Cob Jockey

Up until last night, I hadn't cantered Disco under saddle yet. I had asked a few times a couple months ago and only ever succeeded in getting a strong trot out of him. It was a strength, coordination and confidence thing. He had done it in Canada with the pro, but never with me, and hadn't cantered under saddle in over a year.

All photos by Leah

So I took it back and worked it on the lunge. Not a lot, and only on big circles, but enough to where I knew he was getting more comfortable with it in general, and to where the "canter" cue was confirmed.

It was actually so confirmed that by the time Mary and I reconvened for Round 2 of "Get Disco to Canter Under Saddle" (with Round 1 being interrupted by that EF-2 tornado a couple weeks ago), I told her we didn't need to use the baby jump to get him to canter, that I thought he understood the canter cue well enough to just pick it up.

So that's exactly what we did.

There was a moment at first where it felt to me like he was going to start playing and dolphin-ing and I tried to grab the reins to prevent him from putting his head down and broncing, but Mary brought us down and asked what I felt and explained that it had just been him trying to find his balance, and again reiterated where she wanted my hands. 

Otherwise, it was quite uneventful, and his canter is EXCITING. I got the sensation over and over that it was a canter I could take to the base of a jump, strong and powerful and full of impulsion, not just speed. It was so unlike Connor's canter - we spent years trying to get his canter where Disco's naturally already is.

It went so perfectly...and my immediate reaction was this deep, confirmed, peaceful thought that I really do need to send him off for training now.

Why?

Because even though it went perfectly, he was a good boy and I was very proud of how I was able to think through it and ride it without devolving into lizard brain, the canter in particular is going to be a hard gait for me to influence as long as it's in the wild-and-woolly baby stages. 

I could either spend the next year or two trying and probably mostly failing to improve it, or I could send him to a professional for a couple of months this summer and take him into this coming winter at a point in his training where I do have the tools and skillset and comfort level to make rapid progress with him. And after screwing Connor up and then having to pay later on to have him fixed, I know which one I'm picking this time.

But in the meantime, I'm basking in the glow of knowing that canter is in there, and dreaming of where it will take us someday...