On Saturday morning I loaded Henry up and made the 2 hour journey to Trainer’s place for a stadium lesson.
My stadium round at Pine Hill last month was fine, until I pulled too much coming into the final combination and tried to kill us both. I needed to work more on keeping a steady rhythm all the way throughout the course, and to remember to allow him to come forward out of the turns.
Saturday morning I woke up with a really gross cough, the kind where by the time you’re done coughing, it feels like your lungs have collapsed and you can’t breathe. I won’t even describe what I was coughing up. Let’s just say it was gross. I made it through the lesson, but I kept getting very winded. Trainer kept looking at me like she thought I might die, so she took pity on me and kept things fairly short.
We hopped over a few warmup fences first, and true to form I can’t stop messing with my canter if the fence is under 3′. Little jumps are the death of me. It’s like when they get bigger I know I don’t have any choice but to keep my leg on and keep coming, but my brain becomes overwhelmed by options when the jumps are small. It makes no sense. But I was kind of glad when she walked around and put all the jumps up bigger.
I have to give Henry a ton of credit, he was jumping really super. I think the SI injection was what he needed, because he was coming off the ground so much more powerfully and evenly. He’s got his trademark Henny bascule back. Trainer even said “THIS is the Henry I know!”. And it’s true, he does finally feel like himself again.
I had a little bit of trouble with wanting to chase him too deep to the red and white oxer the first couple times (Me, a life long gap-lover, looking for the deep distance? What?) but once Trainer got me to come out of the corner and just support the canter instead of trying to chase the jump down, it worked out beautifully. We ended on a short course (because see above about me not being able to breathe) and then called it a day.
I took him on a short walk through the XC field afterward and he was still jigging, so… obviously he was not tired after our lesson. I, however, was rapidly deteriorating. It was starting to become obvious that my cough wasn’t just a cough. More on that tomorrow…
breedrideevent.com 
That was a beautiful video my friend. Well done!!! Do you ever canter over a course of ground poles at home just to test your eye and practice keeping your canter steady? That can be a very useful exercise.
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All the time. We do pole work once a week, sometimes twice.
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I’m with you on having a better eye to the bigger jumps- my most struggle-bus lessons are when we keep the jumps really low and then I promptly mess EVERYTHING up. Glad the SI injection did the trick!
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Seriously, I just need all my options taken away. I can’t make decisions at little fences.
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maybe trainer should blindfold you? That I would pay to see 🙂 (PS I hope you start feeling better soon all kidding aside:)!
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Henny is just eating up those jumps!
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You both look awesome! He has lovely form over those jumps. Very jelaous
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He tries his little downhill opinionated heart out.
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You guys look great! He looks like he is so much fun to ride (even when you are sick)!
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He’s super fun!
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Uh oh. Walking pneumonia incoming?
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Man! Way to power through…. The both of you look great!
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Go henny!
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Small jumps are the hardest I think. I’m basically a disaster trying to pilot my giant horse over itsy bitsies. Henry looks great tho!!
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I almost fell off trying to trot a 2’6″ vertical the other day.
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Yay!!!❤️
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Alright. Time for you to get back out on the xc course. I miss seeing Henny in beast mode over solid fences too. He is just too fun to watch.
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Wednesday, hopefully. 😉
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Henny looks great! Agree- tiny jumps are my nemesis!
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i love how he goes.
I’ve been riding a baby too long… because those look enormous. my trainer put jumps ‘up’ from crossrails to teeny verticals and I went all deer in the headlights on her.
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Oh I know all about how that “green horse height stick” works. 3′ suddenly is huge when you’re on a baby!
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Hi Amanda,
Loving your blog! Did you ever have an opportunity to do a post with the May show shirt I sent you?
Happy riding,
ImogenTutton 0401 503 333
>
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Haven’t been able to wear it yet, since we don’t really show over the winter (and horse was injured in the fall). Hopefully in the next couple months I’ll actually get to use it!
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He looks fantastic! You both do! Sorry about being sick… I have kept mine to mostly just a cough, but it’s hung on for nearly a month now! 😦
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Nice! You guys look great. I had a chest tightening cough last week..turned into the flue and knocked me on the couch for 2 days. Hope you’re feeling better already!
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That’s exactly what happened to me!
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So great that he’s feeling back to normal! Hopefully you get feeling back to normal soon too.
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He looks amazing, so glad you got him all patched up fairly easily. Sorry you had the plague. Since I’m reading this so much later, I hope you’re feeling better!
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