If you want a horse with personality, then Hank was your boy. He is such a character. He's like a big goofy kid in horse form. I rode Hank from October of 2006 until September 2007. He had been down in California with Lauren Shaw for most of his life before Julie Woollam bought him. He was a get up and go kindof horse when I first started working with him which is not want Julie and Candace were looking for. He didn't have an off button. He thought that once you were in that saddle he just had to go and go and go. He was like the energizer bunny!
Julie and I made a deal. She would take Mel for the 2007 show season and I would take Hank and see if I could get him suitable. There were some days when I thought I'd never get through to Hank. He just didn't seem to understand that he could just relax and walk slowly while I was on him. It did finally click though. And when it did he was so much fun. He didn't have the biggest walk and shake but his canter was to die for. You just sit there and he'd float!
I did everything with Hank that year. We did hunter shows, all-breed shows, arena trail, and TWH Shows. He was always perfectly behaved for me. We had a really good year of showing and at the end of it he was TWHAWC Versatility Champion and TWHAWC Lite-Shod 3-Gait Champion.