Road Hacks with Henry: A Pictorial

Published on by Amanda C

Break time is officially over – we started back into work this past weekend. Henry’s thoughts on that:

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He is clearly abused

Each ride has featured at least one randomly placed series of pathetic dolphin leaps that Henry likes to think of as really amazing bucks, so fear not, he feels just dandy these days.

But last week the only riding we did was a couple of meandering, aimless, bareback road hacks. One of which I decided to document via photo, so that you guys can fully appreciate the titillating, edge-of-your-seat excitement that takes place while riding a fit thoroughbred bareback down a country road.

First of all, having the right set up is paramount: a sidepull (because who needs brakes) and an Ogilvy pad (save the lady bits).

Then I sometimes get distracted taking a bunch of shadow pics because Henry makes derpy faces and I’m easily amused.

At some point Henry will walk past something, think about it for a while, then decide it’s scary. He’ll stop, look back at me, and ask if I also saw whatever super terrifying thing is now at least 30′ behind us.

So we go back to make sure it’s not zombies (you never know), then Henry suddenly realizes he’s absolutely famished from all the thinking.

And so begins the snacking phase. He’ll continue trying to snack the entire walk back to the barn, which makes it impossible for me to get any pictures. Once the snacking starts, it’s all over. Even retrograde spooking at possible zombies.

Once safely back at the barn, Henry spooks at the cat bowl in the washrack because OMG THAT’S NOT USUALLY THERE WTF IS THAT INSTRUMENT OF DEATH? *snort*

Oh, it was a bowl. Totally knew that. Just kidding. Wasn’t really scared.

OMG IT’S BEHIND ME RIGHT NOW, ISN’T IT???

13 thoughts on “Road Hacks with Henry: A Pictorial”

  1. LOL the last comment.

    im really impressed you bareback on an ogilvy pad. i either need to go totally nekkie or a bareback pad with a girth because im afraid of slipping off. i cant wait until runkle is 9….

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  2. LOL!! He sounds so much like my OTTB. Sometimes he’s bombproof; other times, he decides to spook at the dumbest, most random stuff. I haven’t been brave enough to try a hack down the road. How does he react to the cars?

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    1. It’s actually really good for the soft tissue in the legs, light work on hard surfaces. A lot of eventers I know incorporate road hacking into their conditioning schedule, especially in the UK. Mostly walk, with a little trot.

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