The "can he jump" question answered

A while back I posted about my friend riding Riv and jumping him.  It was only like a 1'9" vertical, but he kept knocking into it.  He'd basically just go *through* it rather than putting in any sort of effort.  I had to wonder, does this mean he's talented enough to be totally careless about little things that aren't worth his effort?  Or is he just completely useless as a jumper?

I free jumped him last night.

 (Those are 4' standards.)

Can he jump?  Yes.  Yes, he can.


Sadly, I didn't get any of the more, er, interesting attempts on video.  He doesn't quite understand that jumping to the right is pretty much the same as jumping to the left.  Going to the right, it mostly went like this:  gitgitgit, cantercanter, zomgwtf?!, waaaaalk up, try to step over the 2'9"(ish) jump, step/jump over from a standstill, knock it over, be traumatized at how scary it is.  I ended up having to put it down to a crossrail so he could go over it without stopping or hesitating.  Twit.  So as long as we never have to jump anything on the right lead, we'll be fine!

Also, I was so glad I didn't ride last night.  He was being a nut!  Running and bucking and being silly..  It's been rainy and muddy, so he can't really run around in turnout, so I think he had some pent up energy.