Pre Christmas XC Training

Man it's hot out there, 40C right now. Just as well we were up early for XC training, although it was already getting warm by the time we got on.

Henry was more relaxed, yet more nervous this time round. He was more prepared to get to work and felt less like he was going to be excitable but he knew what might happen this time around so was anticipating things a bit.

He worked ok from the start and we got self carriage faster, which meant that we jumped more things! First though we had to do a preflight check...

At this point I think Bec is like OMG not AGAIN!

Yeah, I hit the dirt again. People are going to start calling me drop bear. I hopped right back on and this time my position was VERY stable. Henry hopped right over the log and was like NBD mum! We repeated it a lot until he settled and he was cantering over it happily.

Ohhh it's just a little log!

We moved on to the sunken road and while he was still tense he was happy to jump up and down the little bank, following the rest of the horses. Bec gave us a course and then each of us went on our own to jump the jumps. Henry was so good, popping over everything, cantering, trotting, doing the XC thing!

We repeated the course a second time, then did the jumps from last to first before adding in 2 larger jumps, one just a plain log and the other a log at the top of a hill. Henry nailed all the jumps and was really settling into his job by this point.

Our last stop was the water and Henry walked straight in. We tested it out by going in different ways and each time he was like yep, got it! Next we trotted though the water and up a bank. Henry was a bit confused and then spooked after he jumped up but every time after that he was perfect. 

Bec then told us we had to jump into the water, which to me seemed like a pretty big deal. We are talking about a horse who is a princess about getting his feet wet. Bec talked us through how to approach, first by trotting next to where we would jump down, then coming around and dropping down into the water. Henry trotted up and then stopped, I let him have a look and then he flew off it. As we sailed through the air at an angle, I was wondering if I would stick. Despite it being so warm I wasn't sure I wanted to go for a swim! We landed, I stuck and we came around again.

Hold on Mum!

Second time was much better, Henry still stalled but popped off with less of a leap and third time was a charm. We put a course together and once I gave Hen enough power in his canter he was AMAZING! He jumped all the things and he was so relaxed.

It was such a productive session and little baby Hen was grown up and a very clever boy. I can't wait to get him out next year. I just have to buy some butt super glue...

Teeny tiny circus ponies staying at the SEC for the summer! Henry really wanted to meet them