Cob Jockey

I've never wanted a jump lesson more than I did last night.  I didn't even ask what seat to tack up in, I just threw on his jump bridle, and a grab strap (which she recommended last week and I've never used before) and jacked up my stirrups to 12...

...and every single pole, standard, and long forgotten pile of fake flowers had been moved out of the indoor because someone is getting married in there on Saturday.  Sigh.

(Side note: Of all of the more beautiful places on this property, and all of the places that are easier to walk than our deep, shifty indoor arena, why would you choose to get married there?!  Side note #2: I am totally betting Mr. Congeniality photobombs their wedding since his paddock is right next to the indoor.)

Anyway.

Scarfing down his dinner in a cooler after a very hard lesson.

We ended up having a Dressage lesson in which the entire time, we did an exercise in which we started with a really small circle (I think to get him bending and on my aids), and then leg yielded out onto a larger circle.

It was hard and not pretty.  I told my trainer, "This is one of those 'sleep on it' lessons for him, isn't it?"  She said yes.

We tied our objective of getting him to be more responsible for himself/me to do less work into this by first asking for the leg yield out on a circle with a light inside leg, then if he didn't respond, a couple of boots with the inside leg.  The whip was too much, even the leg got him skittering sideways immediately.  That's the nice thing about this pony: I never have to ask for more of anything more than once.

By the time we were doing it at the canter, I knew what I needed: a small, controlled gait from the very beginning, and remembering to keep my outside leg on him especially in the small circle.  The 10m circle at the canter felt like this at first:


And I'm not going to say it got much prettier, but he did learn from it.  Once, going to the left at the canter, I felt him really bend his body, comfortably make that 10m circle, and then did the best leg yield out we got all night.  I felt him go "Oh, I CAN turn that small!"  Every single one before that and every single one after that was just okay, but that's okay.

Afterward we tried on his new grooming halter, a gift from my mom's childhood best friend, the girl who would scrounge for riding lesson pennies right along with her and then beg for a ride to the barn with her, my "Aunt Dawn":

I have never had a grooming halter before, but I can see it being really nice for trimming the goat beard!  Although he did shake it off one ear within 30 seconds of me putting it on...hmm...

Aunt Dawn and Connor at Fox River Valley

And then he got his 200g liner put under his sheet, because it's supposed to be a low of 27 with SNOW tonight!  What the heck!

I've been trying to find a way to start this post for a while...but no words could do a gift like this justice.  This showed up in my mailbox last week, fresh from customs, no explanation of who it was from:



It took me a little while, but I eventually remembered a text I got on my birthday from my best friend/Connor's Aunt Mary, saying her gift would "take a while to get to me".  I was just completely overwhelmed when I realized.

Since she is the third person I call after every event (after my mom and Lisa), she listened to me recant being 30 seconds over time at Fox River Valley and 45 seconds under time at Jump Start.  It almost feels like she's trying to ride along and keep me safe with this gift.  I had planned to buy one before next season, but this means so much more.

Thanks, buddy, you have no idea what this means to me!

Conformationally, he takes much more after their sire than Connor does, Connor favors their dam, but Cadence got their dam's liver chestnut coat.

He has a better shoulder and neck than Connor, and a better length of back, but you can still definitely tell they are related!

What a Cob!

The strangest thing happened last night.

Connor and I were jumping amoeba-sized crossrails by ourselves.  I had just asked for more speed, but was jumping in his loose ring instead of his elevator (which was at home in my dishwasher...) so I wasn't able to get his pace back down before the next fence.  I saw a long spot coming and told him through my body language, "Alright, that's what we're getting here, go for the long spot."

But Connor said no.

He not only second guessed me, he flat told me, "I know better than you what needs to happen here," compressed his body, got his hind end from flat to engaged, and got the extra stride.

It was:
1) The right decision, actually.  I was wrong.
2) The first time he's ever made a decision completely without me like that.
3) Totally against his nature to choose the tight spot vs the long spot 6 months ago.

Parked while I set jumps.  As long as I park him where he can watch me, he doesn't move a foot.

He's so empowered over fences lately!  Probably because we are seriously focusing on jumping for the first time ever.  Lately, it's been 3:1 jump to Dressage lessons, where most of the past three years have been 1:3 jump to Dressage lessons.  It's paying off big time, as he appears to be thinking critically (as much as a horse can) about jumping, and stringing ideas together from one ride to another for the first time.

I almost wonder if our jump rides were too few and far between for him to put concepts together like this.  There's probably nothing to that theory, and even if there was, I don't care.  Dressage is always first priority for us, but having a jumping machine is pretty fun too.

Last weekend, I attended my college suitemate's wedding:

3 of the 4 suitemates.  Teegan, on the left, got married.  After college, she rode with the Tempel Lippizzans for 3 years, and she continues to ride for her longtime trainer, Mario Contreras.

Teegan in their 2012 Christmas event.

And showing at Lamplight this year.

Mary's inventory.

5, 10, 15, 20, 25...thousand dollars.

Oh my gosh, yes, yes you're doing it right!  Cutest thing ever! Or, as Nick said, "That dude has some serious game."

It was a good weekend!

GUYS.  The cute:


Thanks to JenJ alerting me to it, I scored this used Nunn Finer Figure 8 off English Tack Trader.  I always thought he'd look good in a figure 8, but since I had other bridles that worked, I wasn't able to justify buying one unless the price was right.

"Hello, there."

If only he'd had that bridle on here, to complete the faux-jumper look.

Photo by my mom

Maybe this all won't be amazing to me 20 years from now when I've been through this process a few times, but for now?  It's freakin amazing.  I can point to this one thing and say, "This horse LEARNED this thing, and here's the two year process it took to teach it to him."

Getting more rideable all the time.

Google keeps Instagramming my pictures.

Drove 80 miles to watch him eat dinner...totally worth it.

Google automatically made this one pretty for some reason.

Blindingly white doors.

Tried for a conformation shot.

How not to take a conformation shot...meet my Western pleasure horse.

We had a good Dressage ride, though, and then when I got home (just in time for Colts kickoff, I can't be the only person who schedules rides around the NFL and MLB, anyone else?) my husband had cleaned the whole house and had a burger ready for me when I got home.  He may not come to the barn with me, but stuff like that means he's supporting my riding anyway.

A few days ago Andrea of Gingereventer Photography posted some photos she had taken of Connor and I showing in our first show of this year, doing the Starter CT at Heartland in April.  All photos credited to Gingereventer Photography.  Andrea is also a Castleberry Cob owner, she owns Castleberry's Rhyme, a Cob x DWB.

It's been so long, I can't remember what went wrong here, but clearly we were not on the same page about where we were going!

Much better.

Not putting any effort in over this one!

See?  Not quite as bad against a clipped coat.

Saturday, for the first time in my three years of owning Connor, I did a proper jump school without my trainer.

I haven't up until this point, because for a long time, I felt like I didn't know enough about jumping to fix things if they went wrong (and they often do).

But I am starting to trust myself over fences more lately.  I know what needs work: my lower leg, his rhythm, his hind end engagement, his jumping across, my body awareness, and I can't expect my trainer to magically fix that once a week.

So with the jumps set in the same configuration from Thursday's lesson (I just realized I deleted the post I was going to post about Thursday's lesson.  It was fences at crazy and tight angles to each other, requiring straightness, precision and good geometry, at 2'6.  Meant to complement our last jump lesson, in which we wanted him to think faster without much regard for geometry.), but lowered to pretty much cavaletti height, we got to work.

I think I'm going to start a photo series called "How tall things look from Connor's back."  You ever seen 2'9 from a 14.0hh horse's back?  It's intimidating the first time!  Anyway, this is proof that they were set for ameoba level.

There's something to be said for just jumping thing over and over, fixing things as you go, sure, but just taking a million jumps.  At this height, taking a bunch of jumps isn't an issue.

Thursday's lesson configuration, except for me the three jumps in the foreground were 2'6 verticals and the back X was a 2'3 oxer with a smallish spread.

What I'm excited about:
- Thanks to 2pointober, I raised my stirrups a hole just to see what would happen, and my lower leg is a lot more stable.
- I realized he was taking long spots in the beginning and asked him to kindly not leave out that stride thank you very much, and he obliged.
- When I rode asking for a lead on the other side of the fence, I got it every time.
- He's started putting in really quick simple changes of his own volition on the other side of the fence if he knows he landed wrong. This is the best, because it means the exercises we've been doing to get him to think quickly and for himself are working.

Jumping machines, at 12".

(I had some Blogger issues, some of you may see this twice, sorry!)

Three years ago, when I first got Connor, I was firmly against clipping.  I had never body clipped before, and believed in keeping horses in as close to their natural state as possible. I did an apron clip that first year, only because my trainer forced me to strongly suggested it.

2011

In 2012, I remembered that he sweated through his flanks a lot, and did a low trace:

2012 (The lines only look that straight because Austen did them.  Also, my trainer hated the "racing stripe" on his butt, so I went back and modified it to match the angled cut over the foreleg."

I tossed around the idea of full clipping on this blog in late 2012/early 2013, and asked for opinions on it, but I still didn't want to take that much hair off, even as I was currying sweaty 3" thick yak coat for an hour after my rides, and Connor was pretty warm during lessons.

In 2013, basically just due to clipper logistics, the first clip I did was a trace.  It was my first time clipping by myself, I didn't bathe, and those are not body clippers.  It wasn't pretty.


Then I finally did my first full clip in November of 2013, and I was amazed at how much better it made life for both of us over the winter - even in the coldest winter in recent history in this area.


These are the reasons I clip, and full clip:

1. Connor is more comfortable in work.  He's actually forward through the entire lesson instead of getting hot and sluggish partway through.
2. He cools out faster - pretty much instantly he's able to wear his blanket again after a ride.  This is important for him (so he's not standing around wet in winter, even with a cooler that's no fun) and for me (I would often get home from my 7pm Thursday lesson at 10pm after cooling him out + driving.)
3. He didn't get cold.  When it got down to -12F, he wore his 100g liner, 200g liner and 100g blanket for a few days.  Otherwise, he was warm and toasty all winter in 200-300g of total fill.  He runs hot anyway, so I often found myself blanketing him 100g less than I thought I would be at a given temperature.
4. "When in Rome..." A full clip with the angled legs, head left on and tail point is pretty much standard issue in our barn.
5. No shedding.  Last March was awesome.  Shedding a Welsh Cob's full winter coat is not fun at all.
6. It makes blanketing decisions easier, earlier in the season.
7. I didn't realize how much I disliked currying wet horse coat until I didn't have to do it anymore.
8. He's out during the day and in at night.  A horse on 24/7 turnout, I might try to leave more hair on.
9. A full clip meant I didn't have to cut long straight lines, which, see above, I am not good at.
10. And following 9, he didn't look completely ridiculous at early season events last year:

May of 2014.  I wouldn't love this picture as much if I was cringing at the horrible trace clip I did at first last year.

So that's my clipping journey, from totally against to totally in favor of clipping.  Yes, nature gave them hair, but keeping a horse in work through the winter is not natural, so we have to deviate from nature in order to keep them healthy and ourselves sane.

I know some people have already blogged about being on the clipping fence, so I hope this post helps you decide one way or the other.  Not every horse needs to be clipped, not every horse needs to be fully clipped, but when you find the amount of clipping that works for you and your routine and your horse, it's magical.

What's your clipping plan for the year and why?

What do you do when you get an unexpected 70 degree day in mid-October and you own a yak?

Headless yak, it's a special variety.

YOU TURN IT BACK INTO A HORSE!

There's a pony under there!

We got an unexpected 70 degree day yesterday, so I took a couple of hours off work in order to bathe:


Dry:

When I started the drying process, it looked like this and was quite warm.

10 minutes later, the clouds rolled in and it got chilly.  Perfect timing.

"Not sure why I got a bath, but I like grass."

And clip:

About half of the hair I took off today, which is about 1/3 of his total winter coat for the year.

(Remember this?  This is the "Hair Shelf" as Austen called it when we clipped him together the first time, with a fully grown in winter coat.)

Hardy northern breed = epic winter coat.