Cob Jockey

Yesterday I took the first big step toward my goals and took my first lesson with a new trainer, one that can see me in-person regularly, which I felt was important for Disco's first year.

I reached out to her because it was her barn that Castleberrys Encore went to just over a year ago, and she has done a masterful, patient job with him over that time. He went from being basically unable to canter even at liberty to cantering politely with his adult ammie rider, on his own schedule - she didn't rush him. I could not be more impressed, or happy for Encore to have found such a perfect home.

Remember Encore? He's 15.2hh now!

But I shouldn't have been surprised - she's taken multiple driving-bred horses to the FEI levels, has a passion for off breeds, enjoys bringing young ones along, and has a particular knack for understanding what it takes to bring a pulling breed with a naturally high neck set up the Dressage levels. 

High neck set, you say?

When I learned this trainer (who I will call BDT) has a regular rotation of barns she travels to for lessons and was willing to add me to that rotation, I was sold. Not only would that enable me to lesson with her more regularly as my weekends fill up with barn chores and kid sports, but it meant that my fellow co-op members could ride with her too.

Connor being The Best Boy for his leaser in her lesson with BDT

We worked on three things in this lesson, which will serve as my roadmap for the next month: forward, flexion and moving the haunches. I'll add a number four not-goal: "Don't worry at all about where his head is."

Carrying me forward - but not too forward - was the biggest thing. He tends to walk very slowly if left to his own devices and leaves me feeling like I need to encourage him with my seat. She wanted him carrying me forward in whatever gait we were in, and to "let the horse train himself" by using the next gait up to incentivize him into giving me the gait I wanted. 

"You fit each other really well," was one of her comments, and I can't help but agree. He's the perfect size for me.

So, if he was giving me his "slug mode" walk, I would bring him up to the trot and stay there until he was carrying me at the trot, then I would bring him back down to the walk, and we would stay at the walk only if he was carrying me forward at the walk.

#slugmode

This, predictably, both really worked and also led to the most trotting under saddle he had ever done, which was another thing I just needed confidence to start asking for. My rides to this point have been mostly 15 minutes or less, and Mr. Work Ethic really rose to the occasion on the longer ride. I keep forgetting he is not Connor, and he seems to thrive on work.

BDT was also not shy about telling me when he got too quick, especially at the trot. "It would be easy with a horse like this to turn him into a rushy mess down the line, it can't be forward at the expense of everything else. You still need to help him find his balance."

Outside of that, we worked on the very beginnings of following the bit, which was (surprise!) easier to get when he was carrying me forward. And we worked on the very beginnings of hindquarters control (asking for one step sideways with the hindquarters while standing still), which he understood quickly.

At the end of it, he had had a full probably 30 minutes of riding, and he had been exceptionally good. He was not exhausted, but he parked himself in the center of the ring for final questions like he was. It's hard not to trust him - he's just so reliable under saddle already, behavior-wise.

I came away from the lesson happy and fulfilled. It felt good to learn again, it felt good to feel like I know where I want to go with Disco in the short term, and it felt good to feel progress on him from the beginning to the end of the lesson. I'm really looking forward to seeing where she can take us.

Sleepy baby stallion slept good that night