Cob Jockey

This is, I guess, less of a Waterloo retrospective and more of a "First 90 days with Kate" retrospective.

This is Disco's new LinkedIn profile picture

See what I mean?

I am at a loss for words to describe what Kate has achieved with him since March 5.

This DOWN TRANSITION, Y'ALL (The GIF sped the tempo up slightly, but it still looks amazing!)

Three months into training with her, he is the most educated horse I've ever ridden; there is such a difference between 'broke' and 'educated'. Connor got to Second Level, sure, but he did it without ever really achieving self-carriage, and so many of the foundational building blocks of Dressage just never developed with me doing all of the riding on him.

Disco feels light, forward, and balanced. Every photo of him I see, his chest is facing forward rather than down, and that's no accident: Kate's style of training emphasizes balance before anything else. He's almost never behind the vertical even for a moment, and the contact is SO alive and obviously meaningful to him. 

All of this gives Kate access to his body parts in the most fluid way imaginable, which is why the lateral work is coming along so well. He's already beginning to learn half pass!

This schooling show comment right here (not from Waterloo) is EXACTLY why I sent him to Kate!

The difference between how he goes with Kate riding him and how he goes with me riding him is so stark. He truly could show First with Kate and possibly even 2-1, but he and I together are a solid Training level pair. When I ride to my absolute best, he goes so well, and when I ride to my usual crooked baseline, he meets me there, confused but obedient. 

Insert potato riding, get potato horse

All that said, I could not have gotten him where Kate has gotten him on my own, which SO validates the decision to send him out, but I can learn to meet him there, and I'm hungry for that challenge. The way Kate trains him and the way she coaches me, I can see a path towards becoming the rider I've always wanted to be and feeling things I've never felt from a horse before.

For the first time in years, I could not stop thinking about horses for probably a week after Waterloo, and that felt so good. I truly can't wait to see what kind of horse I have when I bring him home in October.

Darn my GIF program speeding these up, it's really lovely at real-life speed

That whole weekend of Waterloo, I was struck by how different showing felt this time around, as opposed to the last time I did it five years ago.

Gone were the nerves, the score anxiety, the feeling that I "had" to prove something to someone. There is, of course, a bit of pride to it still, and a bit of wanting to show Disco well on behalf of his progeny and his breeder. But I couldn't bring myself to care about our scores in the 50s, or the score in the 60s -they just fundamentally didn't matter to me on such a deep level.

At any rate, I did tell myself that if I expected better scores, I should have, you know, taken a lesson within the last four years or maybe ridden regularly in the last three.

The overwhelming feeling I had was gratitude and awe. For the first time, I trotted down centerline on a horse I watched grow up from the moment he slid out of his mom, wondering for the next five years what it would feel like when we did this. We did it, and I was present enough to enjoy the moment as it happened.

I still absolutely took my participation awards home (low turnout in the Pony classes, sadly!)

I was also so grateful to be showing with Kate, something I never thought I'd get to do for all of the many years she lived in California, and enjoying hanging out with her fascinating (said with love!!) family and framily.

I also met Eventing a Gogo IRL for the first time after following her blog(s) for the better part of two decades! Hers and Aimee's were the first two blogs I ever followed way back when I started blogging in late 2009.

Disco graciously accepts molestation from total strangers

(It was the craziest thing, I made an Instagram post and tagged her in it, and then she APPEARED AT THE SHOWGROUNDS like I summoned her Beetlejuice-style.)

Possibly most important to me out of anything,  I was amazed at how well my five-year-old stallion handled the atmosphere. Sure, I know he's been showing since he was five months old and has shown three different disciplines in two countries now, but you still never know. 

He went around in a flat/knotted halter all weekend, drank water like a champ, and caused several people to do double-takes and look underneath him after learning he wasn't a gelding. 

The world's most champion drinker from the moment he got off the trailer, even though it wasn't that hot.

He was looky, sure, and a bit backed off at times in the warmup ring when these massive warmbloods rode close to us, but he was far and away a better show horse than Connor was at his first show, which is saying something, because Connor's always been pretty top notch.

His behavior in particular makes me so excited for what we can achieve together. He's just always ready to go to work, and I so appreciate that about him.

One more Waterloo post - riding takeaways next! 

My incompetence at reading a show bill saved my bacon bright and early on Saturday when the show office asked if they could move my 8:00am ride to 11:00am so we could do my pony class measurements at 10:00am. I couldn't believe my ears and felt like I hit the lottery with that one!

We had to do a jog for measurements which was a new one for me.

I ended up needing the time, as I had some fits and starts with braiding. The sewn-in braids I always did with Connor predictably did not work with Disco, and I switched to a running braid technique I had only ever practiced three braids of once. It ended up working really well, and I'll probably write a whole post on that at some point. 

This is a RUNNING BRAID. I'm still amazed. It wasn't too bad for my first attempt at it, although I'm me, so there are definitely improvements I want to do next time.

Kate had the genius idea of entering the same test for all four rides that weekend to really set us up for success. Even still, I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I waved the white flag of adult amateurism hard all weekend, and Kate was very gracious about it. 

Kate read my tests for me and videod at the same time, off of the same phone, AND showed her own Castleberry horse (Belgian WBx Castleberrys Opportunity Knox). I actually don't know how she did it.

For that first test, I had her warm him up for me (I actually didn't know you could do that in Dressage until Kate offered!) and for the first time, I saw that First Level horse she told me she had schooling at home. He was a completely different horse from when I rode him, and it brought into stark relief just how much my own riding would need to improve after I take him home in October. In a good way.

Pictured: potato riding

I also had Kate read alllllllll four of my Training 2 tests. My old trainer would have died of embarrassment, but I was incapable of embarrassment over that. The mental odds were very much stacked against me, and I was going to take every chance I got to offload some stress and ride to the best of my abilities.

This post is long enough, so I'm going to summarize the first three tests (with scores in the mid-upper 50's) as follows:

1. Baby horse does the thing
2. The canter aid is kick and pray right?
3. "Canter surprise", also, OMG there are HORSES OVER THERE DID YOU KNOW THAT

Kate had put a sophisticated canter aid on him (lifting the inside seatbone) that I am more or less physically incapable of doing on my weak side, which I demonstrated by doing leg lifts in the tack stall after the first test. As a result, the canter transitions were a bit of an adventure all weekend even though with Kate he picks it up wonderfully, and he never misses leads with either one of us.

That fourth test, though.

    4. Redemption

I went into the ring feeling confident we could put it all together, and we did exactly that. The showgrounds were a bit quieter, Disco was feeling properly bored, and Kate had helped us to a breakthrough with the canter transition in the warmup.

I had realized I actually haven't ridden many trot-canter transitions over the years. 5-year-old Connor came preinstalled with a walk-canter transition so good, I wasn't motivated to do much with the trot-canter. After I said that, Kate had me ask for walk-canters as if he was an educated horse, and the canter transitions got SO much better, even if they did have a few steps of trot in there.

More on this in the recap post, but "stop riding him like the barely broke baby you dropped off three months ago" was A Theme this weekend.

We ended up scoring a 62%+, and I told him he won the Olympics.

Takeaways post to come! 

In terms of show goals, my only goal for Disco this year is "Do Pony Cup," and at some point I realized that I should, you know, do a practice show before then. 

Despite it being rated, Waterloo was the obvious choice: halfway between us, and we've talked about doing it together for years. Her dad lives silly close to it, and with the facility for sale, we weren't sure how many more opportunities we'd get to make that slumber party a reality.

For sale! Please buy it and keep it a showgrounds!

Entering was such an ordeal in pretty much every way possible, including Kate's vet giving us shot/Coggins records with just stable names on a receipt printed on a dot matrix printer, and not understanding why that wasn't enough, and me not realizing that pony class measurements were only held on Thursday night (we would be arriving on Friday).

That last one ended up being a blessing in disguise, but we'll get there.

Our two stallions stabled side-by-side

It was so, SO good to see this horse again, guys. I really didn't realize how much I miss him or how much he's grown on me in general.

But man, as of Friday night, as we crammed a lesson in very quickly before sunset, I was not entirely sure entering my first rated show in five years on my green five-year-old when I hadn't really ridden in years and had never braided him was a good idea.

(lol)

Look at me, riding my baby horse at a showgrounds for the first time!

He felt incredible, nothing like the baby horse I had given to Kate three months earlier, but I was riding like a sack of potatoes. I could barely turn him, and I couldn't figure out his canter aid. 

Another competitor saw JUST this view of the boys when Kate pulled up and asked if they were Welsh Cobs. I was gobsmacked. In all my years of showing Welsh Cobs, no one has ever properly identified them, let alone from this angle! She made my day.

And complicating things further, in the three months Kate had him, he'd completely outgrown his saddle, and it was tipping me forward badly onto my pubic bone. I actually ended up riding in one of Kate's saddles, a Stubben that worked out wonderfully for both of us, and it's saying a lot that I never noticed that saddle all weekend.

The Most Chill about show stabling. Still has never needed a chain anywhere we've gone.

I had an 8:00am ride the next morning, with Kate's ride a few minutes before mine so she wouldn't be able to coach me. After my lesson, I said "I really think I want to scratch that first test, I just don't think we're setting us up for success between the fact that you won't be able to coach me and having to braid him for the first time and everything."

Kate talked me off the ledge, saying lets stay entered and just see how he feels in the warmup. So that's what we did. To be continued...

Yesterday I took the first big step toward my goals and took my first lesson with a new trainer, one that can see me in-person regularly, which I felt was important for Disco's first year.

I reached out to her because it was her barn that Castleberrys Encore went to just over a year ago, and she has done a masterful, patient job with him over that time. He went from being basically unable to canter even at liberty to cantering politely with his adult ammie rider, on his own schedule - she didn't rush him. I could not be more impressed, or happy for Encore to have found such a perfect home.

Remember Encore? He's 15.2hh now!

But I shouldn't have been surprised - she's taken multiple driving-bred horses to the FEI levels, has a passion for off breeds, enjoys bringing young ones along, and has a particular knack for understanding what it takes to bring a pulling breed with a naturally high neck set up the Dressage levels. 

High neck set, you say?

When I learned this trainer (who I will call BDT) has a regular rotation of barns she travels to for lessons and was willing to add me to that rotation, I was sold. Not only would that enable me to lesson with her more regularly as my weekends fill up with barn chores and kid sports, but it meant that my fellow co-op members could ride with her too.

Connor being The Best Boy for his leaser in her lesson with BDT

We worked on three things in this lesson, which will serve as my roadmap for the next month: forward, flexion and moving the haunches. I'll add a number four not-goal: "Don't worry at all about where his head is."

Carrying me forward - but not too forward - was the biggest thing. He tends to walk very slowly if left to his own devices and leaves me feeling like I need to encourage him with my seat. She wanted him carrying me forward in whatever gait we were in, and to "let the horse train himself" by using the next gait up to incentivize him into giving me the gait I wanted. 

"You fit each other really well," was one of her comments, and I can't help but agree. He's the perfect size for me.

So, if he was giving me his "slug mode" walk, I would bring him up to the trot and stay there until he was carrying me at the trot, then I would bring him back down to the walk, and we would stay at the walk only if he was carrying me forward at the walk.

#slugmode

This, predictably, both really worked and also led to the most trotting under saddle he had ever done, which was another thing I just needed confidence to start asking for. My rides to this point have been mostly 15 minutes or less, and Mr. Work Ethic really rose to the occasion on the longer ride. I keep forgetting he is not Connor, and he seems to thrive on work.

BDT was also not shy about telling me when he got too quick, especially at the trot. "It would be easy with a horse like this to turn him into a rushy mess down the line, it can't be forward at the expense of everything else. You still need to help him find his balance."

Outside of that, we worked on the very beginnings of following the bit, which was (surprise!) easier to get when he was carrying me forward. And we worked on the very beginnings of hindquarters control (asking for one step sideways with the hindquarters while standing still), which he understood quickly.

At the end of it, he had had a full probably 30 minutes of riding, and he had been exceptionally good. He was not exhausted, but he parked himself in the center of the ring for final questions like he was. It's hard not to trust him - he's just so reliable under saddle already, behavior-wise.

I came away from the lesson happy and fulfilled. It felt good to learn again, it felt good to feel like I know where I want to go with Disco in the short term, and it felt good to feel progress on him from the beginning to the end of the lesson. I'm really looking forward to seeing where she can take us.

Sleepy baby stallion slept good that night

Anxiety at A had a good post about having an identity crisis, and after Wordpress ate my comment for the 6th time, I decided to just turn my comment into a post instead.

When watching the Olympics this year, I was struck by how icky Dressage felt to me. Eventing gave me the warm fuzzies - lots of great trips, everyone came home safe, horses that looked like normal horses. And then Dressage - just going off of my own gut feelings, the horses that moved beautifully and normally to my brain never scored well, and the ones that did score well seemed to me like they were moving like robots.

Photo used with permission

I'm not going to turn this into some holier-than-thou keyboard warrior post, it's not that. This is about me and what I want. I don't want that. I don't want a horse that has been bred to move like a robot at the expense of its common sense and durability and a bunch of other things that are a lot more important to a 37 year old adult ammy with a day job than a 10 mover. I want fun, sane, sound, reasonably competitive but not so athletic that they throw me into the rafters because they saw a leaf on the ground.

The best parts of horse shows aren't even what happens in the ring

North Forks Cardi

It means that I know what matters to me, and I align my goals to that. It also means that I support the parts of the Dressage world that I believe ARE doing the right things for the right reasons. My goals in years' past have been things like "qualify for my GMO's championships" (my GMO is awesome) and "compete at National Dressage Pony Cup" (a championship show I don't have to qualify for that puts me on a relatively level playing field for once? Sign me up!) and "finally ride the counter canter serpentine like I've actually seen a serpentine before" (which is a real problem, OKAY).

National Dressage Pony Cup is just a FANTASTIC organization.

I don't buy a full USDF membership, I don't set goals like "score a 70%", and I sure as hell don't give the USDF extra money for qualifying scores. Qualifying for Regionals/Finals is not on my bucket list and I'm, personally, a lot happier for it.

That's not to say you should feel the same way I do. I am forever and always in awe of Karen getting her gold medal and qualifying for the big shows on the self-produced and saintly Hampton, who is not a purposebred leg flinger. She fought hard and persevered through a lot more on-the-bubble scores than most people would have, and I admire the heck out of her for it. Would I do the same? I'm not sure. A gold medal isn't tantalizing to me, although learning to ride those movements is. But I don't need scores for that.

Don't need scores for this either

So where does that leave me? Still here. I'm not "a Dressage rider" any more than I'm "an eventer". The sports I compete in aren't my identity. I feel comfortable supporting the parts of these sports that work for me and my goals and skipping the parts of the buffet line that don't. 

Could literally make a montage of Connor's favorite horse show activity, which is this

Whatever horse you choose to ride, whatever goals you choose to set, whatever sports you choose to compete in, whatever levels you choose to strive for, my sincerest hope for all of you is that you choose those things because you know yourself well enough to know that YOU want them, not because some governing body told you that you should want those things either directly or indirectly. It should feel good deep in your soul to do what you do, and if it doesn't, listen to that feeling. Horses are too all-consuming to feel otherwise.

Last week I took a trip out to visit Austen in DC. The reason for the trip was a bucket list concert:

Death Cab for Cutie (who I had seen before, in 2006) and The Postal Service (who I had not seen before because hardly anyone has ever seen them tour before) playing Transatlanticism and Give Up respectively, more or less straight through. Two incredibly formative albums for me. It was amazing.

but of course we also made time for ponies.

All photos by Austen.

First up, I had a Dressage ride on Bast. This is the second time I've ridden him in a couple of years, and it's always such a joy. He's safe, solid, and gives you the right answers immediately even if you're new to him and maybe not asking in the way he's used to.

Even things I really haven't ridden much of myself

For me, it was the first time I've ridden real Dressage since, well, last year when I visited Bast and Austen. I haven't ridden Dressage on Connor much since late 2021. So I'm not going to apologize or point out my positional flaws at all. They're there, but they were overshadowed by the fact that I've really made quite a lot of progress in not pulling. Like I know I've made progress on that since I started riding with CGP, but it was still wonderful to see it in photos (And I'm sure it's worse with Connor, being the old married couple that we are.)

Just me, soft hands, and a horse with a nice open throatlatch.

Later on that weekend, we took a trail ride. Mark on Guinness, Austen on Bast, and me on Chardy/Chardonnay/Charizard, who I also rode last year.

Such a good yellow horse

It's a shame that it takes an entire day of driving to get out there or else I would visit much more often! Just such a good weekend.

Horses grazing under the stars as we plane-spotted, since the farm is under the flight path for Dulles international flights.