Cob Jockey

I'm so glad I did the second Mary clinic this year.  In May, my first time riding with her, I got two private lessons because the clinic didn't fill, and it was absolutely an overwhelming amount of feedback.  If the second clinic had been like that, it would have been hard.  But it wasn't like that at all, and it wasn't just because I was in the more normal semi-private rides this time.

This time, she gave me a LOT of compliments for my improvement since May.  If you remember in May, she was almost apologetic, was somewhat reluctant to get after me as much as I needed it, and wished it wasn't my first exposure to her methods.  I get the feeling she's taken some heat in the past from riders who were angry and embarrassed the first time they rode with her, which is a shame.

If you know me IRL, you know my torso is much less box shaped than it looks right here, which is a great thing because it means my bear down is strong.  Yes I'm crooked, but I've figured out something big in relation to that since then, and that's a post for another day.

This time around, she had piles of compliments for me - about how much more organized we were, how much better I was at controlling the tempo, how "overall you've done a great job", how I was using my suction cup seat even though she hadn't covered that with me yet, and more.  She also called me and CGP the only two high tone riders in the clinic and said everyone else needed more tone.  That's not always a good thing depending on which type of horse you're riding, but I'll take it anyway.

The walk we got immediately after she asked me to slow the tempo of the walk with my seat

I don't live for external validation, but man, I couldn't have been happier if she had given me an actual ribbon.  These past couple of years have been such a struggle biomechanically, I'm going to keep that "well done, you" in my head for a long time to come.

Some of my main problems now are:
- My right foot moves a lot when I post (but my left one doesn't)
- When I go to put weight in my thighs, I put it into my knee more than anywhere
- When I go to put weight in my thighs, I tighten my glutes because I have a hard time separating those muscles

Mary with her hand under my butt trying to help me find my seatbones.  If you aren't comfortable being touched more or less literally anywhere, this isn't the clinic for you.  She has no chill about it, in the best possible way.

- Posting too hard and too fast (which means I've overcorrected from where I was in May, so that's not a bad thing but it does need to be fixed now)

Mary describing how I was posting, and what the chewing gum image should do to fix it (see next section)

- Not keeping my back "edge" on the saddle in the canter

Describing back edge in the canter (before I've even cantered for her, she gave me a bunch of positional cues just based on how I rode at walk and trot)

Some of the cues she used to fix the above on the first day are:
- Lengthened my stirrups three (half) holes.  Remember this is the first time I've ridden for her in this saddle.
- At posting trot: making sure my knee points down and my thigh rotates over my knee, to avoid making the rise by pushing into my heel
- The criss cross laces I mentioned in my previous post
- Hooking two fingers under one side of my gullet and using them to snug the opposite thigh into the saddle properly
- Thinking about my knees being connected to a steel bar going between them that prevents them from pinching
- Thinking whether I can feel my seatbones on the saddle or not
- Thinking about posting with wads of chewing gum on the saddle that make strings to slow my rise and draw his back up slightly with me.  But this does NOT mean I should do an "incomplete windshield wiper" and not make it all the way up like I used to.  Same rise, slower.


Also - we have graduated to cantering with Mary!  If you remember, we only walked and trotted in May.  On this first day we didn't mess with it much, beyond talking about needing to get my back edge down.  She said my bear down is stronger in canter than trot. 

I'm annoyed with how much less my hands move in canter than walk and trot after reviewing the video - hence the head nod.

It's been a heavy couple of days around here, how about we end the week with something funny?

MW is the furthest thing from someone who wears her heart on her sleeve.  She's all business, all the time.  But even though she'd never admit it, she seems to have a soft spot for the only UK-native breed equine in our clinics.


She'd snuggle his head every now and then, and talk to him about Wales.  Brits seem to have an animosity-in-jest relationship with the Welsh, and the way she talked about him and to him was hysterical.  Enjoy a few MW Welsh jokes!

MW: "A good Welsh Cob spends Monday through Friday herding sheep on mountains, building stone walls, all that kind of thing.  Saturday, takes the farmer and his family to market.  Sunday, takes everybody in the cart to church, brings them back home.  And then the farmer goes off to the pub, and the pony waits outside, and then somebody loads the farmer drunk into the cart and then the pony brings him home.  And that's a good Welsh Cob."  (I want to get that embroidered on something 😂)

MW, to the clinic attendees who had just asked what breed Connor is: "Welsh Cobs are trotters.  They trot off with you most of the time." [clinic attendees laugh]

MW: "The Welsh people are missing out, they really need to start marketing the 'Welsh Warmblood'"

MW to Connor: "[Cincinnati] isn't really your scene is it?  You need a few more mountains."
Me: "And a few drunk Welshmen?"
MW, laughing: "And a few drunk Welshmen, yes."