Cob Jockey

I keep wanting to title this post "Disco's First Show", but I remind myself that no, this is his second show!

This time he's a little bigger.

But stop growing though!

This is the same WPCSA North Central Regional that we went to last October, only moved to July, and at a different facility 2.5 hours north of me because the facility 30 minutes down the road from me was booked this year.

"Where am I?" - Disco

This, as you might imagine, threw a wrench into my "I can keep a one horse trailer even though I own two horses because the only place I'll ever show both of them is 30 minutes down the road" plan. I still really don't want to or need to own a two horse, and I certainly don't want to sell a trailer I love just to accommodate one Welsh show once a year. 

Because I didn't want to put anyone out on account of my choice to own a one horse trailer, I decided to make three round trips to bring them there and back. Yes, that is 15 hours of driving. In two days. I reached levels of exhaustion I didn't know were possible, but I got it done.

Me and Connor getting gas at 10:30pm on a Friday

I was worried about how Disco would haul and handle it all, since he hasn't left the property since I brought him home in November. None of my barnmates were available to help me load him, so I had a non-horsey gym friend come out. 

I needn't have worried - he thought about it for a second, but hopped right on. He seemed to have a good time too, I saw him flapping his lips out the window many times over the trip.

He arrived and settled straight into drinking and eating hay, which is one of the things I've always loved about Connor, so that made me happy. Of course, there were also baby shenanigans because oh my god entertaining a yearling colt in show stabling is horse ownership on hard mode, y'all.

He broke two bucket straps making water art on the wall over the 24 hours he was there. TBF drinking out of a bucket was new and exciting to him, since he'd only ever drank out of a decidedly (mercifully) less exciting Nelson auto-waterer or stock tank before that weekend.

He spent that whole first night across the aisle from Lisa's horses but separated from Connor, who I would bring up at 4am the next day. Got his socks washed, got his feet rasped (my farrier is hurt and we needed to clean them up) and was just generally a good boy, or as good as a yearling with a need for constant entertainment can be, anyway.

 That theme continued into the next day.

I didn't even bathe his body and hadn't groomed him in a month before this show, he's just that soft and shiny all the time.

He was the only entry in his C/D 2 and under colts class, which was fine with me. We were there to get points for Lisa and to practice the whole show experience. To my delight, but not my surprise, he trotted in hand like an absolute champ, staying next to me as I ran quite fast (and I ran cross-country, so that's saying something).

After that, we had a brief break before we had to go in for the Sec C/D Champion class (all genders). I did end up putting a chain on him for that class - he was being subtly rude and pushy in the flat leather show halter in a way I didn't appreciate. He was MAD about the chain, but only in a "I want to make my opinion known," way.

Reminder: I'm 5 feet tall, he's not THAT big!

The funniest moment of the show was sadly not captured on camera. During the Champions class, the two stallions were on the other side of the judge's tent from the rest of the horses, putting Disco and one of Lisa's other stallions, Castleberrys Red Dragon, next to each other. As soon as the judging was announced and Disco didn't win, he laid down and rolled right there in the arena, I'd have called it a protest if I was prone to anthropomorphizing. 

But even better, Dragon saw Disco rolling and started rolling too! Then Disco started to get up, but got halfway up into a sitting-like-a-dog position when he noticed Dragon rolling, and he sat there and watched him roll for a while. Everyone was laughing so hard! What a Welsh thing to do.

One of the other handlers asked if I was going to tame his mane onto one side. HAHAHAHA. I would if I could, but he literally has two manes worth of mane. That's never happening.

So, did he win big again? No. But I don't care. He was well-behaved for 5 hours of trailering, a hot night in show stabling, being around strange horses, and being amped up in the show ring. These are the kinds of experiences I want him to have right now, and he exceeded every expectation I had.

After Mary's jumper rounds on Sunday, we headed out into the sunshine to take some pictures. As we came out, Jeffrey met us with Annie and said, "You guys aren't going to believe this. I pointed into the ring and asked Annie "Who's that riding Connor Pony?" and she said "Mama," and then said, "She's wearing my number!"

All photos except the last three are courtesy of Leah

Which was both adorable and impressive since Annie is not yet three years old! To be able to read a number herself the day before (we hadn't said it out loud to her) and remember that number overnight then recognize it on Mary's back from across the ring was just amazing. 

She then she insisted that we put "her" number back on her.

While that was going on, Leah caught Jeffrey having a quiet moment with Connor, thanking him for keeping his wife and child safe all weekend. Connor, though, wasn't taking it quite as seriously, and I treasure this picture, lol.

Annie then insisted that she be allowed to ride Connor back to the barns, which meant she needed a helmet, and we hadn't brought hers, so she got to wear her mama's.

I swear I will do whatever it takes to make sure this horse's step-down job is toting Annie around when he starts slowing down in a few years

He is just the best

When we got back to the stall, Annie insisted on helping take care of Connor, first by picking his feet and then brushing him. But she said she couldn't reach while standing on the ground, oh no, she could only properly brush him if she was sitting on his back, lol.

Mary held her of course, but she sat both forwards and backwards on him to brush him. This whole weekend felt like a huge step up in Annie's mastery of and enjoyment of horses, and it was pretty clear that the horse show experience had cemented her love of horses in ways that just hanging out at the barn hadn't quite done before. 

She's also getting more assertive about asking for things that she wants, like wanting to sit on his back, and has started to tell Mary "No, I'll do it myself!" just in the past month or so. It's so fun to live close enough to them to watch her grow up like this.

As they left, Mary gave me a big hug and thanked me for providing these experiences to Annie that she and Jeffrey could never provide on their own, and I joked that she should be thanking me for spending ten years preparing a leadline horse for her child. Connor never could have done any of this even five years ago!

<3

In order to understand why Sunday was such a big deal, you need to know that Mary has had some health issues over the last few years that have left her with far less confidence in her body than she used to have. And she also hadn't done a hunter show (her one true love) in over a decade.

All photos courtesy of Leah

I entered them in an unjudged warmup, then the low hunter division, which was two classes over 2' fences and then a flat class, and I told her if all she did was jump a single fence and then she told me she was done, I would be happy with that.

Connor: "Yesssss more hunter stuff"

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from him. He hadn't shown over fences in I think five years to this point, and the last time he did he was still squirrely about fill. And I hadn't jumped him over anything besides poles that whole time, when I did jump, which isn't often.

I don't miss this

So I was over the moon delighted when he just...jumped stuff. Like a normal horse. From the very first warm-up fence.

Call it what you want - him getting older, growing up, getting more confident in his body, knowing he had to take care of Mary, Mary giving him a better ride than I'm capable of - this was a totally different horse than I'd ever seen over fences before.

This was the most suspicious look he gave anything all weekend, and even this is pretty tame compared to 2012-2015 eventing Connor.

Confident Connor started getting a little too confident in the actual show ring, though.

I know what I'm here for!

As I said to Mary, the little guy has only ever shown over fences in eventing, so to Connor, this was a show jumping round. No one told him this was hunters.

"WHEEEEE" seemed to be Connor's theme for the weekend

They did their unjudged warm-up, where he had one rail, and then they did their first judged round, where he rubbed that same rail but left everything up, and Mary told me she was done.

They ended up placing 5/5 in that class, since clearly the judge didn't appreciate Connor's jumper aspirations, but I couldn't have been happier with them. Even the scratch I was on board with, both because I was so proud of Mary for Doing the Thing at all, and because the footing was SO hard, it was making me anxious.

Look at me, I'm a groom!

Methinks he has some hunter course practice in his future at home...

Oh my goodness, you guys are not even ready for the cuteness and hilarity of this blog post.

This year, our show offered a new class designed to give the Section A's and B's and their children something to do on Saturday: in-hand haybale jumping.

All photos courtesy of Leah

IT. WAS. AMAZING. 

They had warm-up rounds, a hunter round and then a jumper round, with kids ranging in age from probably 8-13ish. The rounds were a mix of ponies who were totally game, and ponies who knew exactly what they could get away with.

"Do I have to?"

Totally game

The most hilarious round of the day came from one of the smallest competitors, who had the most conniving bay pony. This pony was the physical embodiment of that "pray if it's a pony" meme. 

See, the kids were supposed to go around the hay bales while the ponies jumped them, but this pony was like "Dude if the kid's going around so am I!" and proceeded to do exactly that.

So then the kid reasoned that the pony was going to do whatever she did, so she tried jumping the hay bales herself to see if the pony would follow, even though I think that was technically against the rules. Which worked...for two fences.

...and then the bay pony was like "I'm onto your new game, kid, and I decline to participate" and started going around the haybales, so the kid was jumping the haybales and the pony wasn't. I tried to stifle my laughter so the kid didn't feel bad, but it was very very hard. Been there, kid.

This sequence is too good and must be shared in its entirety. Kid goes over...

Pony says nah...

...and goes around

For the rest of that round, the pony put as little effort into jumping the fences as possible, but the kid did get it around eventually. It was a great horsemanship lesson for the kid. And highly entertaining for the spectators!

Fine I guess

They've already said they're doing this again next year, and I already can't wait, hahaha.

Saturday afternoon were Connor's three English Pleasure classes: Hunter Seat Equitation, English Pleasure and the payback English Pleasure Stake. By entering all three, I would be eligible for the English division championship. I had to have a reason to enter Hunter Seat Equitation, otherwise I'm not sure why I'd put myself through this torture:

Those are some short stirrups. All pictures, as usual, courtesy of the amazing Leah.

While my Dressage tack was technically legal for HSE, the rulebook is very specific about the type of riding you're supposed to do in it (light, forward seat, knuckles at a 30 degree angle to the neck, that kind of thing) and the Dressage saddle would be working against me in that. So I borrowed Mary's CWD, jacked my stirrups up, floated the reins at him and proceeded to try to remember that in some sports, the way the horse goes isn't judged.

Connor's like why can't we do this sport all the time?

We ended up taking a deserved second in that class to, you know, an actual hunter. I wasn't mad.

Me: "Ummmm I'm supposed to lean forward I think?"

But after that, I made a quick dash to the barn to change back into my Dressage saddle which felt - ahhhhhh - so good after sitting in that pancake flat CWD. Mary's CWD is the super flat SE01 tree while mine is the semi-deep SE02 tree, so it felt flat even compared to my own jump saddle, which at the time was still in Florida.

Ahhh that's better - although don't look too closely at my tack. Black loaner saddle, brown jump saddle leathers, chocolate brown reins and my barnmate's chestnut 20+ year old hunter under saddle bridle

The two English Pleasure classes are judged based on just that - pleasure. Does the horse look pleasant to ride? Is the picture a beautiful one? So while I took up a bit more contact and rode more actively than I did in HSE, my main goal was just to not nitpick him.

And we ended up winning both of those classes as well, making us the English division champions for the show.

After Saturday, I was left with this feeling that it was pretty cool to see my horse coming in here and doing the things he's good at, in a show designed to show him off for what he just naturally is. I spend so much time doing sports with him that he wasn't necessarily bred for, and while he does well at them, it's not the same as participating in an event whose goal it is to show him off for what he is.

Connor to Leah: "Are you getting my good side?"

You thought I was proud of Connor by this point in the weekend - just wait for this!

Alllllll of these pictures are courtesy of Leah, and I think I speak for Mary and Annie's whole family when I say we cannot thank her enough for capturing this moment <3

See, Cobs don't often go in leadline. Section A's and especially B's are much more suited to being kids ponies, while Cobs are the stout "family pickup truck" ponies of the Welsh world, plowing the fields during the week, taking the farmer to the bar Saturday night and taking the family to church on Sundays, that kind of thing.

And I'm sure anyone who had watched the previous day's Ridden Cob spooking incident raised an eyebrow when they saw us put the tiniest rider in the show on Connor's back to go into the ring the next morning.

But.

"Oh this, this is mine, she gives me peppermints"

I wish I had video. He did his "Annie walk", taking one slow, deliberate step at a time the whole time we were in the ring. He couldn't have been more different from the fiery fella that galloped and spooked around that same arena with me 16 hours prior.

7 and under walk leadline is about the least exciting class out there, since all you do is walk, reverse, walk more, and then line up. But we never stopped smiling.

New favorite picture of the dream team everrrrrrrrrr

Mary and I's biggest concern was that Annie would be "done" and want off before the class was over, but we need not have worried. She LOVED it.

She ended up taking second, partially because she would rather hold the Wintec's molded plastic handle than the reins right now and it IS an equitation class (lol), and also partially (sigh) because I broke ANOTHER rule at a Welsh show! I actually did read the rulebook that morning, and it said the lead rope had to be attached to the "caveson". 

I die. The cute.

But I rationalized that Western leadline ponies don't even have a caveson, so surely they meant the bit? Why would you put a lead rope on the noseband in a situation where you need as much control as you can get, with a child on the horse? To add to my confusion, the TD even looked at my setup before I went into the ring and said I was good.

Nope, they did in fact want the lead line attached to the noseband. Luckily the TD, who was the same as last year when the whole Micklem debacle* happened, thought it was funny - both that I broke another rule and that she missed it. "Oh you, you're the Dressage rider that had the Micklem last year - I've told stories about you this entire past year!" 

She joked the whole weekend anytime she saw me, "Ok what rule are you breaking right now, I know there's gotta be at least one!" and she said she's bringing an award for next year's show to be given to the person who breaks the most number of rules at the show, which she expects to be me, lol.

Annie sure didn't care though. She was thrilled to get her little red ribbon. And she was extra thrilled later in the day when she won a pony ribbon almost bigger than she is for being leadline reserve champion.

It seemed funny that we were worried she'd want off before the class ended, because after the class was over, we couldn't get her off of him! We took pictures outside, then laid a pole out so she could "jump":

She's just starting to try "two point" for jumping now that we have these child-sized Compositis and the shortest Wintec webbers you've ever seen in your life

and then she rode him back to the barn:

where she insisted on picking his feet herself:

I could not have been prouder of both of them. Annie for doing her first horse show, and tolerating hunter hair (lol!), and Connor for being the best leadline pony there is. I was talking to Lisa, Cobs don't just do both Ridden Cob and leadline like that, so for him to do both so well, I was just bursting with pride.

Next year maybe she'll hold the reins, but we have a whole year to work toward that goal now, lol.

*Since it seems like I forgot to write about the Micklem debacle last year, I showed English Pleasure in a Micklem, and the WPCSA considers the jaw strap to be a flash (it isn't, it's more like a drop than anything else) and I was disqualified from my first English Pleasure class last year as a result, but they told me I could continue showing if I put the "flash strap" behind the bit. So I did, and I won out the division. It's hard to only show under this association once a year, their rulebook is a LOT more vague than the USEF's.