Cob Jockey

I need to start every warm-up checking in with my own body and with his.

Rolling with my entourage. PC: Leah

Adding those extra ten minutes on Saturday really helped. We've both noticed that starting my on-the-contact work with HI/HO on a 20m circle really helps Connor loosen up and get on my aids, and it also gives me a chance to check in with my position too. I need to warm up at home like I do at shows.

Plugging into my back has to become my default.

Connor: Learn how to riiiiiiiiide. PC: Leah

Otherwise I pull. And that's not good for anybody.

I only go off course when CGP is watching my test.

Studying my test in the USDF TestPro app. PC: Leah

Don't know what to make of this, and I acknowledge that it could be a red herring, but the only times I've gone off course in the last 5 years have been the first time I've done a new test and when she's watching. Something to think about and work through.

His dietary changes could have totally been the placebo effect, but I definitely had more horse than ever before throughout this show.

Still cruising along with more than enough horse on Day 3. PC: John Borys Photography

 

Still debating on whether to even write about what I changed because I know I often influence people to buy things (MEGAN), and I can't prove that what I changed caused the difference I felt. What I do know is that because of the timing of when he went to CGPs and when the show was, I was only able to do one conditioning ride before the show, yet I had more horse than I ever have before, stamina-wise.

2-2 can die in a fire.

Entourageeeeee. PC: Leah

 

If you voluntarily ride 2-2 for fun, I do not understand you, lol. 

 

If jackets are waived, it's not even a decision.

My jump saddle is so small, I can use it with a Dressage pad and you probably didn't even notice that until I said something. PC: John Borys Photography

It's not that I can't ride well when I'm uncomfortable, but it's definitely harder, and I've put together a jackets-waived outfit I'm excited about being photographed in. SO, yeah, unless it's required or it's cold, I'm taking my jacket off every chance I get in the Midwestern heat.

Competing at Waterloo definitely helped.

PC: Leah

It changed a lot about what I did at Pony Cup, from the timing of my warmup, to the decision to get a tack stall, to recognizing the need for a bunch more hooks and straps for hanging things, to deciding to change his diet. There are shows that I'll do that matter a bunch by themselves, like Pony Cup and ride-offs, but there will also be shows that I'll do that matter more on the timeline of my show season, and Waterloo is definitely the latter.

I don't normally do this because I prefer Connor sleep undisturbed at night, but given how much he was drinking at this show, I decided to spring for night check which included AM grain feeding, so we arrived at the show at a leisurely 8:15am on Saturday. 

Check out where all the competitors came from this year! It's truly a national show.

 

My entourage was starting to assemble at this point, with Mary, Erika, Leah, and a fellow Welsh Cob owner named Sue joining my mom and Lisa. My grandma and great aunt would be joining us the next day too.

Mary threw herself into show groom duties and I never had to ask for anything from her all weekend. Every time I looked over she was doing his stall or grooming him or clipping him or feeding him All The Mints.

At 20 minutes until my ride time, I walked over, and at 15 minutes til, Erika handed me an earbud and fired up Skype so CGP could warm me up virtually.

Erika also takes virtual lessons with CGP on her Castleberry Cob, so she was a natural fit to video for me, which I can't thank her enough for! She also wore the other earbud, so she was the only other person who could hear what CGP was telling me. PC: Leah

It was my first time doing a virtual warm-up. You'd think I'd be used to this virtual thing by now, but it was SO WEIRD to know my coach was two states and 406 miles away from me, because it felt like she was standing right there in the ring to my brain. Just like my weekly virtual lessons, it was just as effective as if she was there with me.

I still think stock ties are dumb, but I have one I like now so that helps. PC: Leah

 

Connor was kind of flipping me the bird in the warm-up, and she basically said, he's educated enough to know that he needs to yield to the bit when you ask for that, and he's choosing instead to stick his underneck out. You need to have consistent contact instead of this constant wishy washy give and take you're doing. It may take a lot of pressure at first, but stick to your guns.

Bird.

Being flipped.

She was not at all wrong, but I had to go in the ring shortly after she said that, and my squirrel brain that tends to take over during tests interpreted that as "pull on his mouth". And so this test went about as well as you'd expect, especially for a test I still genuinely think doesn't suit Connor. It had some nice moments:

PC: Leah

PC: Leah

But generally it was just a ton of tension and underneck, which as CGP has told me many times, that's when I will never get a simple change out of him. And I didn't get a single clean one

Tension. PC: Leah

And underneck. PC: Leah

At least one of us walked out of the ring proud of himself, lol:

Cheesing for his entourage. PC: Leah

But I was disappointed in myself. I know I can ride better than that. Why do I always ride so much worse in the show ring? I don't feel nervous. 

My disappointment grew when the scores were posted and I got a 61.341% and was one spot out of the ribbons by 0.1%. Which is the same position I found myself in at the last Pony Cup four years ago, just one level higher. I know it sounds stupid, but when I picked up my score sheet and they offered me one of the goofy NDPC participation ribbons, it felt like Groundhog Day and like nothing had changed.

On the positive side, it was my last time ever riding this 2-2 test, and I didn't go off course! PC: Leah

 

I spent a lot of that day thinking about how we could improve Saturday's test. She was very right that I was being inconsistent in the contact. I hadn't noticed it before, but I couldn't un-notice it after she pointed it out. I was also pulling, which meant I wasn't strong enough in my core. And Mary said it looked like I didn't take a breath the entire test, and she asked me if I had points in the ring that I set for myself to remember to breathe. I do not.

PC: Leah

I never do this since his stamina is such a challenge for me over long show weekends, but after consulting with CGP, I got back on him later that afternoon. I hacked him around the complex and then schooled in our warmup ring, asking for suppleness and submission to the bit. He also got some bodywork from Sue, which was an awesome and unexpected skillset among my friends that day.

When I was hacking the ring steward tried to get my attention and yelled "HEY YOU ON THE HAFLINGER!" I am annoyed to report that I answered to that, lol.

I went to bed that night knowing I would have to ride the pants off of 2-3 to be in contention for neck ribbons, which went from 1st-6th, and I was sitting in 7th (out of 9). I was not out of it, but I was very much on the bubble.

Boing. PC: Leah

On Monday, one of my friends shared a Dressage Today article about horses that have trouble coming back after a lengthening in the canter.  The author said horses like this often tend to travel with their outside shoulder to the outside of the hindquarters which gives them the ability to roll along unimpeded (my paraphrasing, I can't find the article now).

I don't know anyone who travels like that WHY DO YOU ASK????

That's something NK has said about us as far back as early 2012 - "This horse likes to travel diagonally!"  And while it's better now, it's still not great, and I've noticed he tends to go really well when I focus on containing the outside shoulder.

Connor's preferred method of travel

So I thought I'd play around with that a bit on my own on Monday night.  I greatly oversimplified it by thinking "I should be able to get 1-2 steps of turn on the forehand feel anytime I want them."  Sometimes I made it a little more dramatic, sometimes it was subtle, but it was non-negotiable. 

Perhaps taking it too far in the opposite direction here, but I needed to get my point across

I have a tendency to ask for something and accept a half-assed response from him, which now that we have things like SI and HI in our tests, is a real, visible problem.  In everything, I can't accept him tuning me out anymore (and really shouldn't have from the beginning).  If you want to see this in action:

This movement is travers (haunches in) from B to M

Okay...

Passable for our first time ever doing this in a test...

Wait what's happening here... (Please note we are halfway through this travers, which by the way is a double coefficient)

It was a schooling show so we got a generous score and "needs more angle" on this movement, which like...we're not even doing it here so...thanks?

Back with his shoulder plastered to the rail, because he totally has my number. Thanks Karen for taking these!

I am not qualified to say whether the ToF idea is the right way to go about things, but we did get our first c-w transition Monday night!  We got it once, and then we weren't able to get it again.  I did 1-2 steps of thinking ToF, then picked up the canter, then asked for it within 5 strides of takeoff.

It's much more difficult for me to get the ToF steps to the left than to the right.  It's partially because my right leg has a tendency to not be on him so he just escapes out that side rather than stepping under, but it's also just his harder direction to get the inside hind (yes, those two things are definitely related, and I am fixing the problems I created!).

Having a "discussion" up the long side

So in conclusion, this is yet another thrilling chapter in the dramatic saga of learning that inside leg to outside rein is important.  You're welcome!

I am so, so happy with this horse.

Opening halt.  Thank you Karen for taking all of the pictures in this post!

It was not a clean test, to be sure.  I definitely left some points on the board.  But it was such an improvement.  I was thrilled with it even before I saw we scored a 61.282% to notch our highest second level score to date.

But the second medium - eyyyyyyyyy!  This is progress for sure!

Most scores were in the 6.0-6.5 range with only one well-deserved 4.0 when he broke at the end of the counter canter in his tough direction.  (Note to self: need to ride with conviction and find a way to school in a standard ring every so often)

Counter canter in his easy direction is...easy.

Both of our halts were 7.5's, and probably would have scored higher except the judge wanted to see more "directness".  I'm still happy with both of them though:

Closing halt, good boy!

I actually don't think this will be our last show this season after all, but this test was the perfect setup for the off-season anyway.  I proved to myself that I've improved, he's improved, and for the first time in my three attempts at Second I don't feel like a total imposter taking a kamikaze run at things.



Now what we need is more and less - more angle in the lateral work, fewer (yes, zero, eventually) trot steps into the walk from the canter.  More uphill balance in the medium canter and less indirectness in our trot-halt.  More engagement and suppleness and less falling back to leaning on each other when times get tough.  All of those are nice, clear things we can work on over the winter.




It's been such a tough summer riding-wise that I'm taking a moment to savor this ride.  My rides for most of the spring and part of the summer looked nothing like this test and it was HARD to get through.  It's hard to know what the right answer is when you're stuck in the middle of a quagmire like that, but for me, tackling it head on with the help of my trainers was the right call.




This test was so far from perfect, but it represents a lot of progress.  He's been ready for this for a while, but I had to sort myself out before we could lay down a Second Level test that left me grinning from ear to ear for no other reason than 'it felt cool and we had fun.'

"That felt cool and I had fun!"

IDS Show, 1-3, September 2016:

Connor and I ran through our 2-2 test last night.  I really, really love that test.  All of the movements seem to improve Connor as the test goes on (maybe because these movements force me to remember to half-halt, hahaha 😳).  Even the canter work doesn't suck in this test, there are enough interesting things that happen in it that it doesn't feel like a slogfest.  (Ahem, nothing like 1-3)


The one thing we really don't have are canter-walk transitions, although they have improved.  But, I'll settle for a "too many trot steps" for now, since we've got everything else in 2-1 and 2-2 going pretty well.

We actually have a lengthened (maybe medium?) canter and a medium trot now - or at least as medium as we will probably get for the time being.  I laughed when the 2nd level Castleberry Cob's pro rider/trainer said last weekend that his mediums suck.  I've heard so many upper level Cob Dressage riders say they don't really get good mediums until they get the half steps that I have to believe it.

I'd take him, mediums and all.  PS - he's for sale!  Cleaned up at championships at Second, currently schooling all of third and some of fourth with a USDF gold medal pro rider/trainer in Colorado. PC: Me

The key to success is going to be KEEPING MY REINS SHORT. Everything comes up so fast in second level, if my reins get even slightly too long I suddenly find myself scrambling through the next movement.  If my reins are short, he stays put together and we can do everything pretty easily. 

Doesn't this Breyer look like Connor?  It even has the right number of white feet, although his are one foreleg and one hind leg.

Regardless of how the test goes and what the score is though, it's going to be a great weekend.  Sunny and a high of 68 degrees, we're in the good barn, and I'll be showing with Karen and Hampton and a few people from my barn.  If you're there, come find us!

I sent my entry in yesterday on opening day for my GMO's last show of the year.  That'll make my second and last test of 2018.

(90% of the reason I sent my entry in on opening day is that the first 30 complete entries get a food voucher to this food truck that comes to our shows with the most amazing breakfast tacos...#priorities #foodmotivated.  The other 10% is that I hope I earn enough brownie points to get put in the nice barn.)



I signed up for 2-2, which I've never done before, but it's always been my favorite of the Second Level tests for Connor on paper.  It's like it's designed to help me keep him on my aids with some of our favorite movements (turn on the haunches, travers, 10m half circles at the trot), and I really want to ride it once before the tests roll over this fall.

Dream team

Some parts of it will be a reach, but not such a reach that we'll totally embarrass ourselves.  The biggest issues will be the left 20m half circle counter canter (which we can do, but it's not as pretty as the right), and the half 10m canter circle to counter canter immediately after a medium canter.  And of course the simple changes, but even those are getting a lot easier now that I'm sitting better.

Which of you guys is going to be there with me?  Can't wait to see all my show friends again!