Cob Jockey

To recap, on Day 1, I just sat on her for a while and then got off. On Day 2, we introduced steering. And on Day 3, we introduced trotting. Again, this is a horse that has had no directional steering training beyond leading and lunging. And again, Kate had a well-researched and personally tested system for starting them that worked flawlessly. She had me using a rudimentary system of aids, using the 4 seconds to light pressure pattern based on how quickly horses process new information, that set the horse up for inside leg to outside rein success later in their careers right out of the gate. I was to never use two legs on her, not at first. From the halt, we would turn by applying the outside rein against the neck. If that didn't get a response, I would use the inside rein in a direct/opening rein fashion, and at the same time apply my inside leg in a bumping, nagging "Chihuahua barking kind of way". Then once she was moving, I held both reins out far in front of me and wide, creating a "box" for her to stay in. As long as she stayed in that box, she didn't get any cues, but if she strayed out of it, I repeated the same system of aids. It wasn't perfect of course, but I was able to generally get her going where I wanted her to go in the whole ring right from the get-go. The biggest problem was me - it required a whole rewiring of my I've-only-ridden-Connor-for-13-years aid system to ride a horse like this, and sometimes the wires got crossed and I'd use the wrong leg or things like that. But, this is a new skill to learn like any other, so I'm not beating myself up about not being great at it immediately. On Day 3, Kate's last day here, we pushed it maybe a little further than Kate would have if she was at home, but I got the impression she wanted to set us up for success after she left. First of all, we saddled her. No pomp and circumstance, just put it on her in the indoor and she was fine. I gotta write a whole blog post about this saddle, but for now, let's just say the incredible power of the blogger network strikes again. Can you BELIEVE how well this saddle fits her? It's silly. And how wonderful for Eva to be able to start right off with a saddle that doesn't hurt or annoy her in any way. We also graduated from the rope halter to a leather sidepull that I had originally bought for baby Disco. Kate: "Um, why do you even HAVE a sidepull this small?" On Day 3, the wheels fell off the bus in a very honest way. We were introducing trot, and suddenly Eva had a very honest green horse moment and got overwhelmed by me moving around more up there, and my lizard brain didn't even try to one rein stop her as she started very athletically bronc bucking.  And that's the first time I ever fell off a Welsh Cob, and my first fall off anything in well over a decade. After watching her airs above the ground at liberty, I just knew it would be her and had a feeling I had it coming. (Side note: although I sure wasn't thinking about it, the video shows I had a textbook Landsafe over the shoulder fall. Protected my head at the expense of my limbs, and my helmet didn't even take a hit. Glad that clinic paid off!) I have video, but it was so honest of her, I won't put it out there on the Internet, because it was more my fault than hers. I surprised myself that I wasn't even remotely scared to get back on. I understood exactly what happened and why, and I know she's a lazy potato at heart, so I knew it wouldn't happen again. We ended the lesson trotting loose in the ring again no problem. After the fall. The only casualty was my brand new Canter Culture breeches which got a hole in the knee, wah. Since then, I have been lunging her with the saddle on and stirrups flapping to get her used to movement up there, and I have ridden her multiple times without an ounce of fear. Which still surprises me. I am much more confident in my late 30s than I was in my teens and 20s. I guess we can thank Connor for that. So, I started the clinic with an unbroke pony, and I am now able to confidently ride her on my own every day (well, 5 days a week), putting her a month or two ahead of where I thought we'd be. Kate is a wizard.... [Read more]

My goals for Eva for this clinic were simply to find out what she still needed to learn before I got on her, which I assumed would be sometime in September. When Kate got there, Eva had still never been saddled, bridled, long-lined, ground driven, ponied, or any number of other things I thought she needed to know before having a rider on her back. So if getting to this point First moment sitting on her   on the very first day Kate was here seems premature, well, I don't blame you for thinking that. But in the end, it was the opposite of premature. It was incredible. And it was no accident.     On Friday morning, Kate spent a long time doing groundwork with her. Figuring her out. Where she holds tension and how to help her work through it. How she reacts to pressure, and not just pressure applied to her head. How to help her feel and deal with her emotions, not just shut down and bluntly accept whatever humans ask of her. Doing many of the "advanced leading" exercises with her trying to establish that communication and bi-directional respect that underpins everything.  She also taught Eva a skill that she had tried to teach Pyro and I on a virtual lesson last winter that just did not compute with my brain. In a sentence: you stand on the mounting block and hold your arm straight out and the horse, from wherever it is in the ring, even eventually at liberty, sidles up to you, puts itself in the right place for mounting, and stands there.  Horse starts here (or wherever) Horse ends here This exercise does a few things. Obviously, it's great for mounting, but it also gives the horse a lot of control. You cannot force a horse into this exercise, there's no physical way. You can only ask, in kind of a vague way that almost doesn't have anything to do with the motion the horse has to perform.  You just keep asking, slowly, patiently, and the horse has to figure it out, with the timing of your release telling them when they've made even a baby step toward the right answer at first, and a re-start of the exercise telling them "good job, but not quite." For clarity, we started this exercise with me/Kate on the gate for more height and control, and then moved to the mounting block placed against the wall when Eva was solid with it.   It also teaches them self-control. They learn that their only job when in position at the mounting block (or gate) is to stand. No matter what happens to them. With less tolerance over time as they get good at it, if they swing their head around, or dance around, we re-start the exercise. Eva soaked it up like a sponge, and was quickly a pro at the mounting block game. I mean, QUICKLY. She is so engaged with people, and has a quick mind for figuring out each new game.  At the end of that session, Kate said "You're definitely going to get on her. Want to get on her later this afternoon?"     Record scratch, excuse me what? Now here is where I say, that my actual reaction was "Sure!". Because as I have told Kate, many times in all of the lessons she's given me since 2016, I have thought "That sounds like total bullshit." But every time, whatever she is teaching me WORKS. So now, my reaction to anything she says is "That sounds like total bullshit, let's do it!"  So, weenie adult amateur starting a green horse that has never even been saddled before bareback and in a rope halter after calling the horse to her on the fence Disney-princess style? Total bullshit, let's do it! By this point, Eva had really internalized the idea that no matter what happened at the mounting block, it was her job to stand still. From the gate position, Kate had me start by rubbing her all over her back with my foot. Then walk away from it to release that pressure, and then we restarted the mounting block exercise.  This time I got on. My instructions from Kate were "Don't sit up. Align your spines as quickly as possible while on your belly and then slide off the other side immediately." That went perfectly. We repeated it a couple of times, and then the next time, I sat up. And just sat there. And breathed. And everything was fine. To be completely fair, this was also the reaction the first time I sat on the only other Castleberry Cob I've started, Shae, so it has quite a bit to do with the generous nature of this breed also. But that was, let's call it a more traditional way of starting (since I was in college taking a class from an established colt starter) At this point, my mind was thoroughly blown. And I had only just sat up there! But it was completely stress-free for both of us. It felt like I had not forced Eva into this, that Kate and I had created a communication framework between us, that Eva understood her role, and that she was not over-faced, even though on paper, it looked like we went from A to F on the alphabet and skipped a bunch of steps. "Isn't it great? I start all my horses like this now," said Kate, beaming, as I sat up there trying to remember to breathe and still incredulous that I was sitting bareback on an unbroke horse. And that was only Day 1 of 3!... [Read more]

A couple of months ago, while I was laying in bed, I got a text from Kate Little (you may also know her from her long-neglected blog, Incidents of Guidance) that made me sit bolt upright with excitement. "I've been invited to teach a clinic [exciting part censored, hopefully Kate shares this story herself], and I've never taught a clinic before. Would your barn be willing to have me out so that I could practice teaching people I don't see every day?" I could not have been more excited. For her, for this big step on her career journey, and for the validation that the world is hungry for her theories and her teaching. For my barn, who never gets regular instruction. For me, for getting to see my friend in person. And for our horses, because man do the horses benefit from the things in Kate's head. There is no one quite like Kate in the horse world, and I am a bit desperate for her teaching and training framework to come out to a broader audience. The cornerstone of Kate's teaching, both in the saddle and on the ground, is that communication with the horse should be a two-way street. Too often, equestrians turn communication into a one way street. Do this, stand here, do that, don't do that. Respond as quickly as my human reflexes want you to. But what happens when you stop to listen? What happens when the horse feels heard? What happens if you take the time to learn how horses process information, and you use that to slow your aids down, but in so doing, speed your progress up? In a sentence, this is what happens. On the first ride ever. Spoiler alert, that will have to be its own post. Lest you think this is off-the-deep-end natural horsemanship with no practical application in sport, it's not. Kate teaches a damn good Dressage and jumping lesson, and has students at or approaching the upper levels of both sports. That's the point. This two way street serves everyone. And who can forget the way a few virtual lessons last winter with Kate completely transformed Pyro's relationship with me? He went from being a horse I did not trust at all, to one that I do, and even the way he looked at me changed. I could go on and on about how good Kate was. How well she explains things, no matter your skill level. How she makes you feel like you, yes you, can do it, no matter what "it" is. And how deftly she taught people she had never taught before. It was awe-inspiring, how much progress we all made this weekend. I will probably never stop trying to convince her to move back to the Midwest, lol. Deb and Ivan took two groundwork and two riding lessons. Ivan is generally such a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, but if you watch the subtleties of how he interacts with Deb, you can tell he generally ignores her as a leader and does what he wants, moves her out of his space. Seeing him train a curious and respectful ear on Deb was magical. Also, Deb is a lifelong horse woman, but this was only her 9th lesson ever!   This is Kate pretending to be a cow that Ivan and Deb had to cut for some reason, lol   Yes, I can't make her wear a helmet. She's an incredibly youthful 70 years old, she can do whatever she wants.   Leah and Pyro continued the "advanced leading" (it's so much cooler than it sounds) that they started in online lessons with Kate, and they also worked on self-carriage and giving Pyro opportunities to be responsible for himself. Pyro learning haunches in in-hand with Kate.   Baby self-carriage!   My mom!!! took a lesson with Connor. I gave it to her as a surprise early birthday present. She was so nervous, Connor was feeding off of her and wouldn't stand still for the first part of the lesson, but she ended up really enjoying it.     Poor Magnum. He's a saintly 17 year old Thoroughbred that has been used in countless H/J lessons over the years, and has everyone, including his owner and part leaser, convinced that he cannot possibly lift his back and use himself correctly. Kate got on and uh, yeah...it's not anything physical. But after a lesson with Kate, he had completely changed for both of them. Magnum and his owner, Tricia, my college suitemate   Magnum and his part-leaser, who evented through Training as a kid but at this point hadn't had a lesson in 20 years! Connor got ridden by Mary on Saturday and his part-leaser Sandra on Sunday. I was afraid a hole would be ripped in the space/time/horse continuum by getting Kate and Mary together. They are SO similar in their cerebral approach to horsemanship and their relentless curiosity and desire to learn. Connor was kind of a spicy twit both days, but as always, in a safe and fun way. Connor was CONVINCED he couldn't possibly do anything except plow around on his forehand at 90mph until basically this moment when Mary finally got his number.   Sandra's first lesson in over 3 years! And probably her first time jumping in nearly as long.       Lisa even got in on the fun, bringing yearling Castleberrys Arabella and 9 year old broodmare Castleberrys Ffair Lady. Kate herself did a lot of work with Arabella, and it was fascinating to see the kind of timing and tempo she was capable of. To watch her work with the horses is just pure poetry.     Lisa brought Ffair Lady for my college roommate Christina to work with. Lisa and Arabella having a respectful two-way discussion about leading. Finally, I didn't get to see much of Leah's lessons with Missy because I was running around grabbing lunch and doing other clinic organizer things, but can we talk about how cute the faithfully following dog is? Aaaaadorable.   I couldn't have been happier with the way the weekend went. It was fun and relaxed, but it was also serious and educational. It's the kind of thing I wish I could provide for everyone more often, but because I can't, that just means everyone else was that much more grateful for Kate's time.... [Read more]

The other thing we did with Eva last week was turn her into a sport horse. As opposed to a reiner. Before Lisa intentionally left this mane on her because she knew Mary and I would turn it into a good before/after photo, as we did with Aeres and Encore before Eva. And because Mary positively itches if a horse isn't "a bath away from the show ring." So the very first day she met Eva... It needed to be cut before it could be pulled, but we didn't try pulling. She's sensitive, for all the good parts of that and all the bad parts of that, and sounds in particular seem to be a lot for her. Including the sound of the scissors. Pulling seemed like it would be asking a lot. (Although as I write this post, I remember that her full sibling Encore also hated the sound of the scissors but fell asleep for pulling so...maybe I'll give that a shot soon.) This was also the first time I had crosstied her after learning from Leah that she had been crosstied by her friends before, and she stood reasonably still for 20-30 minutes during all this, so I have no complaints. In the end, not only did she end up looking a lot better, she also has to feel better having all that hair off her neck in the hot Indiana summer.... [Read more]

Just before I left on a business trip, Mary came down to see Eva for the first time. She was already obsessed with her after meeting her on previous visits to Lisa's, but after handling her? This is Mary absolutely melting when Eva struck a pose to whinny at someone getting off a trailer, and saying "She is SO. BEAUTIFUL!" That day, we ended up starting with lunging. She had never so much as walked over a ground pole before, but it was a total non-issue. She clearly enjoyed it, because a few minutes later I turned Connor and Eva loose in the indoor so Mary could see her canter, and unfortunately I don't have a video of this, but she voluntarily changed course in order to jump the pole again. Connor is, well. Let's just say this free lunging session convinced me that I don't think we're going back to full herd turnout as long as Eva is here. "GET OUT OF MY WAY, I'M A MAN!" He was possessively herding her and biting her neck and just acting very studdish. I have seen him take possession of a mare once before in mixed turnout and run another gelding nearly off his feet, so that's on my mind too. Eva's clearly helped him find some testosterone reserves he didn't know he had, which is funny, because he was never like this with Aeres, nor with Missy, who he has successfully lived in a mixed herd with for over a year. But back to Eva. Watching her move, there is so much to like about this horse. Her trot, for one. It's unmistakably a Welsh Cob trot, but there's suspension, there's more shoulder freedom than most Cobs (although I always want more in this breed), and most importantly, even when her head is straight up in the air, she never uses her underneck as a security blanket the way Connor does, which should make her a lot easier to train.   But of all things, the gallop caught my eye that day. I have never in my life looked at a Welsh Cob galloping and thought "Wow, I love that gallop," in a sport way until Eva. Welsh Cobs often look like a cartoon pony of both long hair and limbs flying inefficiently in every direction at the gallop, and the gallop doesn't undulate through the horse's entire body. It's like their legs are galloping but their bodies are just floating above the legs, at least to my eye. You can kind of see what I mean in the GIF of Connor above. He is...not the most graceful galloper. And he didn't need to be 💗   Now, don't think I'm knocking them over this: they were not bred to gallop, they were bred to trot as big as a horse in order to pull heavy wagons quickly while eating as little as a pony, and they do that well. A sporty eventing-style gallop is not something they were ever supposed to do well. So that made it all the more incredible to see the way Eva gallops. She is beauty, she is grace. No really, she's actually balanced. It's efficient, it's powerful, it's graceful, it's effortless. It's ground-covering (for a 14hh pony), it's purposeful. It's something I want to ride. And combined with just having seen her boldly change direction in order to take a "jump" a few minutes earlier after we had just introduced her to that game that day, it has the wheels turning far too early in my head. IF she wants to event, she has the pieces to go pretty far. Again, for a 14hh pony. But best of all? After all that chaos, she came to me. Politely and respectfully. "Hey person, I'm done with this, can I come love you?" Swoon 💗... [Read more]

At this point, my BO and I still manage the farm jointly, although I am slowly taking over more and more responsibilities as time goes on. This weekend, I took over bush hogging. Up to this point, he had been reluctant to give that one up. He honestly enjoys doing it, and since he has a daughter my age, I'm sure he envisioned all of the many, many ways I could be killed doing it every time he thought about it. But I've proven myself tractor-capable by dragging and watering the rings the last six months without any major incidents, so we agreed that I would take it over the second half of this summer. BO and I troubleshooting the long-neglected 8' boom sprayer that is going to be my new best friend as I go hard on getting the weeds under control soon.    (Side note: I am wildly grateful that my introduction to owning a farm includes my BO. He is there every step of the way to give me complete and detailed instruction on every bit of farm life; not just the stuff I could Google, but also the stuff I can't, like where on this property the grass is so thick and the hill is so steep the tractor is likely to get bogged down and how to handle that, and what the best/safest path to mow the big field is.) Isn't she lovely. I was ready. The BO kept up with it well enough, but sometimes he'd travel and the weeds would explode and make my brain itch every time I looked at them. And I enjoyed it - seeing the weeds disappear under the tractor, knowing that it's now in my power to take them down any time I need to, not worrying about them going to seed. Things got...a little out of control in one of the three paddocks I'm resting this summer It's funny, the way you start to look at a facility when you're responsible for it vs. when you're a boarder. For example, earlier this year Mary and Tricia moved half the jumps from the indoor down to the outdoor, intending to set a new course each week in both rings. Which would be fine and fun, if we had staff to take both courses down before I watered and dragged, and staff to weed-eat around the poles and standards when they're outside the ring, but we don't. We just have me! So I made the rare unilateral executive decision this week that all of our jump poles and standards will live in the indoor (where we use them most anyway), and said that I am open to them going back outside if someone else would take over weed eating around them. They all said that was fair and nobody cared enough to do that. It's the give and take of the co-op model. That, uh, should be sand and TruTex. And will be sand and TruTex, again. The farm feels like a lot of work right now, but I'm also reminding myself that certain things (like the weedy outdoor arena above) are only a lot of work because they got out of hand over the last few years, and that the more I stay on top of things, the easier it will all become over time. And in the meantime - I'm enjoying it immensely.... [Read more]

I am still somewhat in shock over this video my barnmate Leah sent me yesterday. I have never, in my nearly 13 years of owning this horse, seen him groom another horse before. Hell, I've never even seen him appear to LIKE another horse before. He is the true neutral, always the one that gets put out with new horses because he is non-reactive, both positively and negatively. Doesn't like em, doesn't hate em, just sniffs noses and then goes off to graze. And he is the loner, regularly choosing to be nowhere near the rest of the herd in turnout. Normal Connor. Choosing to be two paddocks away over the hill where he can't see the rest of the herd in this photo. So this is...it brought tears to my eyes, honestly. He has groomed me before, many times and very gently, when I'm currying him, so I guess that tells you just how much he generally prefers people to horses, lol. I had noticed his eye sort of softening toward her the last couple of days after he steadfastly ignored her in the beginning. A little more aware of her. A little more willing to spend time near her.   But I never would have guessed that he would start to like her that much. And I am so happy for him 💗... [Read more]

Man, I'm enjoying this horse. She's been interesting as I've started really working with her. She's so people-oriented, yet you could tell she had almost no exposure to the idea that people could ask her to do things - stay in this box, stand here, put your feet there. The first night I did a few of Kate's groundwork exercises with her, I could feel her brain go 💥 THIS IS A THING?! But by the second night, after two ten minute sessions over two days? I could move her feet without touching her, by merely suggesting in the air with the whip that she should move left, right or backwards. Guys, this horse is SMART. Having done these same exercises with Connor and Pyro, they didn't learn nearly as quickly, nor were they even close to being as sensitive. I almost felt like I could move her with just my mind, in her first twenty minutes of capital T Training ever. Turning away from her after a good repetition to let her know with my body language that I wasn't going to ask anything of her in that moment and she could rest   I had an interesting conversation with Lisa in which I was talking about how surprised Eva was that people could ask her to do things, and she said her trainer friends she works with and respects quite a bit have said they don't prefer to take on unstarted mares past the age of 5 (Eva's age) for exactly that reason - they get a little set in their worldview by 6. It was validating to hear that I'm not alone in that thought, and being grateful I get the chance to work with Eva now. Yes I know I just talked about how she needs to learn playing human games is fun, but also Eva has found this THE MOST dumb thing ever, so she gets to do it every day. Not every necessary life skill is a party. Mostly, she just makes me smile. Every interaction with her is fun, and every interaction challenges me in the best of ways. Okay, she just learned what I thought were a weeks' worth of lessons in 20 minutes, what's next? Letting her stand still after a good repetition and respecting her bubble as I walk around her to scratch her withers for a reward For me, I am not sure I could have appreciated a horse like this until now. I'm grateful for the lessons I've learned that have made me both able to appreciate her and able to do her justice in terms of patience, feel and subtly. That's not to say I won't make mistakes with her, but I'm a lot more equipped to do right by her than I would have been a few years ago.... [Read more]