Cob Jockey

I have no media from my second National Drive lesson since Mary couldn't be there, but fortunately for you all I had a near duplicate of that lesson this week at home, so we're going to combine the two.

Home instructor looking over my work. All photos courtesy of Leah.

There's a driver's meeting every morning at 8:30am, so when I saw an 8am slot open on Joanna's schedule, I grabbed it. I guessed that there'd be no other horses out to distract Disco during the meeting, and, having already had a "working through getting his focus" lesson, I really wanted a different kind of productivity for the second.

I was right, and Disco was SO good. We had his focus from the very beginning, and Joanna was able to cover so much ground with me.

We spent more than half the lesson at the trot on the driving equivalent of a 20m circle, which was the first time I had really trotted him for a continuous amount of time in the cart. 

She was also able to drop some wisdom about how my cart fits me (as good as anything off the rack will, but I need some seat adjustments), how to use the whip (never for going forward if you can help it, only for bending, and never on the horse's back) and inside rein vs outside rein in turning (juuuuuuust like in Dressage).

It just worked out that my home trainer was also able to give me a lesson a couple weeks after The Drive. Last time she saw me before Christmas, I was in the wooden cart, my lessons were mostly at the walk, and I still felt overwhelmed by driving.

This time? 

We leveled up the work significantly and ended up doing trot serpentines! 

For whatever reason these videos' frame rates aren't playing nice with the GIF editor, but just imagine it at normal speed.

Things feel like they come up very fast in the cart and the indoor, so the trot serpentines felt like they were a lot to manage at first. Just like in riding, you can't just yank them from one turn to the next, you have to have clear aids and at least a couple of straight strides in the middle before you change the bend.

We also worked on pace and obedience. He's getting a LOT less sticky about up transitions than when this instructor last saw us, but of course now she wants more. 

We did a lot of transitions - a LOT of transitions - including starting to ask for transitions within the gaits. For the first time, I pushed him for a very big trot, and started to feel a glimmer of that big swing I've started to feel under saddle. With him, his default is this low-energy mincing pony trot, but you know there's more in there when you see it.

She pointed out, as did Joanna, that he's educated enough in the contact to start learning that the reins are for more than turning and stopping. I would ask for a half halt, for example, or for him to soften to the bit, and he would stop. 

This is something I need to start working on under saddle too, but I've been erring on the side of caution given my complicated relationship with contact over the years.

For the first time ever, I felt totally comfortable driving, even at speed. I enjoyed the heck out of that lesson, and was smiling most of the time. It's such a hard challenge to be a complete beginner at something that feels so foreign, but I feel like I'm getting there with it. 

This lesson was a great roadmap for the next few months and gave me lots of things to work on, although I hope to have her back out sooner than that!

I was - in a word - nervous about driving Disco at The National Drive.

I mean, I'm nervous about driving in general still, and I had never driven him outside of our indoor arena. Nevermind that Maude trail drove him all over the place and also showed him in driving off the property. 

I decided I was only going to drive with an instructor present, and I also decided that I would make my mandatory safety check part of my first lesson.

The pro photographer didn't get any pictures of my drives, but did get this one of us. Fun fact, he had not been groomed in days here, that glow is just his coat. Photo by Mark Jump Photography

No matter if you've been to the Drive zero times or fifty times, the first time you take your horse and cart out, you have to drive over to the mandatory safety check and be inspected. Driving people take safety verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry seriously. 

At the safety check, they make sure you can control your horse in public and that there's nothing unsafe about your setup - they look for straps that look like they might be about to break, cart in need of repair, harness put on incorrectly, that kind of thing. Once you pass, they put a green band on your cart to show that you've passed the safety check, and it stays on your cart the rest of the weekend.

Driving over to safety check with my emotional support instructor. Thanks to Mary for all the rest of the photos and video!

After I passed my safety check, my instructor gave me the choice: indoor arena, or outdoor arena? We drive in the indoor all the time at home, so outdoor sounded scarier, which is why I chose it.

Disco didn't let me down. There was a lot to see and do and feel as we walked across the complex to the outdoor, and my #slugmode pony was distracted, up and forward. By the time we got to the arena, I was struggling to keep him at a walk, which had my nerves maxed out: I was braced hard against the floorboard and pulling hard against him, trying to keep him under control. I'd honestly never gotten a chance to work with him in a mindset like that before, since he's always so chill at home.

This is pretty much what we looked like for 30 straight minutes

For the next half hour, Joanna did a masterful job of talking me through it, alternating between giving me tips and telling funny stories through the headset, I knew, just to distract me from my nerves. All the while Disco was screaming, counterbending and trying to trot.

"This is just baby stallion stuff," she said. "This is a big atmosphere for him, lots to see. He's trying to call to the other horses, there's no sense in disciplining him for any of it, we just need to be patient and give him reasons to focus on us." I mean, to be entirely fair and 100% accurate, he was still not even four years old during this adventure!

Disco got introduced to Mary's show grooming intensity

After what felt like an eternity, I finally felt him come down enough that we could move on in the lesson. We worked on basic steering, with four sets of cones set out on a circle, which I am not at all ashamed to say I ran over multiple times. 

"So right now, he's kind of doing whatever he wants generally in the direction you want him to go, but you're not really steering him. We're going to work on that."

It was here that I got my biggest lesson of Day 1. She told me to turn my shoulders in the direction I wanted to go.

No joke, the tightest turn I have ever made driving so far.

It was revolutionary. He started going exactly where I wanted him to, and we stopped mauling cones. I realized a couple of things: one, that there are a lot of things that my brain goes "If you're not on his back he can't feel this so it doesn't matter," that I'm probably going to keep discovering like this, and two, uhhhhhhhhhhh pretty sure my turning aids in the saddle are also dysfunctional (more on that later).

Brain cell, reinstalled

That was supposed to be my one and only lesson of the drive, but as we walked back to the barn, I knew I couldn't end on that one, not when we had only just started to make real progress in both my nerves and actually learning something right at the end. So I quickly did some mental math on how to cram one more lesson in before I had to leave for my Rolex Land Rover Cosequin Kentucky 5* tailgate prep, and got up bright and early the next day...

30 minutes from my house, twice a year every year, there's an event called The National Drive.

(You know, the thing I crashed last fall. Although it occurs to me now that I'm not sure I wrote about that experience...)

My first time on a cart of any kind, being pulled by the WPCSA co-Welsh of the Year for 2024. Photo by Mark Jump Photography.

It's an educational driving jamboree billed as "Disneyland for driving". People come from all around the country for it, and there are private lesson opportunities, educational seminars, trail driving, games, a tack swap, and the full complement of Hoosier Horse Park CDE obstacles to play on.

Me in the red hat taking a seminar on cones courses - how they're judged in a show, how to walk a cones course, and also how best to use cones in your training at home. Photo by Mark Jump Photography.

I waffled hard on signing up, but in the end, I sent in my entry. If I really want to learn more about driving, why on earth would I pass up an opportunity to take him off the property to a show complex (but not a show) for private lessons so close to home? Especially when one of the Welsh ladies I've shown with for years was one of the featured clinicians? And when IVC Carriage (tack shop) would be there and could help me with some harness fit problems I was having?

I am SO glad I did.

It ended up being an incredible opportunity for us both. I learned how he behaves in a "show" environment, and I got my harness situation all squared away and my rig inspected by multiple driving professionals. And best of all, I got two private lessons that were just what I needed.

I also, randomly, got to weigh him. They had a livestock scale set up. He's 950lbs already!

But let's start with the shopping, shall we?

On the first day, I walked Disco over to IVC Tack with his driving bridle on and just said "Help." The noseband has never fit quite right, and there were extra straps on the bridle of mysterious origin. Myrna took one look at it and said "You're missing noseband hangers, we'll fix you right up." 

Hard to see here in this photo from November, but the noseband passed through these little cuffs that attached to the cheekpieces, which, when I put a driving bit on the bridle, didn't work at all and caused the noseband to be way too high.

$10 later, I had a set of biothane ones and instructions to take a seam ripper to those weird extra straps that had been added at some point, and the bridle fit perfectly. 

I also bought a quilted harness storage/travel bag, and a gel saddle pad, which I will school in but not show in (scout's honor).

Unrelated - I was THRILLED to see they've redone entire barns over the winter at the HHP. Sometimes it still amazes me that this facility exists so close to me, and I'm always worried they'll close it, so it's nice to see them putting money into it.

That was all the shopping I intended to do, but two more times in the next 24 hours I would walk into IVC and tell Myrna "I'm on a mission from Joanna." Joanna is a Welsh world acquaintance who is also one of the best driving instructors in the country. She was one of the featured clinicians for the spring Drive, which meant I could sign up for lessons with her. And I did.

She's awesome.

After my first lesson, Joanna said "I bet your hands are tired". They were. "You need to go to IVC and try out different reins and see what you like. You don't have to necessarily buy them there, but you need to get a feel for what you like in person. I bet you don't ride with thick heavy leather reins like you've got there, do you? The right reins really make a difference driving too."

And that's how I ended up with a pair of synthetic reins with integrated rubber stops, sort of like my PS of Sweden reins. Wouldn't you know - they made such a massive difference the next day. Like, angels singing. And far fewer incidents of Joanna telling me I'd let the reins slip too long again.

They have longer stops than my riding reins, and the stop notched perfectly into my hand in a way that made it very obvious when the reins started to slip. Also - it's apparently normal and standard to drive in a black harness with brown reins.

After my second lesson, Joanna said "You need to go to IVC and get a gullet strap for that bridle." I had never heard of a gullet strap, and had assumed that the throatlatch was enough to keep the bridle on, so I asked Myrna about it as she was once again swiping my credit card.

Photo from IVC's website

"The throatlatch isn't enough on a driving bridle because the weight of the blinkers pulls the bridle forward and makes it easier to slip off," she said. And she proceeded to tell me a nightmare story about a horrible wreck that occurred at The Drive several years ago when the bridle slipped off a horse who proceeded to spook and run around the complex and ultimately sent both the driver and the clinician to the hospital. "We had a run on gullet straps after that, every single person there suddenly wanted them," she said.

Noted, I will never drive without one again.

With that, my setup is completely squared away and blessed by the pros. Well, except for that seat bolster I need... #shortpeopleproblems

I've gotta catch up - we've had some adventures lately!

Day parking: EMPTY!!! It's a Christmas miracle!

When I saw both Leah and I had the Friday before Easter off work and the forecast said sunny and 80, I knew that was our day. And for once, which never happens with horses, everything went exactly to plan.

This was my first off-property ride on Disco, and I really did enjoy it. The worst thing he did all day was call and gawk at other horses, but he came right back to me each time I asked him to focus. It was more young horse stuff than young stallion stuff.

The ride started out interesting in a couple of ways. We chose to do a very small amount of B, which is a trail that goes up steeply, then down steeply about 3/4ths of a mile later. 

When I asked Disco to go uphill from ride camp, he initially said no - not sure if he didn't want to leave other horses or if the hill was intimidating, but he got over it quickly, and that was his only sticky moment all day.

The most interesting part of the ride happened about 20 minutes later as we were coming down off B with the intent to cross ride camp and go to A. We were coming down off the steep grade straight into our first water crossing, a rocky creek, and as soon as Disco was in the middle of it, we heard a commotion through the underbrush at a campsite maybe 30 feet from us. A horse tied at the hitching post was bucking like a bronco because its saddle had rolled over and was totally underneath it.

Disco started to get excited, so I made a quick executive decision to walk him straight up the middle of the creek away from the horse until the owner got that situation resolved. Not that I'm surprised, but let it be known: water is no issue with this horse.

From there, we had a pretty chill rest of the day. Disco both led and followed Pyro, and we both passed and got passed by other horses. Getting passed was a bit sticky, but in a "this is a good training situation" way, not in a dangerous way.

In the end, we covered 4.5 miles in a leisurely hour and twenty minutes, which was plenty for Disco's current fitness level. It really does not take much to wear him out, and he needs to build the baseline walking fitness before anything else.

We tackled a lot of firsts for us both on this ride:

• First trail ride
• First time being tied to my trailer
• First time in ride camp with other horses around
• First water crossing
• First time being passed and passing strange horses on trail
• First time wearing Scoot Boots (he and Connor are the same size, BLESS)

He's also, as they say, "can broke" now since he didn't object to Leah cracking a cold one midway through. I stayed two hands on the reins and sober for this one just in case, but will be joining her in the future!

The only casualty? My trailer screen! I should have predicted this, but Disco has always particularly enjoyed shoving his nose between bars of all kinds (stall bars, trailer window bars, he's not picky) and he busted the screen out immediately. He's not getting it back either, since he'll just keep doing it, so it's flymasks for him on the trailer from here on out.

RIP the screen on the drop down window

All in all, I was super happy with this trip, and I'm looking forward to doing as much of it as I can this summer with him.

Last night was probably the last time Mary will get to see Disco for a good long while. She's moving a bit further away for her husband's job in the next month or so, and Disco is leaving for The National Drive and "S3x Camp" right after the drive. So, she put a proper ride on him for the first time ever (her only other time on him was cooling him out bareback).

PC most photos: Leah

Shenanigans and all.

It was great to see her on him and to get her assessment of him. She really enjoyed herself, and couldn't stop commenting on how much he enjoys new games, how thoroughly he thinks through problems, and how you can really feel his moment of understanding when he gets something "right". 

She's right, in all those respects, and it's such a very different ride from Connor. Connor is not a thinker, he's react-er. He learns more slowly and less deliberately than Disco does, and it takes things longer to be confirmed with Connor.

Of course, she also pushed his buttons in ways I haven't, and as a result, we had one small moment of disobedience, his first since he's been here.

This was not a spook, it was a very obvious attempt to see if he could get out of work a few minutes into the steering game. Mary sat it well, and just like when he tried to lawn dart the trainer in Canada, he seemed to go "Well, that didn't work so I guess I'll just get on with it," and never tried it again.

She didn't ride him to exhaustion at all, but it just doesn't take much to wear him out yet, and he was more than up for being ground tied for grooming afterward - didn't move one single foot.

Now that his ground tying is very solid, I've been leaving him ground tied for post-ride grooming as much as possible - both for the practice, and so that he can relax over his topline. "His" crossties are still set very short so that he can't grab them - although now that I type this, I realize he hasn't tried that in months, so we should probably lengthen them and see if we're past that stage. Babies!

I am really going to miss Mary living so close, both as a friend and especially as an exceptional horsewoman. She just thinks differently than I do, and all of us have benefited greatly from having her around these last 5 years.