Cob Jockey

On Easter Sunday, I pretty much had the barn to myself on a day with picture perfect spring weather. First I had yet another gloriously amazing ride, and then I turned my attention to cleaning Connor up ahead of our first couple of shows of the season - which his Aunt Mary was delighted by.

First up, a mane pull. 

Before

After

Next, I waffled on this, but I decided to take his feathers off again this year. He'll have enough grown back by October when the next Welsh show is, and we're battling winter scurf AGAIN on the hinds. It'll make it easier to treat, and also will be a little more Dressage appropriate than his sad little wisps are.

Getting better at this, but dang it's so hard on a horse with THIS MUCH leg hair year round

Coming out of winter looking pretty darn good!

Eat your heart out, Mary B!

Bring on show season!

If you were looking closely at my show pictures, you may have noticed something was missing...

His feathers!

Or maybe you didn't notice, because Connor has pretty wimpy feathers for a Section D once his summer coat comes in.

Seriously?  He just looks like an unkempt horse.

I have agonized for years over whether to clip them and fit in with the sport horse crowd, or leave them and fit in with the Welsh crowd.  My trainer is firmly on the sport horse side, so she was delighted when I sent her this picture:


I made sure his breeder was okay with it, and did it.  I don't have my own trailer, and so haven't made it to a single breed show in the entire time I've owned him.  I figure, people don't recognize him as a Section D visually anyway.

I caught some flak from Welsh people, but oh well.  I think we more than made up for our lack of Welsh feather flag flying in Dressage with our actual Welsh flag flying on XC:

Let your Welsh flag fly.

This is the time of year in which Connor has the heaviest feathering.  He's just now starting to shed his body, so the feathers will go soon and eventually they'll be their usual summer wisp:

Summer first, for comparison (back when we still used shavings, a long time ago!):

Summer wisp, with nothing down the back of the tendon.

This is what they're like right now:

So. Much. Hair.

He doesn't get to keep them this season, because I've made up my mind to clip him.  If only we could make it to WPCSA shows I might think about keeping them, but I haven't managed to get a ride to one in three years.  Time to clip him appropriately for the sport he does get to compete in!

I am a little sad about it, because I feel like I'm taking away his breed's calling card and that he'll get mistaken for a Haflinger more often now.  But who am I kidding, feathers or not, he's always going to get mistaken for a Haflinger.

I know about knee feathers from Connor's sire, but hock feathers?  These are brand new, like, last couple of days new.  Normally the points of his hocks look light brown with dirt, and they are often rubbed from playing/rolling/getting up, so I was shocked to see this hair there yesterday.  Is this a thing?  Despite the good laugh I am getting from them, they are getting clipped as soon as spring comes back to Indiana.

As I was watching Connor eat dinner and dry after my lesson on Thursday, I noticed with delight that his feathers have grown in thicker than ever.  I'm not sure if this happened a while ago and I just didn't notice, or if it's recent, but I am excited about it all the same.  I've always half-seriously lamented his lack of feathers compared to other Cobs.  I plan on showing him with feathers, (My rule is that whatever Cardi shows in, that's what I will show in, so feathers it is), so the thicker/more obviously feathered, the better, otherwise it just looks like I'm a lazy groomer.

Legit feathers!

I hope they don't totally shed out - I'm still learning about feathered breeds, and didn't realize that feathers also grow in/out seasonally until last fall, when I couldn't figure out why his feathers were suddenly gone one morning.  Always learning something new!

Comparison photos:

December 24, 2012 - some feathers, but not as much as right now

September, 2012 - wimpy, shedding-out feathers.

Running my hands down my horse's legs has always been a part of my routine.  I'm also really good at the visual run-down - feeding 50 head in the mornings before college will do that to you - but I'm finding that to be a completely invaluable tool with a drafty, hairy pony in the winter that triggers lots of false alarms.  Draft people must have their hands on their horses legs constantly.  Consider:

...but rearranging the feathers and running my hands down his legs proved that they were cold and tight, as always.

Have you ever heard of shedding feathers?  I hadn't, but then, I've never before owned a feathered breed.  I came to the barn on Thursday to find that his left fore looked like this:


See that one wimpy wisp of feather sticking out off the very back of the fetlock?  That's it!  For comparison, the other feet look like this one: