to see that. Lol!
He looks SO awesome and confident!
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Unfortunately the video clip of that fence ended right where the gif did. You can see the beginning of the attempted exit stage right, but not the “OMG BUSH DEMONS, RUN!” that occurred afterward. Too bad, I’m sure it was funny to watch.
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I miss cross country so much! But we started jumping my old geezer (24yro) again, which he seems keen to do. So maybe we’ll pop him over some easy cross country stuff this summer. I loved the little (<2ft) brush box we jumped yesterday.
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*edit: HE loved the bush box, therefore so did I
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Squirts her baby out… Dying!
Henry looks amazing, he really does love that job! Glad you’ve conquered the down bank demon!
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Midair spooking. I’m impressed.
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I always use my head to knock wood, it works. And I don’t have to get up.
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