Cob Jockey

 I got a pair of Dubarrys for $50, and took so.  many.  lessons. with CGP. This was also the first time she ever rode him.

While I was in Texas, it rained a lot.  This meant all we could do was walk under saddle and in very specific areas, but that was more than enough for me to get a lot out of it.

I ended up riding all three of them, although my ride on Paddy was more of a "use the horse as a four legged saddle rack so I can try out Sean's new jousting saddle," which had arrived that morning:

The jousting saddle is CRAZY cool!

First up was Griffy, and this was before his suspensory diagnosis.  It's definitely intermittent, he never took even a faintly lame step with me, although again, we were just walking.

Riding in fashion boots because I just could not fit anything more in my suitcase

JenJ gave me a bit of a lesson on him, and I learned quite a bit about myself.  Like that my right arm likes to float up and toward or even sometimes across the neck in very specific circumstances.  I had no idea.  And that despite my best efforts, I am still very very crooked:

Oh look, it's me making Griffy go crooked in the same way I make Connor go crooked.  Sigh.

She pointed out my left leg, which still likes to get heel up and back.  And also that I'm not great about remembering to "turn and look" around turns, especially to the left.  Which is also Connor's bad side.


You'll notice that in all of these pictures I'm holding an Equicube.  I absolutely loved it.  When you're holding it, you can't not have a bear down, because if you support it with your arms instead of your core, your arms get smoked.

JenJ has several inches on me, but her saddle wasn't a bad fit for me at all

It also pointed out to me that I still have no tension or musculature between my shoulder blades, because that area was screaming the next day.  I sat there at the airport with my shoulders burning and ordered one of my own, which I've already learned some more from.  More on that later this week.

After Griffy, I took a spin on Leo, who is a totally different ride.  Jen has done an incredible job with his early training.  He's almost entirely seat trained, and so sensitive, if I pitched forward even a degree or two, he'd stop dead.

Does it fit in my carry-on?

You can't really call a relatively green 5 year old a schoolmaster, but he definitely gave me a lesson.  Crookedness and wobbly cores have no place on Leo, he just doesn't compute with them.  I am so, SO impressed with how solid his early training it, and with his attitude - he just has that "I'm so happy to see you, what fun stuff are we doing today?!" attitude.

Hoovering up a pile of alfalfa

I am so grateful for the chance to ride these guys and for the things JenJ pointed out, because they made a lot of sense in the context of what the vet found last week.

As often happens with my job, after not traveling at all in November and December, January beat me over the head with travel, with 11 nights out of a 16 night stretch spent in hotel rooms, including 10 days straight.  With Connor being NQR under saddle but generally fine, I opted to not have my trainer ride him while I was gone and just let him be for a bit.

But that doesn't mean I didn't pack a helmet for my travels!

Haffies!

My boss lives in Austin, and chose it as the destination for our January team off-site meeting, one of three times a year I get to see my coworkers in person.  When I asked if I could come a day early and leave a day late and work from Texas on Monday and Friday so that I could visit friends, he didn't even blink.

Of course, getting work done at JenJ's is sometimes delightfully challenging.

Y'all, JenJ is just the best.  I love every second that I'm hanging out with her and her family, four legged and otherwise.  I especially love Logan, my spirit animal.  We are certifiably joined at the brain:

"Welcome home, LET'S DO STUFF!"

Tacodog™ decided my breakfast looked better than his breakfast

Scale photo, me and baby Gus five(!) years ago

Sleepy afternoon naptime adult Gus in January of 2020

"HELLO YES THANK YOU FOR COMING TO WORSHIP LORD PADDINGTON"

Scotch tasting at 12:30 on a Sunday?  Don't mind if I do!

"I am totally not here because you were in the treat room, why do you ask?"

Paddington <3

"No seriously guys, I'm out of treats."

A wild Paddy stalks his prey, believing the red horse is getting more treats than he is.  This one should be captioned with Jaws music

On Sunday I had my first ride in 10 days (although Connor had been ridden by my trainer a lot while I was gone).  Armed with the new knowledge I gained from riding Taran the previous weekend, I was really looking forward to it.

Ah, that point in the year when my horse starts looking positively Thelwellian since it's too cold to pull his mane.

My goals for Connor this ride were to:

• Get an immediate response when I asked for anything - leg yield being the obvious choice since I developed a feel for that response on Taran
• Maintain the right level of impulsion - also something I felt on T

My goals for myself this ride were to:

• Keep my left leg "forward" and my right leg in contact with his body (things my trainer has been on me about that were VERY easy to see in the mirrors on T)
• Only use my right hand to "squeeze a tack sponge" (Thanks, JenJ)
• Keep my torso forward/through my arms (pretty obvious to see what a big different that made on T)
• Sit on my right seatbone going to the left (On T, I sat normally, and I couldn't ride him in a straight line - until I realized I was sitting completely to the left and that I do that all the time)
• Ask him to work from the moment I got on him (lunge before for warmup)
• Relax.  There was a moment where I "stopped trying" so hard on T, and he got so much better immediately.

 And...

Tired!

We had an absolutely fantastic ride that lasted 30 minutes, and he was really engaged from the start.  He expected to lollygag around a bit at the beginning (bad me for setting that precedent) and was surprised when I became "fair but mean" and set him straight to work.

The only thing I had an issue with was some inside hind engagement, but I worked through that pretty quickly with timing the use of my aids better. For the most part, I managed to keep my "to do list" above in my mind, although the hardest one is going to be torso positioning.  That will be a long term goal.

"It's a cruel, cruel world."

I think that ride on T happened at just the right time in my riding awareness and education, really looking forward to getting some consistent rides in!

My husband's company is somewhat loosely based in Austin, TX.  For the past two years, they've held their holiday party and annual meeting in Vegas, but this year, they decided to move it back to Austin.  The second I found that out, I texted JenJ.

Guess who we pestered?!

I ended up getting to spend an entire day with Jen, Michelle and Taran soaking up some 74 degree weather while my poor husband sat indoors at his annual meeting.  AND IT WAS AWESOME!

World's weirdest "one personal item": my helmet shoved into a Rent the Runway bag containing two formal gowns.

I've met Taran several times in the past - twice at home in Texas, once in Indiana and once in Kentucky - but I've never gotten the opportunity to ride him before Saturday.  Jen got him warmed up then threw me on his back.


I learned SO much!  Taran is really truly a confirmed second level horse, which makes him the most well-trained horse I've sat on since I started focusing on Dressage, and JenJ proved to be a very effective (and patient) teacher. 

After I got to know him a bit, we first focused on straightness using the mirrors at the other end of the arena to help me see where I was crooked.  Not that I needed mirrors to tell me that I was crooked - Taran tattled loud and clear when I did things like sit massively to the left while on the left rein or overused my inside rein to the right. And JenJ patiently helped point those things out too.

Proof that we did eventually get straight.  And then probably promptly lost it the stride after this one, but hey!

JenJ asked me on the drive home what the most surprising thing I learned was.  I had a hard time answering that because although the ride was very eye opening, nothing was surprising - Jen got after me for things I have been gotten after for before but the surprising part was feeling the effects of fixing those things on a horse that knows more than I do.  I can't tell you how impactful it was to feel the effect of those changes on T vs Connor.

T is so unimpressed with these grown women acting like 12 year old girls.

On further reflection, the most surprising thing was understanding the extent to which I allow Connor to tune aids out, and how little conviction I have when it comes to things like leg yields.  JenJ asked me to leg yield Taran, and I thought I did, and then she was like "No, MEAN IT.  Leg yield to B right now," and I did and he WENT SIDEWAYS.  And forward.  Neither of which I expect to happen when I ask C for a leg yield, even though that's what I think I'm asking for.  I've never ridden anything that felt like that.


I rode things I've never ridden before, like trot half pass.  I genuinely felt like I was sitting better by the end of the ride.  And I figured out what level of impulsion and forward was necessary for him to be on my aids and for him to be able to perform the movements well.

Oh and I rode IN A T-SHIRT IN JANUARY which felt amazing.

This is going to be one of those rides that leaves me thinking, digesting and unpacking for a long time to come.  I am so grateful to both T for putting up with me and JenJ for being willing to patiently tell me to shorten my reins every two strides for an hour.  She's done a great job with him, and I wish they lived close enough to see more often!

You ever have one of those moments where you look back at your blogging career and think, "How strange that putting my thoughts on the Internet about my horse led to this moment,"?

Cause like, how could you not?  He is literally a living, breathing stuffed animal.

I didn't realize this until last month, but my truck's back seats fold flat.  It's actually long enough for me to fully stretch out back there, and made for an awesome place to sleep.

JenJ's husband has many talents.

The only picture I got of this outfit, right after I rolled out of bed on Saturday morning.  Don't judge, I slept in a truck!

Blogging.  Taking me to the best - and weirdest - places since 2010!

I honestly can't even remember how long "JenJ in Indiana!" has been on my calendar.  Probably a solid year or more.  Really, I was inordinately excited - nobody ever has a reason to visit Indiana!  The calendar entry was on there so long, it felt like it would never get here - until it did!

Trying to get a good Paddy "selfie" outtakes

I'll let JenJ explain the event they came up for, I don't think I can do it justice. (Although I'm not sure how soon she'll be able to do that, her schedule is crazy for a while!)  Basically, it's not a renfair and it's not a jousting tournament.  It's a reenactment, but more than that.  This meant it's slightly less spectator friendly than your average joust, and that E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E was wearing medieval clothing, because they're basically living it for an entire week straight.  We had to dress up too!

Attendees at the Opening Ceremony and their period-dressed child at their feet.  Some of the costumes were insanely elaborate.

To say I was intimidated rolling up was an understatement, and EquiNovice was with me and probably felt the same way.  My instructions were basically "Wear black riding tights and boots, bring a belt and a tanktop, sneak in the side way and if anyone asks you why you're wearing street clothes, tell them you're meeting one of the equestrians for the joust.  We'll get you into tunics when you get here."

My outfit, and Sean on Paddy getting ready for the opening ceremonies.  Photo by EquiNovice!

We made it, changed, and about that time Sean and Paddy were getting ready for the opening ceremonies, when they'd be doing three "passes" down the jousting lane.  First they warmed up outside with not quite all of the armor on:

I was the paparazzi.

Paddy came out and this horse was like "WHAT THE F*** IS THAT?!"

I think Paddy's found his calling, you guys.

I have seen photos and videos of Sean jousting, and I have done the quintain myself on Brego, but I'd never seen Sean joust for real.  It was really neat, with the thundering of hooves and the shattering of the balsa wood tips on the lances.  Unfortunately I knew the pictures I took during it wouldn't be any good with the sun being behind the covered arena, but if you go to EquiNovice's Instagram, she got a really good video of it.

World's cutest jousting Haffie

I did get a decent picture of JenJ shoving a cookie in Paddy's mouth when he got done with a pass.

After we got done, Paddy got a bath and did his very best Dover model impression:


And then I took this picture to prove that JenJ and I's "twin" ponies have the same tail:


And Paddy proved he's Connor's twin further by screaming for his friends while walking back to the barn.

Dat body.  What a hunk.

With that, we put the ponies away and rested in the shade for a bit before their next activity.  Stay tuned for part 2!