Cob Jockey

"Hey there, how's the Super Pony?!"

"Well, the answer was 'napping' until a half-hour ago..."

Have I mentioned how much I love Cathy?  This is my fifth ride with her since May of last year, and it's so productive to have a super accomplished set of eyes on him that sees him once every few months.  She was there last May when he couldn't really canter, last fall when he couldn't turn left and was launching every fence like there was a pit of sharks underneath them, and so it meant something when she noticed that he was much softer and was taking the fences like a reasonable, mature horse.

In fact, that's what I told her when she asked how the Super Pony had been.  I said that he had matured a lot  mentally since she last saw him in September, that he rarely had those moments she identified when he didn't know where his feet were anymore, that he now has a canter that we are working on making adjustable, that we had hit the lateral stuff and Dressage hard over the winter, and that he still tended to be heavy unless I was really on top of things.

She had me focus on keeping my lower leg still with my toes turned out in order to give my core the stability I needed to not let him lean on me.  I warmed up with the exercises from Thursday which helped so much, but I had to keep doing them when she turned to work with the other girl in my lesson in order to keep him soft.

Earlier rides today

He was AWESOME over fences.  Awesome, awesome, awesome.  It was ho-hum routine to him, but he was locked-on and happy on every approach, and we were communicating about the distances and hitting them, for the most part.  He went over them smoothly and efficiently, if a bit wiggly, but I fixed that.

At the end, I asked Cathy what my biggest priority needed to be with him heading into a show season that will likely see us at Starter for a while, and she said (I am paraphrasing, my memory is terrible), "He's a careful guy.  He's matured a lot, but he still has that startle reaction, and I love a careful horse with a startle reaction, but you have to pay close attention while training them.  You want to take him over so many different, little fences that he gets bored.  You don't usually want to do that, but with a careful one you want him to be confident in himself.  You have to make sure to never overface him with height, never present him with something HE thinks is impressive, especially since you are inexperienced over fences yourself."

What this tells me is that we're doing it right with him.  We may not be presenting him with as many fences as we should because of our focus on Dressage making for a better jump round, but I'm not pressuring him to move up fast, and I'm taking it at his pace.  My husband losing his job and causing the cancellation of our 2012 season was such a blessing in disguise, because looking back on it, he was NOT mentally ready for it.  This year, the Welsh Cob's "magical 7th year", he's like a new horse.  He's an adult horse with a job that he likes and knows and he doesn't get flustered and he's really not spooking as much.  We've got issues, but I feel like he has the brain to work through them now.

Afterward we hacked out with a friend on a training horse around the field, such a perfect end to a perfect day - yes, that is an IU (Indiana University) on one side of her rump and a #1 on the other.  Go Hoosiers!

I'm currently waiting on photos and will share when I get them!