Cob Jockey

Around early June I decided I didn't want to keep pushing Shae. He only just turned three in the beginning of June, and especially after finding out that his family matures very late (his aunt grew two inches between her fifth and sixth years!) I decided to give him some time off from serious riding. Unfortunately, since we're not allowed to ride anywhere but in the arenas at school, and I don't have a truck and trailer, we're stuck with arena riding or ground work.

So I rode him tonight for the first time in a while, and it was just going to be a low-pressure ride. It started out on a high note, though, when I was walking him out to the mounting block. He turned his head to look at something, crossed his forelegs, gets distracted, forgets he crossed his forelegs, tries to walk like that, and comes crashing down to his knees. Let me remind you, I did not influence this process in the least. I know better than to interfere with his own lack of self-preservation. One of these days, he'll learn, and it won't be from me saving his butt or holding him up by the lead rope.

Stuff like that proves to me, though, that he's not ready to be ridden hard. He can't even control his own body, let alone give up control to a rider. If I had my way, we would just be trail riding this whole time. Just hours and hours of walking through the forest; low-pressure saddle time we could both enjoy. Someday...