Cob Jockey

Connor's breeder snapped some photos of the little girl who went straight up to him and bear hugged his chest and then his head yesterday while we had him in the aisle to measure him.  After the hugs, he even lowered his head and kept it there when she put her forehead on his and softly chatted to him, which is what they were doing in the first picture.  He was so gentle and engaged with her, completely focused on her with pricked ears and soft eyes.  Their heads were together for quite a while.

 Even her baby sister got in on the pony action while in her mom's arms, grabbing his halter and petting whatever she could reach.  While that was going on, her sister grabbed a final chest hug, in the second picture.  He took that in stride too.  I just love this breed, and this pony!

Where do I start?


How about with the fact that I rode Connor through crowds of spectators this weekend?  (The same pony that took me halfway across the field a year ago when my friend walked up to me with a bottle of water!)  How about with the way he got progressively more comfortable with the ride every day, until by Sunday he was almost 100% focused on me?  With the dozens of kids I opened the stall door for so they could pet him?  With how much it meant to be me to be able to care for my own horse for four straight days?

"Helping" tear down.

The truth is, this weekend was so good for both of us, I could start anywhere.  On Friday, I didn't get a warmup, and our ride was not great - he was braced and whinnying as we went around the arena, and looking hard at every stroller we passed.  But on Saturday, we went with the half-Cob driving pony a half mile down the road on the State Fairgrounds campus, in traffic, and got a nice long warmup in a grassy field. Saturday's ride was the best - he started out with a whinny again, but quickly focused on me, and we even got a really nice canter and a loose rein pseudo-stretchy trot right past the bleachers.  Go pony!  By Sunday's ride, he didn't whinny once and seemed to know what his job was.

This weekend taught me that he's growing out of his baby behaviors, and I need to stop anticipating that he's going to react to things like people walking straight up to him.  There were times that I was more nervous than he was, like when a guy in a cowboy hat walked straight up to him and petted him when we were standing in the lineup waiting to go in the ring.  That would have sent old Connor scrambling, but grownup Connor stood there like a gentleman.  He also handled riding past spooking horses, 18 hand 6 horse Percheron hitches, an Appaloosa in full native dress (mirrors, beads etc), and lots of other crazy sights.  He still had his moments and was always keenly aware of his surroundings, but never lost his head.  Mostly, he just looked around and took it all in.

Don't worry, his breeder was in the stall with them.

I overhead a couple other Welsh breeders remark about how personable he became over the weekend, and another Welsh club member told me he won her Mr. Congeniality award for the weekend.  An 8 year-old-girl unexpectedly hugged his chest and then his head when he was standing in the aisle and he lowered his head to hers and then "hugged" her (yes, pictures are coming!).  A baby grabbed his halter while in her mom's arms.  Three young boys had their hands all over him in his stall.  Through all of it, his ears were pricked and he was content and relaxed.  This happened over and over all weekend.  About the only time his ears weren't pricked was when he was laying down in his stall sleeping, which was often.

Morning walk after a bath

My favorite moment happened after the event was over, almost all the horses were gone, and it was just Connor and I alone in his stall waiting on the trailer.  He stood there nuzzling me, so I scratched his withers, and then he started licking and working his lips gently all over both my arms.  That, and the hearty nicker I got almost every time I walked up, makes me think that we got closer than ever this weekend.

(Okay, my other favorite moment was when we were riding in traffic and two African-American guys in a car with big rims and the bass thumping pulled over to ask what was up with Connor's 'haircut'.  I gave them the best explanation I could as Connor pranced, grew a few inches and breathed fire beneath me!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted for us and came out to see us!  The Welsh didn't win the trailer, but I think Connor and I won so much with this experience, and learned a lot about ourselves. I'm excited to see where we go from here.

Day two is in the books!  Can't wait to share the results of the weekend with you all.  He is being so good and getting better every time I pull him out of the stall.  I am so happy this weekend!

Happy pony.

I will sum up today with this: I rode my formerly neurotic pony through a crowd of spectators, exhibitors and horses on the way to get to the ring and no one died!  He's been great, clearly green to riding past bleachers full of people, but improved from the beginning to the end.  I am so happy with him!

Now I need your help.  The voting for favorite breed at the Hoosier Horse Fair is taking place online this year, and the winning entry wins a brand new Eclipse Horse Trailer.  If the Heartland Welsh Club wins (all five ponies are one entry), we're planning on raffling it off in a club fundraiser.  So if you could, please take a moment and vote for the Welsh at this link: http://www.hoosierhorsefair.org/breed-pageant-contest/.  We are entry #21, which is a photo of our Section B over fences.  Thank you so much!

From L to R: Half-Welsh (driving), Sec D. Welsh Cob (Dressage), Sec C. (in-hand), Sec. B (Hunter), Sec. A (Western)

Connor and Hodie, (Sec. A).  Hodie's rider is an equine major from my alma mater who volunteered to help us show him.

What Connor spent the second half of the day doing.  Exhausted, but content.

Things I learned on move-in day:

These are my racing stripes.

- Western people don't trace clip.  Two of our ponies are trace clipped, and we had a total of 6 fellow exhibitors stop and say things like, "Well, I don't think I've ever seen a horse colored like that before," or "I've been standing here a few minutes trying to figure out why that horse is two different colors." I thought the second guy was referring to his flaxen mane and tail but realized what he meant and caught myself just in time.

- Connor thinks posters of horses are horses.  During our practice ride in the performance arena, he kept giving the Suspicious Spooky Ear to one spot in the arena, and when we walked over to it, he went straight up to a poster of a horse running toward the camera hanging on the wall, and touched its nose in greeting.  Adorable.

The Welsh Club does it with style.

Connor with his 2006 3rd place Welsh Sec D Colt and 2006 Reserve Champion Centennial WPCSA Celebration ribbons

What Horse Fair?  I've got hay.

"Come visit me, I'm awesome!"

Since a couple of you locals have said in the comments that you will be attending the Hoosier Horse Fair this year, I wanted to let you know when and where Connor and I will be this week.  Our event, the Breed Demo, starts at 2pm in the Blue Ribbon Pavilion each day.  When we're not performing, I'll be hanging around his stall in the Champions Pavilion for the most part.

Also, all the Breed Demo and Stallion Demo participants have a chance to win a brand new trailer in a crowd vote for their favorite horse (Saturday and Sunday only), so please make sure to take a minute and vote for the Welsh breed while you're there! (all 5 of us count as one entry, I think)  Our Heartland Welsh Club would likely use it as a fundraiser for the club if we won.

Everyone seems to think that he's going to be a spook festival at the Horse Fair, but I am not so sure.  I do think that if someone moves in the bleachers as we ride by he'll spook, but overall, he's unusually comfortable in crazy show situations in which everything in the environment is moving.  He really doesn't like a quiet environment in which one thing moves at a time and steals his attention.  A horse that likes chaos...hmm...

Looking forward to seeing some of you this week!  Go Welsh!

And now for some news!  Connor and I have been asked to represent the Section D Welsh Cob at this year's Hoosier Horse Fair - which is NOT the same weekend as Equine Affaire for the first time I can remember, so all you Indiana people should be there!  I'll be riding him in the Breed Pageant once per day, similar to what I did with his sire last year for the Parade of Stallions.

Connor's sire and I at the Hoosier Horse Fair, 2012

I have always loved hanging out at the Welsh booth at the Horse Fair and introducing people to the breed for the first time, and I am ecstatic that I get to do it with my little buddy this year.  For those of you not from the area, the Midwestern US is very much home to a Western-oriented, backyard cowboy sort of equine culture, and English sports are not typically well-represented at the HHF.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "Is that a Mustang?" while working the Welsh booth.  Small + lots of hair + big feet = Mustang,  I guess.  Everyone leaves a little more educated, though, and last year his breeder ran out of business cards after handing so many out to people that became interested in the breed.

By doing it, I will also be promoting his breeder, and giving Connor an excellent opportunity to get used to a high-pressure show type environment, minus the judging.  I had so much fun with Dundee last year - it's such a thrill to ride in front of a huge crowd without the pressure of judging, which is something I'm willing to bet few horse people get to experience.  It should be a great learning experience for Connor, too, as we ramp up his show career this summer; I bet he'll be too tired to spook at people by the third day of living in one of the exhibition halls at the state fairgrounds. :-)  Hooray for desensitization!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to ride Connor's sire, *Tuscani Dundee, each day of the Hoosier Horse Fair.  For those of you not from the great state of Indiana, the HHF is designed to be a celebration of all things horse, but ends up being a Western festival with a couple of token English saddles.  What can I say?  It's representative of the state, for the most part.   I always have a good time, either because of the people I'm with or my own involvement in it, or both.

This year, I was riding Dundee in the Parade of Stallions, which gives each stallion on Stallion Row two minutes in the main arena to strut their stuff in front of the crowd.  I thought I'd put the stallions and my own ride in the same post, but I think the ride will have to wait.  The stallions ran the gamut:

From this lovely fellow...

To "OH MY GOSH HIS CANON BONES ARE THE SIZE OF MY FOREARM"

To this lovely foundation Quarter Horse

To this Western Pleasure horse's bridleless soccer demo, which the horse clearly enjoyed.

To this Vanner,, who bucked into the canter on Day 1, and ran into the wall on Day 3...

To "WHY IS THE ONE ON THE LEFT A STALLION?!"

To this 19hh giant that actually got loose this morning...

More coming...

Lisa gave me permission to share the following photos that I took of Dundee at the Hoosier Horse Fair.  I took all three of them.  I am so lucky to be able to spend time around the quality of horses that I am, and he is the pinnacle of that!  Enjoy!

Look at that cute pony head.  He passes his distinctive head onto most of his offspring.

Looking pretty good for being 19 and retired from riding, eh?

Love that Cob trot.

Yesterday I went to the Hoosier Horse Fair.  I've gone for several years now - in college, I went to hang out with my friends all day and giggle at the strange things we saw, and post-college, I'm finding that I'm only there to see people I know.  This year, specifically, Shae's (Castleberry Protege, the pony in the picture) sire was the Welsh representative on Stallion Row, so I mainly went to hang out with him and Lisa and take pictures.

This stud was stabled next to Dundee.  My brain has a hard time processing this as "horse".  It goes straight to "dog".

Hanging out with a "rare breed" at the Hoosier Horse Fair is so entertaining.  I couldn't make up the questions Lisa gets from the attendees.  Some gems:
- "Does that horse have Mustang in him?  He sure looks like my Mustang."
- "What's a Cob?" "Oh, I been wondering what my horse was!  He's about 14hands, he must be a Cob too." "What's 14.2?  Oh, well ponies have to be under 14, so this horse isn't a Cob?"  We spent about 5 minutes explaining to this gentleman that outside of 4H, the standard for ponies is 14.2, and the .2 denotes two inches.
- "Is your horse part draft?"
- "Have you tried sweating his neck to get rid of that crest?" (Cob stallions naturally have huge crests)

It's fun introducing people to the breed, though.  By virtue of his stunning good looks (no exaggeration here, he looks like something out of a child's fantasy) he gets a lot of visitors and a lot of questions, which allows us to tell stories about the breed and introduce people to it.  Dundee, with classic Cob disposition, is also a perfect ambassador for the breed, allowing little children to pet him and always standing at the front of his stall to greet the people.  I am privileged to be able to spend the kind of time that I do with the quality of animals that I have access to, and I enjoyed myself so much yesterday.