Cob Jockey

The only thing I've never really liked about my Shadow 1 Horse Slant is the step up.  I don't have anything against step ups, especially not when you're able to turn the horse around and let them go out head first like I can with this one, but the platform was very, very high on Connor. 

This is the absolute worst "scale" photo for this, but the platform comes nearly to his knees.  It hits me right at the bottom of my knee.

This meant that he had to jump into the trailer - something that made him more and more anxious as time went on.  Loading started taking a while as he would take several minutes nervously dancing around and working up the courage to make the leap into the trailer. 

I joked that "My horse is shaped like a dachshund so this trailer is more of a jump up than a step up!" but truthfully I was worried about it, because I know it was physically challenging and anxiety-inducing for the little guy.

Once he's in, he loves this trailer.

Pretty quickly I knew I would be buying a ramp.  I don't like causing my horse undue anxiety, and I also know that as he gets older, jumping into a trailer is going to get physically difficult.  And if he's ever injured, there's no way in hell I could get him on that high platform.  Plus it's not like I'm planning on getting a 17hh barn elephant for my next horse - shorties are here to stay in my life.

So last month I finally bit the bullet on the ramp and a couple of other things.

Squee!

I have nothing but good things to say about working with Shadow Trailer on all this.  Shadow's parts department coordinated with my local dealer to have the ramp shipped up from Florida inside of another trailer already headed to Indiana, saving me hundreds in freight. I had planned on having a local independent shop install it, but the dealer said they would do it for $100 - uh, sold!

Like most things on this trailer, the welds are not pretty but they're functional.  A 4 Star this is not.

This is my first time having a ramp I can lift with one hand, and I am in love. 



It's aluminum, plus there are springs applying tension so it wants to be upright, making it even easier to lift.  I realize this is probably standard new trailer stuff but indulge me okay?  Haha.





So what did Connor think of this?  Well, at first there was some required neck arching and blowing because OMG THIS LOOKS DIFFERENT.  And then I asked him to get on, and he had to stand at the bottom of the ramp fretting and taking his nervous poop and working himself up for the jump he no longer had to take. He associates the trailer with an anxious jump now, and it will take time to get over that - he wasn't able to understand that "this new black thing = getting into the trailer is easy now" until after he did it.




Within about 30 seconds he followed me in, and then we got off and on three more times without even hesitating.  You could feel the anxiety leaving him as he understood he didn't have to jump anymore.


As soon as I saw him relax about trailer loading again, every penny I spent on this ramp was worth it.  He used to hop on the trailer like a puppy excited for a road trip, and I'm ready to have that version of Connor back again.  Happy early birthday, little buddy!

Due to scheduling issues, we ended up schooling at the Hoosier Horse Park today, a place Connor has been many times but he'd never gone XC there before.  There were highs and lows, but overall, I'm grateful for the opportunity to have gotten that out of the way before Saturday, and I'm excited about Connor's prospects as an eventing pony.

Things we learned:

Being silly on the trailer

1. He does better when he's cantering, because when he trots the fences he has a lot of time to think.
2. When he has time to think, he looks at all the stuff around the fence (rocks, trees, people) and not the fence itself.
3. Down banks are hard for both of us, and I gave him a bad ride to our first one, which scared both of us.  It sucks to have that been his first experience, but he did go down it, albeit hesitantly, every time.  My constant problem of being forward was magnified, so when I looked down at this baby bank and went "HOLY SHIT THAT'S HUGE!" Connor went "SHE'S AFRAID, THERE MUST BE A TIGER UNDER THERE!" and launched it and I fell forward, but not off!  But I was still pretty shook up and angry at myself for knowing that was going to happen, trying to fix it, and still failing.  Thankfully, we have banks at home that we can school.
4. Up banks are awesome.  He was uncertain the first time, but every time after that I really felt him lock on to it and go, "I got this, Mom!"  It was an awesome feeling.
5. He gets tough when we're cantering out there, but not in a bad way, in an "I know my job and like it way."  Ears up, cantering around happily.
6. Water was no problemo, as expected.
7. He really enjoyed himself, after an initial "moment" at pretty much every single fence.

The down bank experience and the crappy trot fences really shook me up, which is unfortunate, because he did really well and clearly enjoyed himself.  I'll be okay, but it's clouding my mind as I write this, otherwise I'd be a lot more enthusiastic.

At the end, my trainer could tell I was down on myself, so she told me to go canter ahead of the group as they walked back to the trailer, and to take the tiny ramp jump, canter through the water, then do a long canter back to the up bank, then the fences we started with. It was the first time I got to do a long canter and the first time I cantered all those fences, and finally, it clicked.  Without that moment, I would have focused on nothing but the bad down bank experience, but ending with him listening to me, and forward, and clearly enjoying himself, and the two of us seeing our distances and not the lions next to the fences, really made me feel better.  My trainer is such a genius, and so tactful.

All in all, looking forward to this weekend!