Cob Jockey

Connor and I took our first trip with the new trailer last weekend, to a lesson with NK and then to his breeder's for a couple days of fun.  We are both so in love with this trailer, it's completely changed the way I feel about hauling.


On paper, my old trailer with one pony in it was fine for my truck, a 2005 GMC Sierra Denali with a 6.0L V8 and every available option.  And I did haul with it for two years without feeling unsafe. I know there are others out there towing more trailer with less truck.


But I cannot overstate how much safer it is, how much easier to handle, and how much better for Connor it is that I now have 1,400 fewer pounds behind me.  If I was adequately trucked before, I'm overtrucked now, and guys, it is SO much safer.

It was a beautiful morning as I was leaving the farm on Friday, but also, I can practically see the back door of my trailer with non-towing mirrors now.

With the KB, I had to plan ahead for stoplights especially on the 55mph state highway we travel regularly, because I needed more time than the yellow light afforded me to stop gracefully enough not to jostle Connor.  I was very much reliant on the trailer's brakes to stop it, and Connor felt that.

With the Shadow, I can brake normally, (even loaded it feels like I'm just driving the truck without the trailer), and stop gently within a yellow light from 55mph, no problem for either me or the horse. 


The Shadow exerts a lot less tongue pressure on the truck (you can see how much less the truck squats with the Shadow in the photos above), is shorter, and is lighter, all of which make day to day towing easier, but also could be the difference between a wreck and avoiding a wreck if I ever find myself in a less-than-ideal towing situation.


Most importantly, Connor is the happiest in the trailer I've seen him in years.  He actually ate hay on every leg of our trip, something he never once did in the KB. 

Further proof he's happy: In the KB I had to unload him with a Dressage whip because he'd shoot backwards the second I opened a door.  When I open the Shadow's door, he stands there contentedly staring at me with a leg cocked, in no hurry to get off.

It's so shiny, I kept finding myself getting freaked out by the reflections off the nose during my first nighttime haul.

I'm not trying to call out anyone hauling a bigger trailer with a half ton like I was before.  It WAS adequate in normal driving conditions.  Getting a rig at all is expensive and hard, and getting the kind of truck to trailer ratio you get with a half ton/1H trailer either requires downsizing the trailer or buying a bigger truck - and trucks are so stupidly expensive!

But I hope everyone can get to a point where they're overtrucked when they haul someday.  It's hard to get a frame of reference for hauling when most of us ammies haven't gotten the chance to drive many different rigs, but now that I know how hauling this one feels, I think if I had the KB back I'd get a 3/4 ton. 

Any other haulers have a "heavens opened up and angels sang" revelation like this?

I waffled most of the week on whether or not to take my Thursday lesson.  Connor is settling well into the new place on the ground, but under saddle he's been a lunatic all week.  Screaming, tense, spooky, won't relax.  I even had to one rein stop him into the wall of the indoor on Tuesday after he took off  (Cob version of "took off", anyway) when a horse being ridden by outside the indoor scared the daylights out of him.

His OTTB friend, who can't live without him.  Thankfully Connor likes him, but doesn't feel the same way.

I know that I'm dealing with a "worrier" of a horse who just needs time to learn that nothing here, specifically while being ridden, is going to kill him.  And I wondered if going "home" to my old barn so soon after moving would blow up his fledgling sense of normalcy at the new barn.

The new normal.

But, in the end, my trainer and I decided that we needed to get a good ride in SOMEWHERE, and since we're not going to get one at the new place, we should haul out.

"...I have had the weirdest f****** week."

I'm so glad I did.  We ended up having a great lesson (that I will review once I have Pixio footage), but almost more importantly, I just happened to arrive super early, my farrier just happened to be out there (normally he's there on Mondays during the day) and just happened to have time to trim Connor before my lesson.

My farrier describes trimming Connor as the "highlight of his day" because Connor is so easy to deal with and happy to see him.

Taking a phone call here, hence the broken neck look.

Note to self for the future: When you move barns, maybe try to find out the new barn's farrier schedule ahead of time so he can get sync'ed up before he moves.  As it was, Connor was due and the new farrier had just come the week before we got there, so I was scrambling trying to figure out how to get him done.


My farrier is my age, and I would say is a drinking buddy of mine and my husbands, but I had actually never seen him do my horse before.  I had never seen anyone do Connor's feet before.  He always comes out while I'm at work, and he always does a great job, so I've never felt like I needed to.

Side note: I've also apparently never even discussed foot things on the blog before, since I just discovered I've never used "farrier" or "trim" as post tags before.  This horse is so low maintenance it's amazing.


I wonder what was going through Connor's head, coming back to the place that he lived for five years for a couple of hours after being somewhere new for a week.


Luckily, he didn't stop to think about this existential crisis too much, and he hopped right onto the trailer for me without a second person to swing the divider over both times I loaded him.  Maybe he likes the new basketball-shaped haynet I bought him.  Maybe he just learned he's never going to get out of getting onto this trailer so he may as well be a good boy.  Either way, I'm happy he's loading as easily onto this one as the six horse.