Cob Jockey

Emma asked about Connor in the comments of the last post, and since I just sold his Patrick Dressage saddle this week (to a blogger!) it seems like a good time to talk about what he's up to.

Being loved on by children

I had a lot of emotions wrapped up in that Dressage saddle. My first, and probably only, custom saddle purchase. It was well over 2 years of research, searching and waiting before I finally got it, and we were going to get our bronze medal in it. It's just the way of the universe that after all that I never even showed in it, or even really took regular lessons in it.

Truth is, not a lot has changed since this post. Connor is sound, healthy and happy, but he was getting to a point in Dressage where it just wasn't fun for either one of us. That happened around the time the most tumultuous 24 month period of my life began, and I stopped riding, even though it took me until basically now to start calling him "retired."

That Dad Bod is a far cry from his Second Level bod, and he's earned this bod just as much

Connor, at 19 this year and sound as can be, owes me nothing. He gave me everything - the opportunity to try sports I had only dreamed about, the chance to go further up the levels than I thought I ever could in both Dressage and eventing. He put up with me riding him quite poorly for long periods of time before I learned better and yet he never tossed me (I've still never come off of him one single time in 13 years) and he still nickers at me every single time he sees me. And I will cheerfully pay his room and board for the rest of his life if that's all he ever gives me.

Annie and momma riding next to each other because Annie is finally ready to be off the leadline

But he IS still giving. He's got a part-leaser who rides him about once a week, a former co-op member who lost her heart horse a couple years ago and decided to take a break from horse ownership. He's got two little girls that, when it's not miserably cold out, come take pony rides on him. He's quiet enough for me to put anyone on him, but educated enough to still be a blast for a more advanced rider. 

Let's also not forget the fact that babysitting Disco is a very important job too - without Connor, Disco wouldn't have a turnout buddy. Connor would definitely prefer a less boisterous turnout buddy at his age, and I'm grateful to him for putting up with him.

Sorry, buddy.

In a perfect world, either I or the part-leaser would be riding him more than we are just to keep him moving, but I'm not beating myself up about the fact that I don't have the bandwidth to keep two horses going, work my full-time job and still handle farm chores and maintenance. I still hop on him occasionally, but he's not in any kind of steady work, and he probably never will be again unless the right on-farm lease situation pops up.

He's my heart horse, forever and always, and it's such a privilege to be able to give him a sound, happy retirement after all he's done for me.

It's been a while since Mary could make it out to the barn, but two weekends ago we made the most of it by ponying Disco for the first time!

But first, Annie learned how to move the good shavings out of the way to get to the pee spot <3

And don't worry, she got some riding time too. Look at how well she sits in the saddle already!

I don't know when the "right" age to starting ponying is, but I'm sure I waited til the right time to start it with Disco. It wasn't until recently that I felt like he understood work enough, respected human bubbles enough, and was capable of NOT playing with Connor for long enough that ponying would be a success if we tried it. I still expected some shenanigans even still though.

...and I could not have been more wrong.

He was...perfect. 

We set him up for success in a couple of ways. One, he understands now that the surcingle and pad mean "work time", so I put them on him as a signal that this was going to be work and not play. Two, I decided to put Mary in the saddle and me on the ground. Mary has better reaction time in the saddle than I do, and she hasn't had as much experience handling him on the ground as I have, so it was a logical choice.

And of course, Mary was also the right choice to run this show because of what a good horsewoman she is. She broke it down into a dozen tiny steps, each done on both sides of the horse so each eye/half of the brain had a chance to see and understand the process.

First we walked them alongside each other, gradually getting closer.

Let's be honest, this was as much or more about getting Connor comfortable with it as it was about Disco learning it. Connor was more uneasy about all this than Disco ever was!

Then we stopped and she slowly worked Connor closer and closer to him, around and around while Disco was standing still, stopping occasionally.

Connor, for his part, thought this was all very suspicious but he played ball. He was very offended when I had to swing the whip at Disco, though!

Next she introduced him to the stimuli he might feel while being ponied, rubbing a Dressage whip over his body before graduating to touching him from above.

Disco: Curious. Connor: Tolerating this shit.

And finally after a good long while, we were ponying. As the ground person, I was only there in case things really went sideways, Mary had full control of him the whole time. 

You could see him concentrating, trying to figure out this new game, trying to figure out how and when to move, coming to understand that when he hit the end of the line he needed to move forward, and when Connor moved, he moved.

Connor had his Suspicious Spooky Ear on Disco the entire time, lol.

Basically the only disobedience the entire time that Mary had to correct was Disco putting his nose in her bubble, being curious about what she was doing up there. She'd push him away, and if he didn't get the memo, he got a swat with the blue sparkle star crop (that Mary bought me as a joke in college like a decade and a half ago, lol. Who knew she'd be starting my own baby with it all these years later?) 

You can clearly see him testing boundaries, finding one, going "Oh, okay," and then going back to being compliant in the below GIF.

Since the first time ponying went flawlessly, I fully expected him to start testing boundaries the second time, when we revisited it a week later with Leah. Connor was always like that with new things: sort of overwhelmed and ultra-compliant the first time, then the second time he'd spend the entire session scheming and testing ways to get out of the work.

Who, me?

But once again, and this time with me in the saddle for the first time, he was...perfect. And this time moving as much or more off of my voice commands than simply following Connor.

In some ways, Disco is lazier than Connor. I think he's going to be physically lazier and not as reactive to stimuli. But in others - mentally, mostly - he's got so much more of a work ethic than Connor ever has. It keeps surprising me, but at this point, I guess it shouldn't.

Good ponies.

Last weekend we had our first early taste of spring. And it was glorious.

It was warmer than it has any right to be in early March, going from wool socks to tanktops in the same week, but I'll take it! On Saturday, Mary, Annie and Jeffrey came down and helped me and Leah put up electric rope around Connor and Disco's turnout field. We used EasySnap insulators to do it, and I can't say enough good things about them. It went SO fast.

They just snap onto the vinyl fence and then you put the rope through and click it shut.

I left the boys in the field while we did it, and we all just kept an eye on them. Disco thought it was THE COOLEST THING THAT HAD EVER HAPPENED TO HIM!!!!! and alternated between checking out our supplies and running around like a maniac.

Connor looking oh so fit lately, if I do say so myself

After that, Annie rode Connor, then I rode Connor, then Jeffrey, Annie and Mary all rode Zippy, Disco's geriatric buddy.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the three of them ever. Look at Annie finally fitting into the breeches I bought her two Christmases ago! We used to have to roll the heck out of them.

Sunday was more of the same in terms of weather, and I was motivated to get my life in order.

Making a month's worth of supplement baggies for the boys:

Putting the first coat of polish on the Celeris stiff boots I can finally ride in now that it's not freezing cold:

These are going to age so beautifully. I cannot wait.

Cleaning my jump saddle:

And the Fairfax bridle got fully disassembled and cleaned:

It felt like the world took a deep breath last weekend, and even though they're projecting snow and a high of 33 this coming weekend, we're getting closer and closer to spring.

About a month ago, I was first made aware of LeMieux dropping these super cute stuffed ponies that had tiny accessory sets with them. Pretty quickly though, I saw a second post on social media about a small business that's been making something very similar for much longer.

I'm not getting into all of the details or passing judgment - it does look bad, but I don't have the whole story, and this is not a gossip post. I share this only to explain how I found the original Crafty Ponies and bought one for Annie's third birthday this month:

Crafty Ponies is a UK-based business that makes stuffed ponies with braidable manes and tails, as well as (unlike the apparent LeMieux knockoffs) an enormous range of accessories to go with them. And I do truly mean enormous.

You can actually shoe them! Note the shoe on the pony's back hoof.

There's even, no joke, an intestinal parasite accessory kit, hahaha.

It's basically an American Girl doll for horse kids, but with the added bonus of being educational. Each item includes a detailed instruction manual and activity book, and despite everything being a child's scale toy, they treat all aspects of pony care as if it were real. 

Mary and Jeffrey try to provide "Annie-sized" tools in all aspects of her life as much as they can, and these grooming tools are perfectly sized for a small three-year-old's hands. Bluetooth headset for scale.

I bought Annie a pony, the grooming kit and a halter and lead rope, and each product came with its own extensive instruction/education booklet, containing information like how to safely lead your pony, how to tie a quick release knot, how to do different braids in the pony's mane and tail, etc etc. It had to have been 50 total pages of content across the four products! 

The idea behind this educational part of Crafty Ponies is that every skill the child learns on the stuffed pony will directly translate to real horses, so they go far out of their way to make every item and every piece of tack identical to the real thing.

The best part for me as the doting aunt is that until she outgrows it, I have years of birthday and Christmas presents lined up, lol. For Christmas, she's getting a bridle and a saddle (or maybe I'll spend the extra $15 for the English leather upgrade, not sure), and then maybe next year when she's four we can get into some of the more technical items.

They sell tiny riders with XC body protectors! Also the pony has a mouth, so the bridles do actually have bits.

Annie, for her part, totally loved it. It was just icing on the cake that each Crafty Pony comes with a "CP" monogram on the butt - for Crafty Pony, naturally, but since Annie calls Connor "ConnorPony", it just made the whole thing extra perfect.

And as I knew she would, Mary got right to work braiding the pony's mane and tail, lol. Her non-horsey mom was even able to put a hunter braid into the tail while Mary and I were gone that day, just by following the instruction booklet. Fun for kids and adults!

Putting a running braid in while talking to her mom

Bottom line: This is an outstanding Christmas present for young horse-crazy kids ages probably two and up. At two, it's just a cute stuffed animal, but as kids get older it can be a fun teaching tool also.

This is the "chestnut" Crafty Pony. They also have a palomino that's much lighter in color.

What: CraftyPonies

Where: https://www.craftyponies.us if you're in the US, https://www.craftyponies.shop if you're in the UK

Price: The pony is $41.95 and then the accessories range in price from about $5 to $75 for some of the more intricate leatherwork, such as the Western saddle/bridle set.

Disclaimer: I bought this with my own hard-earned money, don't know this shop owner and am not receiving any compensation for this review.

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

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.