Cob Jockey

Lyss, formerly of Gooseback Riding and now of Chantilly Tales, commented on my blog post about Wow saddles to say that she had two barnmates that both had Wows they were looking to sell, and long story short, it ended up that one of those saddles was in my and Eva's exact specs (which are very likely to also be Disco's specs). The seller's horse had hated it and she only rode in it for a couple months before getting something else and putting it in a closet, so it was nearly new.

Not unattractive either, but those f****** blocks (we'll get to that)

Wow has three front-to-back tree shapes: curved, semi-curved and flat, with flat being the most rare, and naturally that's Eva's tree shape. Of everything on the saddle, the seat/tree is the most expensive, so it's the only thing you really want to get right. Everything else (panels, flaps, blocks, billets, headplate) can be easily/relatively cheaply swapped out later.

Because of that, I didn't ask too many questions or request hardly any photos once I learned it was a flat tree in my size. The price was fantastic, the saddle was gorgeous, and the tree was right, so I could deal with anything else being wrong. Lyss ended up facilitating the entire sale for both of us through email, which was awesome.

It wasn't until it got here and I saw the underside of it for the first time that I realized the likely reason why the seller's horse had hated it: that saddle's panels have a combination of features that my own fitter won't sell, and in fact she confiscates them anywhere she finds them, because they create a pressure point on the horse's back that she has seen lead to pain and injuries in horses many times over the years. Her words: "Do not even sit on her in those panels."

The good news? My fitter can add a stitchline to these panels to make them safe to use, AND I had just ordered new panels for Connor's Wow that are basically the same as Eva's except that they don't have tabs, which serve to lower the panel on wider horses with less withers.

Thanks to Wow being Wow, I spent 5 minutes in my living room with a screwdriver moving panels between saddles and voila, I had a saddle I could start Eva in. It fits beautifully, aside from Connor's no-tab panels sitting higher than they should on Eva.

The fit is just freaking perfect. I am in awe of that little plastic Wow saddle fitting gauge every time I see this saddle moving perfectly with Eva like it was custom made for her. Dr. M and the gauge told me what parts to look for, a blogger helped me find it, and from the moment a saddle was ever first put on her back, it fit her.

Such a lucky horse

I love it for me too. The balance is incredible and it sort of disappears underneath me. The only thing I don't love are these giant honking thigh blocks, which do move, but not enough and not in the directions that I want them to.

When I came off Eva, Kate joked that those blocks were like a pivot point for my body as I flew off, lol

Fortunately, Dr. M is both a leatherworker and a Wow enthusiast, so short term, I am just going to take the blocks off the saddle, and long term, she is going to help me fabricate a custom block. Like anything else on the saddle, the blocks are modular and are held on by two flat screws.

You can just tell my body wants these blocks out of my way. With them gone, I will be able to move the stirrup leathers forward and my leg is going to hang in a great place.

So, a big hearty THANK YOU to Lyss for helping me find this saddle. I think I am officially on the Wow train after this experience!

To recap, on Day 1, I just sat on her for a while and then got off.

On Day 2, we introduced steering. And on Day 3, we introduced trotting.

Again, this is a horse that has had no directional steering training beyond leading and lunging. And again, Kate had a well-researched and personally tested system for starting them that worked flawlessly.

She had me using a rudimentary system of aids, using the 4 seconds to light pressure pattern based on how quickly horses process new information, that set the horse up for inside leg to outside rein success later in their careers right out of the gate.

I was to never use two legs on her, not at first. From the halt, we would turn by applying the outside rein against the neck. If that didn't get a response, I would use the inside rein in a direct/opening rein fashion, and at the same time apply my inside leg in a bumping, nagging "Chihuahua barking kind of way".

Then once she was moving, I held both reins out far in front of me and wide, creating a "box" for her to stay in. As long as she stayed in that box, she didn't get any cues, but if she strayed out of it, I repeated the same system of aids.

It wasn't perfect of course, but I was able to generally get her going where I wanted her to go in the whole ring right from the get-go. The biggest problem was me - it required a whole rewiring of my I've-only-ridden-Connor-for-13-years aid system to ride a horse like this, and sometimes the wires got crossed and I'd use the wrong leg or things like that. But, this is a new skill to learn like any other, so I'm not beating myself up about not being great at it immediately.

On Day 3, Kate's last day here, we pushed it maybe a little further than Kate would have if she was at home, but I got the impression she wanted to set us up for success after she left. First of all, we saddled her. No pomp and circumstance, just put it on her in the indoor and she was fine.

I gotta write a whole blog post about this saddle, but for now, let's just say the incredible power of the blogger network strikes again. Can you BELIEVE how well this saddle fits her? It's silly. And how wonderful for Eva to be able to start right off with a saddle that doesn't hurt or annoy her in any way.

We also graduated from the rope halter to a leather sidepull that I had originally bought for baby Disco. Kate: "Um, why do you even HAVE a sidepull this small?"

On Day 3, the wheels fell off the bus in a very honest way. We were introducing trot, and suddenly Eva had a very honest green horse moment and got overwhelmed by me moving around more up there, and my lizard brain didn't even try to one rein stop her as she started very athletically bronc bucking. 

And that's the first time I ever fell off a Welsh Cob, and my first fall off anything in well over a decade. After watching her airs above the ground at liberty, I just knew it would be her and had a feeling I had it coming.

(Side note: although I sure wasn't thinking about it, the video shows I had a textbook Landsafe over the shoulder fall. Protected my head at the expense of my limbs, and my helmet didn't even take a hit. Glad that clinic paid off!)

I have video, but it was so honest of her, I won't put it out there on the Internet, because it was more my fault than hers. I surprised myself that I wasn't even remotely scared to get back on. I understood exactly what happened and why, and I know she's a lazy potato at heart, so I knew it wouldn't happen again. We ended the lesson trotting loose in the ring again no problem.

After the fall. The only casualty was my brand new Canter Culture breeches which got a hole in the knee, wah.

Since then, I have been lunging her with the saddle on and stirrups flapping to get her used to movement up there, and I have ridden her multiple times without an ounce of fear. Which still surprises me. I am much more confident in my late 30s than I was in my teens and 20s. I guess we can thank Connor for that.

So, I started the clinic with an unbroke pony, and I am now able to confidently ride her on my own every day (well, 5 days a week), putting her a month or two ahead of where I thought we'd be. Kate is a wizard.

My goals for Eva for this clinic were simply to find out what she still needed to learn before I got on her, which I assumed would be sometime in September. When Kate got there, Eva had still never been saddled, bridled, long-lined, ground driven, ponied, or any number of other things I thought she needed to know before having a rider on her back.

So if getting to this point

First moment sitting on her

on the very first day Kate was here seems premature, well, I don't blame you for thinking that. But in the end, it was the opposite of premature. It was incredible. And it was no accident.

On Friday morning, Kate spent a long time doing groundwork with her. Figuring her out. Where she holds tension and how to help her work through it. How she reacts to pressure, and not just pressure applied to her head. How to help her feel and deal with her emotions, not just shut down and bluntly accept whatever humans ask of her. Doing many of the "advanced leading" exercises with her trying to establish that communication and bi-directional respect that underpins everything. 

She also taught Eva a skill that she had tried to teach Pyro and I on a virtual lesson last winter that just did not compute with my brain. In a sentence: you stand on the mounting block and hold your arm straight out and the horse, from wherever it is in the ring, even eventually at liberty, sidles up to you, puts itself in the right place for mounting, and stands there. 

Horse starts here (or wherever)

Horse ends here

This exercise does a few things. Obviously, it's great for mounting, but it also gives the horse a lot of control. You cannot force a horse into this exercise, there's no physical way. You can only ask, in kind of a vague way that almost doesn't have anything to do with the motion the horse has to perform. 

You just keep asking, slowly, patiently, and the horse has to figure it out, with the timing of your release telling them when they've made even a baby step toward the right answer at first, and a re-start of the exercise telling them "good job, but not quite."

For clarity, we started this exercise with me/Kate on the gate for more height and control, and then moved to the mounting block placed against the wall when Eva was solid with it.

It also teaches them self-control. They learn that their only job when in position at the mounting block (or gate) is to stand. No matter what happens to them. With less tolerance over time as they get good at it, if they swing their head around, or dance around, we re-start the exercise.

Eva soaked it up like a sponge, and was quickly a pro at the mounting block game. I mean, QUICKLY. She is so engaged with people, and has a quick mind for figuring out each new game. 

At the end of that session, Kate said "You're definitely going to get on her. Want to get on her later this afternoon?"

Record scratch, excuse me what?

Now here is where I say, that my actual reaction was "Sure!". Because as I have told Kate, many times in all of the lessons she's given me since 2016, I have thought "That sounds like total bullshit." But every time, whatever she is teaching me WORKS. So now, my reaction to anything she says is "That sounds like total bullshit, let's do it!" 

So, weenie adult amateur starting a green horse that has never even been saddled before bareback and in a rope halter after calling the horse to her on the fence Disney-princess style? Total bullshit, let's do it!

By this point, Eva had really internalized the idea that no matter what happened at the mounting block, it was her job to stand still. From the gate position, Kate had me start by rubbing her all over her back with my foot. Then walk away from it to release that pressure, and then we restarted the mounting block exercise. 

This time I got on. My instructions from Kate were "Don't sit up. Align your spines as quickly as possible while on your belly and then slide off the other side immediately."

That went perfectly. We repeated it a couple of times, and then the next time, I sat up. And just sat there. And breathed. And everything was fine.

To be completely fair, this was also the reaction the first time I sat on the only other Castleberry Cob I've started, Shae, so it has quite a bit to do with the generous nature of this breed also. But that was, let's call it a more traditional way of starting (since I was in college taking a class from an established colt starter)

At this point, my mind was thoroughly blown. And I had only just sat up there! But it was completely stress-free for both of us. It felt like I had not forced Eva into this, that Kate and I had created a communication framework between us, that Eva understood her role, and that she was not over-faced, even though on paper, it looked like we went from A to F on the alphabet and skipped a bunch of steps.

"Isn't it great? I start all my horses like this now," said Kate, beaming, as I sat up there trying to remember to breathe and still incredulous that I was sitting bareback on an unbroke horse.

A couple of months ago, while I was laying in bed, I got a text from Kate Little (you may also know her from her long-neglected blog, Incidents of Guidance) that made me sit bolt upright with excitement. "I've been invited to teach a clinic [exciting part censored, hopefully Kate shares this story herself], and I've never taught a clinic before. Would your barn be willing to have me out so that I could practice teaching people I don't see every day?"

I could not have been more excited. For her, for this big step on her career journey, and for the validation that the world is hungry for her theories and her teaching. For my barn, who never gets regular instruction. For me, for getting to see my friend in person. And for our horses, because man do the horses benefit from the things in Kate's head.

There is no one quite like Kate in the horse world, and I am a bit desperate for her teaching and training framework to come out to a broader audience. The cornerstone of Kate's teaching, both in the saddle and on the ground, is that communication with the horse should be a two-way street. Too often, equestrians turn communication into a one way street. Do this, stand here, do that, don't do that. Respond as quickly as my human reflexes want you to.

But what happens when you stop to listen? What happens when the horse feels heard? What happens if you take the time to learn how horses process information, and you use that to slow your aids down, but in so doing, speed your progress up?

In a sentence, this is what happens. On the first ride ever. Spoiler alert, that will have to be its own post.

Lest you think this is off-the-deep-end natural horsemanship with no practical application in sport, it's not. Kate teaches a damn good Dressage and jumping lesson, and has students at or approaching the upper levels of both sports. That's the point. This two way street serves everyone.

And who can forget the way a few virtual lessons last winter with Kate completely transformed Pyro's relationship with me? He went from being a horse I did not trust at all, to one that I do, and even the way he looked at me changed.

I could go on and on about how good Kate was. How well she explains things, no matter your skill level. How she makes you feel like you, yes you, can do it, no matter what "it" is. And how deftly she taught people she had never taught before. It was awe-inspiring, how much progress we all made this weekend. I will probably never stop trying to convince her to move back to the Midwest, lol.

Deb and Ivan took two groundwork and two riding lessons. Ivan is generally such a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, but if you watch the subtleties of how he interacts with Deb, you can tell he generally ignores her as a leader and does what he wants, moves her out of his space. Seeing him train a curious and respectful ear on Deb was magical. Also, Deb is a lifelong horse woman, but this was only her 9th lesson ever!

This is Kate pretending to be a cow that Ivan and Deb had to cut for some reason, lol

Yes, I can't make her wear a helmet. She's an incredibly youthful 70 years old, she can do whatever she wants.

Leah and Pyro continued the "advanced leading" (it's so much cooler than it sounds) that they started in online lessons with Kate, and they also worked on self-carriage and giving Pyro opportunities to be responsible for himself.

Pyro learning haunches in in-hand with Kate.

Baby self-carriage!

My mom!!! took a lesson with Connor. I gave it to her as a surprise early birthday present. She was so nervous, Connor was feeding off of her and wouldn't stand still for the first part of the lesson, but she ended up really enjoying it.

Poor Magnum. He's a saintly 17 year old Thoroughbred that has been used in countless H/J lessons over the years, and has everyone, including his owner and part leaser, convinced that he cannot possibly lift his back and use himself correctly. Kate got on and uh, yeah...it's not anything physical. But after a lesson with Kate, he had completely changed for both of them.

Magnum and his owner, Tricia, my college suitemate

Magnum and his part-leaser, who evented through Training as a kid but at this point hadn't had a lesson in 20 years!

Connor got ridden by Mary on Saturday and his part-leaser Sandra on Sunday. I was afraid a hole would be ripped in the space/time/horse continuum by getting Kate and Mary together. They are SO similar in their cerebral approach to horsemanship and their relentless curiosity and desire to learn. Connor was kind of a spicy twit both days, but as always, in a safe and fun way.

Connor was CONVINCED he couldn't possibly do anything except plow around on his forehand at 90mph until basically this moment when Mary finally got his number.

Sandra's first lesson in over 3 years! And probably her first time jumping in nearly as long.

 

Lisa brought Ffair Lady for my college roommate Christina to work with.

Lisa and Arabella having a respectful two-way discussion about leading.

I couldn't have been happier with the way the weekend went. It was fun and relaxed, but it was also serious and educational. It's the kind of thing I wish I could provide for everyone more often, but because I can't, that just means everyone else was that much more grateful for Kate's time.