Cob Jockey

It's brutally cold here right now, a low of 8 last night, and I spent all of yesterday thinking "Please don't cancel my lesson.  Please don't cancel my lesson," because it was my first lesson and first time jumping in the new saddle.  So when I got to the dark, quiet barn, I thought "Crap..." and texted my trainer to ask what was going on.

"We're still on, I canceled everyone's lesson but yours.  I figured you wanted to try out your new saddle. :)"

Teaching in 15 degree temps so I can try out my new saddle?  She is the best!  And I told her so.

"You want me to do what right now?"

It was supposed to be a jump lesson, but it quickly became a Dressage butt-kicking, which we needed so badly.  She's very good at adjusting on the fly when she sees something she doesn't like.  So, we spent the first few minutes insisting that he not go around with his nose in the air.  Next, we worked on a 20m circle, changing directions through the center of it, so we turned into the center at 3, 6, 9 and 12 on the clock, creating an X in the middle.

We had to do that for a while before he really settled in and got to work, but once he did, it was fantastic.  Once I had him on my aids, we got off that circle and started working on keeping him honest at whatever speed I set him at.

Still very surreal...

She had me use my leg to get him into a working trot, and then take the leg off, and to make sure that was a BIG difference in feel for him.  If he slowed down, apply leg until he was back where I wanted him.  She wants him to feel like he is free to move underneath me when he is maintaining the speed that I set him at - that he doesn't feel trapped by my leg.

We used that to establish our '3' trot, and then she called out which trot she wanted on a scale of 1-5, 1 being almost trotting in place (and we did get there for a stride or two multiple times!) and 5 being that deliciously massive Welsh Cob trot.  She said eventually he'll have a 1-10 trot.

It felt SO GOOD.  He was so on my aids, so consistent in the bridle even in the jump bit.  He was also more focused on me than he has been in a long time.  That level of focus - where he is so tuned in to me he ignores the whole outside world - goes hand-in-hand with being on my aids.  She said I need to give him a reason to focus on me with changes like the 1-5 trot, and not demand his focus.  I definitely need to change up my training rides.

This is on-my-aids-ultra-focused Connor.  Warming up literally right next to tent stabling, with 20 horses warming up around us, and he tunes the whole world out.  I need this mindset to be able to put in a good Dressage test.

Then we finished by popping a vertical a few times, a reward for the pony and a test for my saddle which was amazing but this post is long enough so that's going to have to wait.

Keeping warm

At first glance, this is how the WPCSA show went today:

But at second glance, you realize that it was a sparsely attended show due to a number of factors, and it was actually some of the worst work I've gotten out of him in a while.  That said, I really enjoyed myself and am not disappointed with it at all.

Our heroes, with the white feet and tail painstakingly done at 10:30pm last night.

I think my fatal mistake may have been leaving the black foam half-pad with the slight back riser that we've been using at home.  He was tense, braced, and went around like a giraffe for most of my undersaddle rounds, and looking back on it, I think the saddle was not allowing him to move as well through his back as it normally does.  Live and learn.

Gallop, sort of.  Lots of fun!

Other than that, his behavior was laughably quiet.  I had a hard time getting him to take the in-hand class seriously, as he shuffled around like a bored pony even after I smacked him with my whip.  We did get to do the hand gallop in the Ridden Cob, which ended up being more of a quick canter, but it was still fun.  Since the show was so small, one of the judges stood and talked to me in the lineup about what I can do to show him off more, and that he has a really expressive trot even for a Cob that I need to highlight more.

As my final show heading into the off-season, my biggest takeaway is that I need to be able to have him on the aids as well at a show as I do at home.  He's lazy, quiet and less prone to spooking at shows (go figure), but he also likes to look around and will occasionally call for the other horses in the arena, despite being relaxed. 

I might have more to say about this show later on, but after staying up to watch my beloved St. Louis Cardinals win one of the greatest postseason baseball games in history last night and then getting up for the show 5 hours later, I am unable to process any more information!  Have a few more photos from the day.

Don't panic about his mane, OCD horsepeople, Cobs are shown "in the rough" at breed shows.

Connor's sweet ride

Whew.  It's been a while since Distracted Pony has made an appearance, but that was certainly the case today.  R, owner of the only stallion on the property (and a very nice one at that), was riding at the same time I was today, (There was more than one person at my barn at a time on a non-lesson day, amazing, right?) so I took the indoor, and the big doors were open at both ends to let the breeze in.  I've never ridden Connor in there with both sets of doors open, and it was an open invitation for him to be very looky and distracted.

Post-ride today.  Looking gooooooooooooood.

Because he was so distracted and I haven't talked to my trainer since his last two trainer rides, I kept it simple and non-stressful with lots of walking exercises at the non-scary part of the arena.  I purposely tap-tapped him with the stick when he needed it, and although he did shoot forward every time, it was really amazing how much that extra impulsion lightened him in the bridle and got him on the bit rather than behind it.

One thing I really focused on was keeping him between my aids during turns/circles.  When we started getting all that ostrich trot again in April, I focused heavily on the outside rein to remedy that.  Now that I've done that and been riding with so much outside rein, I've forgotten all about the inside aids during turns, which leads to him turning like a 2x4.  Since he's so sensitive to my aids, it's not hard to fix, but it does require that I ride astutely and with a lot of body awareness (both my body and his body).  Just like my former perching-forward habit that has now turned into a leaning-back habit, I feel like learning to ride properly has been a series of focusing on one thing, over-emphasizing it, and then dialing it back.