Cob Jockey

After Mary's jumper rounds on Sunday, we headed out into the sunshine to take some pictures. As we came out, Jeffrey met us with Annie and said, "You guys aren't going to believe this. I pointed into the ring and asked Annie "Who's that riding Connor Pony?" and she said "Mama," and then said, "She's wearing my number!"

All photos except the last three are courtesy of Leah

Which was both adorable and impressive since Annie is not yet three years old! To be able to read a number herself the day before (we hadn't said it out loud to her) and remember that number overnight then recognize it on Mary's back from across the ring was just amazing. 

She then she insisted that we put "her" number back on her.

While that was going on, Leah caught Jeffrey having a quiet moment with Connor, thanking him for keeping his wife and child safe all weekend. Connor, though, wasn't taking it quite as seriously, and I treasure this picture, lol.

Annie then insisted that she be allowed to ride Connor back to the barns, which meant she needed a helmet, and we hadn't brought hers, so she got to wear her mama's.

I swear I will do whatever it takes to make sure this horse's step-down job is toting Annie around when he starts slowing down in a few years

He is just the best

When we got back to the stall, Annie insisted on helping take care of Connor, first by picking his feet and then brushing him. But she said she couldn't reach while standing on the ground, oh no, she could only properly brush him if she was sitting on his back, lol.

Mary held her of course, but she sat both forwards and backwards on him to brush him. This whole weekend felt like a huge step up in Annie's mastery of and enjoyment of horses, and it was pretty clear that the horse show experience had cemented her love of horses in ways that just hanging out at the barn hadn't quite done before. 

She's also getting more assertive about asking for things that she wants, like wanting to sit on his back, and has started to tell Mary "No, I'll do it myself!" just in the past month or so. It's so fun to live close enough to them to watch her grow up like this.

As they left, Mary gave me a big hug and thanked me for providing these experiences to Annie that she and Jeffrey could never provide on their own, and I joked that she should be thanking me for spending ten years preparing a leadline horse for her child. Connor never could have done any of this even five years ago!

<3

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...

Oh my goodness, you guys are not even ready for the cuteness and hilarity of this blog post.

This year, our show offered a new class designed to give the Section A's and B's and their children something to do on Saturday: in-hand haybale jumping.

All photos courtesy of Leah

IT. WAS. AMAZING. 

They had warm-up rounds, a hunter round and then a jumper round, with kids ranging in age from probably 8-13ish. The rounds were a mix of ponies who were totally game, and ponies who knew exactly what they could get away with.

"Do I have to?"

Totally game

The most hilarious round of the day came from one of the smallest competitors, who had the most conniving bay pony. This pony was the physical embodiment of that "pray if it's a pony" meme. 

See, the kids were supposed to go around the hay bales while the ponies jumped them, but this pony was like "Dude if the kid's going around so am I!" and proceeded to do exactly that.

So then the kid reasoned that the pony was going to do whatever she did, so she tried jumping the hay bales herself to see if the pony would follow, even though I think that was technically against the rules. Which worked...for two fences.

...and then the bay pony was like "I'm onto your new game, kid, and I decline to participate" and started going around the haybales, so the kid was jumping the haybales and the pony wasn't. I tried to stifle my laughter so the kid didn't feel bad, but it was very very hard. Been there, kid.

This sequence is too good and must be shared in its entirety. Kid goes over...

Pony says nah...

...and goes around

For the rest of that round, the pony put as little effort into jumping the fences as possible, but the kid did get it around eventually. It was a great horsemanship lesson for the kid. And highly entertaining for the spectators!

Fine I guess

They've already said they're doing this again next year, and I already can't wait, hahaha.

Saturday afternoon were Connor's three English Pleasure classes: Hunter Seat Equitation, English Pleasure and the payback English Pleasure Stake. By entering all three, I would be eligible for the English division championship. I had to have a reason to enter Hunter Seat Equitation, otherwise I'm not sure why I'd put myself through this torture:

Those are some short stirrups. All pictures, as usual, courtesy of the amazing Leah.

While my Dressage tack was technically legal for HSE, the rulebook is very specific about the type of riding you're supposed to do in it (light, forward seat, knuckles at a 30 degree angle to the neck, that kind of thing) and the Dressage saddle would be working against me in that. So I borrowed Mary's CWD, jacked my stirrups up, floated the reins at him and proceeded to try to remember that in some sports, the way the horse goes isn't judged.

Connor's like why can't we do this sport all the time?

We ended up taking a deserved second in that class to, you know, an actual hunter. I wasn't mad.

Me: "Ummmm I'm supposed to lean forward I think?"

But after that, I made a quick dash to the barn to change back into my Dressage saddle which felt - ahhhhhh - so good after sitting in that pancake flat CWD. Mary's CWD is the super flat SE01 tree while mine is the semi-deep SE02 tree, so it felt flat even compared to my own jump saddle, which at the time was still in Florida.

Ahhh that's better - although don't look too closely at my tack. Black loaner saddle, brown jump saddle leathers, chocolate brown reins and my barnmate's chestnut 20+ year old hunter under saddle bridle

The two English Pleasure classes are judged based on just that - pleasure. Does the horse look pleasant to ride? Is the picture a beautiful one? So while I took up a bit more contact and rode more actively than I did in HSE, my main goal was just to not nitpick him.

And we ended up winning both of those classes as well, making us the English division champions for the show.

After Saturday, I was left with this feeling that it was pretty cool to see my horse coming in here and doing the things he's good at, in a show designed to show him off for what he just naturally is. I spend so much time doing sports with him that he wasn't necessarily bred for, and while he does well at them, it's not the same as participating in an event whose goal it is to show him off for what he is.

Connor to Leah: "Are you getting my good side?"

You thought I was proud of Connor by this point in the weekend - just wait for this!

Alllllll of these pictures are courtesy of Leah, and I think I speak for Mary and Annie's whole family when I say we cannot thank her enough for capturing this moment <3

See, Cobs don't often go in leadline. Section A's and especially B's are much more suited to being kids ponies, while Cobs are the stout "family pickup truck" ponies of the Welsh world, plowing the fields during the week, taking the farmer to the bar Saturday night and taking the family to church on Sundays, that kind of thing.

And I'm sure anyone who had watched the previous day's Ridden Cob spooking incident raised an eyebrow when they saw us put the tiniest rider in the show on Connor's back to go into the ring the next morning.

But.

"Oh this, this is mine, she gives me peppermints"

I wish I had video. He did his "Annie walk", taking one slow, deliberate step at a time the whole time we were in the ring. He couldn't have been more different from the fiery fella that galloped and spooked around that same arena with me 16 hours prior.

7 and under walk leadline is about the least exciting class out there, since all you do is walk, reverse, walk more, and then line up. But we never stopped smiling.

New favorite picture of the dream team everrrrrrrrrr

Mary and I's biggest concern was that Annie would be "done" and want off before the class was over, but we need not have worried. She LOVED it.

She ended up taking second, partially because she would rather hold the Wintec's molded plastic handle than the reins right now and it IS an equitation class (lol), and also partially (sigh) because I broke ANOTHER rule at a Welsh show! I actually did read the rulebook that morning, and it said the lead rope had to be attached to the "caveson". 

I die. The cute.

But I rationalized that Western leadline ponies don't even have a caveson, so surely they meant the bit? Why would you put a lead rope on the noseband in a situation where you need as much control as you can get, with a child on the horse? To add to my confusion, the TD even looked at my setup before I went into the ring and said I was good.

Nope, they did in fact want the lead line attached to the noseband. Luckily the TD, who was the same as last year when the whole Micklem debacle* happened, thought it was funny - both that I broke another rule and that she missed it. "Oh you, you're the Dressage rider that had the Micklem last year - I've told stories about you this entire past year!" 

She joked the whole weekend anytime she saw me, "Ok what rule are you breaking right now, I know there's gotta be at least one!" and she said she's bringing an award for next year's show to be given to the person who breaks the most number of rules at the show, which she expects to be me, lol.

Annie sure didn't care though. She was thrilled to get her little red ribbon. And she was extra thrilled later in the day when she won a pony ribbon almost bigger than she is for being leadline reserve champion.

It seemed funny that we were worried she'd want off before the class ended, because after the class was over, we couldn't get her off of him! We took pictures outside, then laid a pole out so she could "jump":

She's just starting to try "two point" for jumping now that we have these child-sized Compositis and the shortest Wintec webbers you've ever seen in your life

and then she rode him back to the barn:

where she insisted on picking his feet herself:

I could not have been prouder of both of them. Annie for doing her first horse show, and tolerating hunter hair (lol!), and Connor for being the best leadline pony there is. I was talking to Lisa, Cobs don't just do both Ridden Cob and leadline like that, so for him to do both so well, I was just bursting with pride.

Next year maybe she'll hold the reins, but we have a whole year to work toward that goal now, lol.

*Since it seems like I forgot to write about the Micklem debacle last year, I showed English Pleasure in a Micklem, and the WPCSA considers the jaw strap to be a flash (it isn't, it's more like a drop than anything else) and I was disqualified from my first English Pleasure class last year as a result, but they told me I could continue showing if I put the "flash strap" behind the bit. So I did, and I won out the division. It's hard to only show under this association once a year, their rulebook is a LOT more vague than the USEF's.

In the past, our Welsh shows have had all of the English under saddle classes on the same day, and typically the English Pleasure division (2-3 flat classes) goes before Ridden Cob, which is a class that demands a fiery and forward mount.

Me showing a very young, very green, Castleberrys Aviator in Ridden Cob in 2011, my first time doing the class

This year, they decided to put Ridden Cob as the last class of the day on Friday after the halter classes, and English Pleasure on Saturday, which meant Ridden Cob was the first thing Connor got to do all weekend and really was the first time I'd ridden him hard in...two weeks?

Oh my god, you can hear him yelling "WHEEEEEEEEEE" from here, lol. This and all of the following photos in this post are courtesy of Leah

Out of all the things we do at the Hoosier Horse Park, this Welsh show is the only time we ever show in this indoor arena. And I swear, the moment the judge called for the canter in the rail portion of Ridden Cob (which is a standard w/t/c rail class, followed by a pattern that includes a hand gallop, followed by stripping tack for conformation judging), Connor was like "F*** YEAH I KNOW WHAT THIS RING IS FOR!!!!!!!!"

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

He knew, I could feel it, that this class was going to ask for a hand gallop. I contained him as best I could in the rail portion of the canter, and then we had a brief cooling off period where the judge lined us up and went over the pattern, which was the usual walk down the long side on the left rein to the corner, trot the short side, lengthened trot across the diagonal, right lead canter the short side, lengthen trot across the other diagonal, left lead canter the other short side, then hand gallop to halt on the long side.

You get a groom in Ridden Cob to help you strip tack and give them a quick once over with a brush mid-class, since 50% of the class is judged on conformation. Lisa has been my groom every time I've done it over the last decade!

I volunteered to go first for the pattern because I knew there was no way he was going to stand quietly on the rail that long. And as we picked up the right lead canter after the first lengthening across the diagonal, I saw that there were people sitting on the haybales that divided the warm-up area from the show ring, and I knew shit was about to go sideways. I know this horse, and I could feel that spook coming from miles, counties, states away.

Juuuuuuust Connor things

I actually didn't realize it at the time, but he spooked at the haybale people and swapped his lead so smoothly, and then counter cantered so balanced, I didn't even notice. Not that I had much time to notice - there were only a handful of canter strides before I had to bring him back to a lengthened trot, and I spent half of them recovering from the spook.

As we approached the last long side, I could feel him gearing up for the hand gallop in a way he never had in Ridden Cob before. He knew what we were there for! I leaned forward, put my leg on and clucked at the top of the long side and he FLEW for me - to the point that I wondered if I'd be able to pull him up in time or if we'd be jumping the hay bales at the end.

We did stop in time (no points off for saying "WHOA" in Welsh, thank goodness), and I was so proud of him. Every other time we've done Ridden Cob, he's been too spent after the English Pleasure division to give me much, but THAT - that was some Welsh Dragon coming out!

Showing in the conformation portion of Ridden Cob

In the lineup, the judge came up to me and said, "You know you would've won that class, but I can't overlook the blown lead and the spook." That was the first time I was made aware that he blew a lead, so I was pretty confused until I saw the photos later, lol. 

But we still took Reserve which was good enough to get us into the Ridden Welsh Championship (combining the winners of Ridden Welsh Pony and Ridden Cob), where Connor was much better behaved after getting that hand gallop out of his system.

Interestingly, in this class the judge called for a canter, and then she called for "reverse at the canter." Now, I had never heard a judge call this at a Welsh show, and in my head, I'm like, "Is this a trick question? Do they want a counter canter, or do they want a lead change?" Second Level (and #IHSAsurvivor) me was like welp, I'm not going to risk it, we're going to stay on this lead, because if she wanted a lead change, surely she would have said it explicitly, otherwise this must be a trick question.

Wrong. And as punishment for being wrong, we got to do a counter canter hand gallop shortly after (which was, to be clear, not what the judge wanted). Connor though, said f*** this s*** and threw in a flying lead change to put us on the right lead for the second half of the hand gallop. I just let it roll - it was a clean change, why would I get after him?

And we won.

I mean look at the little guy, leg on each corner like a proper Cob

As the judge was leaving the ring, I stopped her and asked her if she would clarify what she meant with the reverse at the canter just so that I would know for the future. I'm going to paraphrase here, but she said she was looking for "whatever the horse was capable of - a simple, a flying - but I did want a lead change. Everyone had some issues in that class, but you won based on the overall picture. Really, he won based on the merits of his hand gallop. So often you see ponies just speed up the canter, or get flat and strung out, but his was animated, true, and balanced, and a joy to watch. This horse is incredibly fit and at a perfect weight and just looks wonderful, and you can tell that you've taken no shortcuts in his training, he's not just going around in a frame. Truly a pleasure to watch." And this was the judge that breeds Cobs.

I almost teared up on the spot, and I am tearing up writing about it, tbh. You guys know how up and down our journey has been over the years as I took the slow road learning along with him. For a judge to say that she can tell we've taken no shortcuts meant more to me than any of the ribbons we won last weekend.

The Best Boy

And that wrapped up the first day of Welsh showing!