Cob Jockey

In order to understand why Sunday was such a big deal, you need to know that Mary has had some health issues over the last few years that have left her with far less confidence in her body than she used to have. And she also hadn't done a hunter show (her one true love) in over a decade.

All photos courtesy of Leah

I entered them in an unjudged warmup, then the low hunter division, which was two classes over 2' fences and then a flat class, and I told her if all she did was jump a single fence and then she told me she was done, I would be happy with that.

Connor: "Yesssss more hunter stuff"

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from him. He hadn't shown over fences in I think five years to this point, and the last time he did he was still squirrely about fill. And I hadn't jumped him over anything besides poles that whole time, when I did jump, which isn't often.

I don't miss this

So I was over the moon delighted when he just...jumped stuff. Like a normal horse. From the very first warm-up fence.

Call it what you want - him getting older, growing up, getting more confident in his body, knowing he had to take care of Mary, Mary giving him a better ride than I'm capable of - this was a totally different horse than I'd ever seen over fences before.

This was the most suspicious look he gave anything all weekend, and even this is pretty tame compared to 2012-2015 eventing Connor.

Confident Connor started getting a little too confident in the actual show ring, though.

I know what I'm here for!

As I said to Mary, the little guy has only ever shown over fences in eventing, so to Connor, this was a show jumping round. No one told him this was hunters.

"WHEEEEE" seemed to be Connor's theme for the weekend

They did their unjudged warm-up, where he had one rail, and then they did their first judged round, where he rubbed that same rail but left everything up, and Mary told me she was done.

They ended up placing 5/5 in that class, since clearly the judge didn't appreciate Connor's jumper aspirations, but I couldn't have been happier with them. Even the scratch I was on board with, both because I was so proud of Mary for Doing the Thing at all, and because the footing was SO hard, it was making me anxious.

Look at me, I'm a groom!

Methinks he has some hunter course practice in his future at home...

I've been blogging for well over a decade now, and for the first time, I don't know where to start after last weekend's Welsh North Central Regional. Any one of these things is an entire post by itself!

I fell SO in love with Disco. And so did the judges.

I still cannot believe how big Disco won, omg.

 

Connor was a fun fire-breathing dragon for me in Ridden Cob.

OMG WTF WHY ARE THERE PEOPLE THERE CANNOT BRAIN

And then took such good care of Annie in her first ever horse show.

Connor and I won the pants off the English division.

English Pleasure, you say? I can look pleasurable.

And then he carried Mary safely around her first hunter course in over a decade - even if he would have preferred a jumper round to a hunter round.

SUDDENLY REMEMBERED I'M AN EVENTERRRRRRRRRR

And I have the ability to document this show at all because LEAH drove 11.5 HOURS to spend a long, cold, mostly sleepless horse show weekend with me, and took every picture in this post, and I am just so incredibly grateful I can hardly put it into words. She captured the most special memories.

A full run-down is coming, but perhaps not for a day or two as I have to ferry Connor to Flying Lead Change School today!

Now for a break from the incessant saddle spam.  Part of getting my saddle was driving 5 hours to Wisconsin to hang out with Mary while she worked the CWD booth at an 'A' rated indoor hunter/jumper show.  AKA, I visited the land of Many Tiny Braids for the first time in my life.  It was an awesome experience.

This guy.  I want him.

Many Tiny Braids.

I thought I knew something about Hunter/Jumper shows, having been to big jumper shows and been friends with a lot of hunters.  But I still found myself asking lots of questions.

Q: "Why are they staying in the ring after a clear round?  I thought jump offs were always at the end."
A: "It depends on what "table" the show is following, and the rulebook."

Q: "Is that horse wearing two nosebands?"
A: "Yes"
Q: "Why?"
A: "...to keep its mouth shut."

Q: "Ringside coaching is allowed?"
A: "Yep!"

If you know Mary, you know this is totally her.  And it's working for her - she's one of their top sellers right now!

Something that was very cool was seeing my mom's old barn there.  She never showed rated, but she took lessons here with her best friend all through high school:


One of the things that caught my eye and fascinated me when I first got there and the hunter rounds were still going was the weak loin muscling and visible SI joint on most of the horses, at least in the classes I saw.  I live a pretty isolated equine life: I see one type of horse, that does one (well, three) thing(s), so the difference in musculature really interested me.

I asked Mary about it, and she said it was due to their jumping style, and that I wouldn't see that on the jumpers.  True enough, the jumpers had a lot more loin muscling.  It's not good or bad, just the way they are conditioned for what they do, and what they need to do their jobs well.  And these horses were good.

I like strong butts and I cannot lie.

This show had fake palm trees:


Tons of tiny dogs in sweaters:


And a giant Connor clone.  This guy walked into the ring and gave the Suspicious Spooky Ear to some fill plus a sideways step and I told Mary, "This guy's gonna go like Connor."  Not only did he act like him, he also jumped like him - except Connor's quicker and tidier with his front end these days.  Really nice horse:


There were also meeeeeellions of tiny girls in jods and unbuttoned show shirts giggling about being "puddle jumpers" and setting up jumper courses of brooms and chairs in storage areas to canter over horseless.  Very cute.

Overall it was a very cool experience and a lot of fun.   I could see myself enjoying the jumpers, but not the schedule - this 1 ring indoor show started at 8am and was still going at midnight when we left!  We eventers are in bed after a few margaritas by that time every night!

Other random photos:

Jump off

A Bannockburn Farm horse

Neat looking liver chestnut with a male rider

Grey from the first photo warming up.

Nice horse.

Warmup ring insanity!