Highboy worked all week with me, and then we went to the mini horse trial at Sunrise this weekend. His dressage warmup was quite nice, and his test was at least correct in that he got his leads, completed each maneuver, and there was no bucking or bolting (his signature maneuvers).
Showjumping was more exciting... Highboy was full of it and spent most of the course running sideways and jumping fences from a crooked standstill. There were quite a few spectators, ok there were lots of spectators, and there was plenty of gasping as Highboy put on his show. At the end of the course he hadn't hit any of the poles, just jumped with excessive height and at weird angles. So my parting remark to the audience was our signature "If we can't do it well, at least be entertaining!"
When I looked at the photos later on the computer with Owen, we actually zoomed in on the images and counted holes in the standards. We discovered Highboy jumped several of the fences with 15-18" to spare. If only he would do it in a civilized manner like at home!
Cross Country was an adventure. Highboy was strong and kept trying to drag me towards the fences. He was definitely built for the old long format eventing, he doesn't settle in and start to jump well until the end of the 22 fence course. He really was made for the endurance portion of the long format, with lots of miles of galloping and jumping out of a flat run. Once he's done several miles of steeplechase and roads and tracks he would be much nicer over his cross country course.
This next photo cracked me up.... He ran at this fence so hard and didn't want to listen to me when I said to rebalance. This was the result of a poor takeoff, and I'm so grateful it was just ugly and he didn't hang that leg. He did tuck his hind up well though.
Kimberly Hale Photography took the photos, and as always I was floored at how good she made us look.
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