March 12, 2014

Blog Hop: What's in Your Name?

I think L. Williams blog hop is now a Thing with a capital T, since this is the second one!  Both have been great topics so far, keep them coming - no pressure, of course.

What's in Cob Jockey's name?  This blog started as the decidedly less cool "Equine Chameleon" for a brief period before anything interesting ever happened to my horse life.  I knew I liked horses, but I didn't know what I liked doing with them, or where I fit in.  I felt like I could adapt to fit whatever equine situation I found myself in at the time, but I didn't feel passionately about anything yet, breed or sport - I was a chameleon.

Cob Jockey is a nod to two things: my love of the Welsh Cob, and the sport in which I got my start.


I was never a jockey myself, but I did gallop one once or twice in the mornings.  I helped break babies, trail riding them in a western saddle and then teaching them to move back and forth on the track.  I learned a lot about conditioning and structuring a workout program and what "he needs a race" means.  







I guess this is where I first started loving classic red and white wood barns that are rough around the edges, just like my current barn.

I got to be a decent groom, too, running out of the stall I was cleaning to catch blowing racehorses as they came off the track, then bathing them, then putting them on the hot walker - usually a death-defying experience for my 5'0 105lb self.  I had the size to be a jockey, but not the skill or the cojones.

Catching one post-gallop


I also learned how to teach them to pee on command, thanks, detention barn!

Racing is what I share with my mom, where I learned to wrap legs, and where I learned to handle frisky kites on the end of my lead rope.  The first time I ever cantered was on a lead pony on the track.  The trainers I worked with are some of the kindest people and horsepeople I know.


Texas Best, racehorse, literally running circles around the patient lead pony.

Circles...

Circles...

I love that everyone got turnout, sometimes for extended periods of time when they needed it.  They let them be horses as well as racehorses.

By now you all know what the 'Cob' part of my blog title is about, and while the 'Jockey' part is partially a funny joke (can you imagine a Welsh Cob race?  I can't without laughing!), it's mostly a nod to the only part of the horse world in which I felt at home for most of my life.



My trainer in the paddock pre-race.





24 comments:

  1. How cool! I always just assumed it was because you're a cob jockey :). As in you ride cobs. Very very nifty. Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Thanks! I am also a Cob Jockey. It works both ways. :)

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    2. That was my assumption, too! Very cool. :)

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  2. Omg. A Welsh Cob race ... someone would get a knee to the face. Bahaha!

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    1. Haha, probably so. I just laugh about feathers flying everywhere. It would look like a hair explosion.

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  3. I thought the same as Hillary :) I had no idea you had experience on the track, I'm incredibly envious!!

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    1. I thought I had mentioned it, but maybe not for a while. It was a lot of fun!

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  4. Cool! I had no idea you got your start with racehorses. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Yeah! I love them, they are my first love.

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    1. A very useful skill when you don't want to be walking a horse around the spitbox for hours after a race! ;-)

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  6. Awesome! I never knew you worked with racehorses. I always thought jockey was a cool name and never realized it referred to you riding racehorses. Cool.

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  7. I loved reading about your experience at the racetrack. I have a cousin (in Indiana) who volunteers for Friends of Ferdinand and from her I have discovered that (in Indiana at least) lots of racehorses spend their downtime being ridden on trails or hanging out in muddy fields.

    BTW, if they can have a Shire race in the UK then I'm sure a cob race would be totally possible. (Think the Shetland Grand National.)

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  8. Figured you'd like it, with your recent track experiences!

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  9. Very cool! I had no idea you were involved with racing.

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  10. Absolutely fascinating never knew you galloped, I am jealous I have always wanted to but got scared away from it in my teens.

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  11. SO jealous you got to work at a track! I have always wanted to try my hand at being an exercise rider but the only time in my life I was small enough to do that was probably when I was like 10 haha

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  12. Wow I had no idea!! Such a cool backstory to your name :)

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  13. Cool! What a great experience and I love the name of your blog!

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  14. I had no idea you had a background in racing!

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  15. I also had no idea you had a background in racing. I just thought the name was because you rode a cob :-)

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  16. Interesting, did not know you worked at the track. Cool!

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  17. I'd read your history ages ago so I knew about your racehorse experience, but I'd never made the connection between that and the 'jockey' in your name!

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