Cob Jockey

Whew. It has been a heck of a *checks notes* six weeks since I last posted.

Between end-of-summer vacations, big (good) changes at my CrossFit gym, rallying my neighbors to get the BZA to deny a variance that would have allowed an extremist school to be built on the wildly dangerous road across the street from the farm (two days after the clinic, ugh), fill-in coaching 6am CrossFit for a week straight, and hosting a bigger-and-better-than-ever Kate clinic, coming into Labor Day Weekend last weekend felt like slamming to a stop at the end of a roller coaster. Especially since most of that was within the last 10 days.

But it was all worth it. The school did not get its approval and will have to be built somewhere much safer, the gym is still humming along, and the Kate clinic was absolutely epic in every sense of the word. 

Our city's art and architecture biennial had just gotten kicked off the week before the clinic. The exhibits are so good this year! Me, Kate and Liz had a blast exploring them.

 

This year, we did four days of the Kate clinic, which we very nearly but not quite filled. We also had outside overnight haul-ins for the first time, which was good for all of us. Including Disco, who was very excited by having new horses around, and that's a great thing for him to get used to.

STAN SIGHTING

It was exhausting and amazing, and as always, a learning experience for me as a clinic organizer. There's no guidebook for this stuff, and Kate has been very patient with me as I learn a little more each year we do this. The weekend before the clinic, I managed to get the speakers working in the indoor for the first time since I've boarded here, which was a big improvement over the first year when Kate was losing her voice!
 

Mary doing groundwork with our little pocket rocket Nykur

Disco did wonderfully and we both got a lot out of it, but that will have to be a story for a different post.

 

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.

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.

Finally, I didn't get to see much of Leah's lessons with Missy because I was running around grabbing lunch and doing other clinic organizer things, but can we talk about how cute the faithfully following dog is? Aaaaadorable.

 

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.

Yesterday Disco participated in his first ever clinic, and I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say it was a turning point.

There was drama, though, lol

My barnmate has been working with this trainer remotely for years now and wanted to bring her in for a clinic, so I agreed to sign Disco up for a groundwork session to help fill it even thought I knew very little about her.

This clinician is the type of older salt-of-the-earth horsewoman that everyone needs in their lives. She's spent her whole life training horses and has raised over 100 foals. She can ride too, and did in the clinic, but at a fundamental level she just speaks horse. She speaks body language, she speaks intentions and she firmly but fairly insists on good behavior.

And she pushed Disco's buttons in a way I needed to see, in a way I should be doing. And he did not appreciate it.

The GIF above was his first of several outbursts over something so small as being asked to move forward or respect the handler, and to be honest, I was shocked. He's been so docile for all of us to handle even as his hormones come in, but after the clinic I can see that that's only because we've not pushed him on the little things, and slowly, almost invisibly, he's trying to start to boss us around. That's not good in something that has testicles.

Still young enough to be led past my barnmate's mare quietly but not for long!

The clinician was nothing but fair to him even when she really got after him. She wanted him to stay out of her space. She wanted him to respect her as the cranky old broodmare and not see her as the play buddy. She wanted him to walk when she said walk (with his eye below her shoulder level), stop when she said stop, and not put his head to the ground, which she called an attempt to exert control over the handler.

And all of this was...hard. So surprisingly hard for an animal four amateurs handle twice a day every day with no issues and nothing but a flat halter and lead. But I needed to see it.

This isn't the post where I'm going to dig deep into what we did and the methods I used, although I will later. This is the post where I talk about his reaction to being asked to submit to something he didn't want to do, and it wasn't even WHAT we were asking, it was that we were trying to boss him around at all. 

He was mad.

Even after he begrudgingly respected the clinician and his body was obeying, his tail clearly conveyed how mad he was

Although I've only seen it once or twice, it struck me that I have seen this before, for his default reaction to be on the anger spectrum, like when Lisa haltered him for the first time.

He did come around. After maybe ten minutes of fireworks, he clearly respected the clinician and was paying attention to her in a way he didn't in the beginning, although his pointed tail swishes conveyed that his mind hadn't fully submitted even if his body was compliant.

At this point she asked if it was okay that we split the session to preserve his baby attention span, so we put him back in his stall while she worked with another horse, then in the second half of the session about 45 minutes later, I did the majority of the handling.

For this session, he was foot perfect for me. Very "yes ma'am" and very clued into my body language. I realized how much he had been getting away with before, even if it was something as subtle as him taking an extra step after I stopped, or him not immediately walking off with me when I start walking. 

He was also foot perfect for me the next day, although he was a little jumpy. That was understandable, we had rocked his world pretty hard and he was no longer the center of it. 

After digesting all of this for a couple of days and a good talk with Lisa last night, I'm so glad I did this clinic. This came at the right time, right when I needed to step up and be a leader and put him in his place enough to keep him from being dangerous as his hormones come in. It gave all of us (because the ENTIRE co-op watched this lesson!) tools to use to handle him safely. And it gave me a frame of reference for what I should and should not accept in terms of behavior from a young stallion.

I think I'm going to look back on this as a turning point in our relationship in all of the best ways.

I'm so glad I did the second Mary clinic this year.  In May, my first time riding with her, I got two private lessons because the clinic didn't fill, and it was absolutely an overwhelming amount of feedback.  If the second clinic had been like that, it would have been hard.  But it wasn't like that at all, and it wasn't just because I was in the more normal semi-private rides this time.

This time, she gave me a LOT of compliments for my improvement since May.  If you remember in May, she was almost apologetic, was somewhat reluctant to get after me as much as I needed it, and wished it wasn't my first exposure to her methods.  I get the feeling she's taken some heat in the past from riders who were angry and embarrassed the first time they rode with her, which is a shame.

If you know me IRL, you know my torso is much less box shaped than it looks right here, which is a great thing because it means my bear down is strong.  Yes I'm crooked, but I've figured out something big in relation to that since then, and that's a post for another day.

This time around, she had piles of compliments for me - about how much more organized we were, how much better I was at controlling the tempo, how "overall you've done a great job", how I was using my suction cup seat even though she hadn't covered that with me yet, and more.  She also called me and CGP the only two high tone riders in the clinic and said everyone else needed more tone.  That's not always a good thing depending on which type of horse you're riding, but I'll take it anyway.

The walk we got immediately after she asked me to slow the tempo of the walk with my seat

I don't live for external validation, but man, I couldn't have been happier if she had given me an actual ribbon.  These past couple of years have been such a struggle biomechanically, I'm going to keep that "well done, you" in my head for a long time to come.

Some of my main problems now are:
- My right foot moves a lot when I post (but my left one doesn't)
- When I go to put weight in my thighs, I put it into my knee more than anywhere
- When I go to put weight in my thighs, I tighten my glutes because I have a hard time separating those muscles

Mary with her hand under my butt trying to help me find my seatbones.  If you aren't comfortable being touched more or less literally anywhere, this isn't the clinic for you.  She has no chill about it, in the best possible way.

- Posting too hard and too fast (which means I've overcorrected from where I was in May, so that's not a bad thing but it does need to be fixed now)

Mary describing how I was posting, and what the chewing gum image should do to fix it (see next section)

- Not keeping my back "edge" on the saddle in the canter

Describing back edge in the canter (before I've even cantered for her, she gave me a bunch of positional cues just based on how I rode at walk and trot)

Some of the cues she used to fix the above on the first day are:
- Lengthened my stirrups three (half) holes.  Remember this is the first time I've ridden for her in this saddle.
- At posting trot: making sure my knee points down and my thigh rotates over my knee, to avoid making the rise by pushing into my heel
- The criss cross laces I mentioned in my previous post
- Hooking two fingers under one side of my gullet and using them to snug the opposite thigh into the saddle properly
- Thinking about my knees being connected to a steel bar going between them that prevents them from pinching
- Thinking whether I can feel my seatbones on the saddle or not
- Thinking about posting with wads of chewing gum on the saddle that make strings to slow my rise and draw his back up slightly with me.  But this does NOT mean I should do an "incomplete windshield wiper" and not make it all the way up like I used to.  Same rise, slower.


Also - we have graduated to cantering with Mary!  If you remember, we only walked and trotted in May.  On this first day we didn't mess with it much, beyond talking about needing to get my back edge down.  She said my bear down is stronger in canter than trot. 

I'm annoyed with how much less my hands move in canter than walk and trot after reviewing the video - hence the head nod.