Cob Jockey

Edit: Double posted today.  No apologies.

With the Nancy lesson on Friday and a Dressage show on Sunday and geography being what it is, Connor and I had a perfect excuse to have a pony sleepover at his breeders!  He hasn't been there in five years, since she packed him up and dropped him off with me, but he definitely seemed to recognize it:


Normally in a "new" place, he's tense.  Here, he was interested and relaxed.  Not to anthropomorphize, but it seemed like he recognized it as a happy place.


His breeder and I had an awesome weekend planned.  We got Connor settled in, ate a delicious dinner full of home grown vegetables, and then went to play with baby ponies!  That'll be a post in and of itself, but here's a teaser:

I only picked this photo out of all that I took to show everyone what it feels like to be surrounded by a herd of baby ponies - and probably the highest quality band of Welsh Cob babies in the states this year.

The next morning, we let Connor out to play a little bit. And he really only did play a little bit before deciding it was too hot and ran back into his stall for shade:


We then saddled up Connor and Castleberrys Athanasia and went on a trail ride!!!  Connor's breeder is fortunate enough to live on the edge of a state park.  All of the land around her is privately owned, but a couple of the owners maintain trails for their golf carts, and they'll let us ride on the trails as long as it's not muddy. It's real trails too - hills and water crossings and trees as far as the eye can see.

Trail pony haaaaaaaaaaaaates being made to stand still for photos.

All too soon, it was time for us to hitch up and head over to the Hoosier Horse Park, where a very sleepy Connor settled in underneath his fan:



And I headed home for the evening.  Karen crashed at my place, which was so much fun!  My husband outdid himself on an amazing dinner (Moroccan style chicken thighs with chickpeas and onions, spicy Moroccan red lentils, and a tomato, nectarine and marinated feta salad, with freshly whipped cream and berries for dessert).  Karen made out with leftovers, and we even have multiple actual guest beds in our new house (last time she stayed with me she had to crash on a couch), so she got to sleep in a real bed this time, haha.  I loved relaxing and getting to talk to her while drinking sangria on our front porch.

The next morning, it was showtime...