Cob Jockey

14hh of handsomeness

First of all, thank you all so much for the incredibly helpful comments yesterday, you guys are the best.  Hearing what different riders from different disciplines do to keep things fun for their horses gave me a lot of ideas and is inspiring me to set a weekly plan over the winter that includes lots of fun things to keep both of us interested.  Blogging gives me a chance to be honest about what I’m doing, about what’s not working, and to get feedback and ideas from amazing people I might not know otherwise (and to share the Welsh Cob with the world, I hope you’re feeling the Section D love too!)  After just over 300 published posts, Connor and I are on track to hit 20,000 lifetime pageviews in November, with 30 official followers and averaging 2,000 hits a month lately, which makes me think that in the future, we will only add to the awesome blog friends we’ve made over the past year, so thank you! 

Because I missed a lesson earlier this month, Connor got a trainer ride yesterday.  I got a report via text that said she took him across the street to the open grassy area with a few XC fences/grass Dressage arena and that he was “fabulous!” with a smiley face, so I think he liked it.  It seems like the trail ride and the scenery change is doing wonders for him.   I can’t wait to get the full report on how the trainer ride went.

What’s the actual plan, from here?  His full brother’s rider commenting yesterday that Comrade wasn’t really ready for full time work until his 7th year, plus his breeder’s comment that he looks like he is going through a growth spurt, plus Cathy’s observation about sending signals from his brain to his feet, plus my own feelings that he gets flustered easily, have made me realize that I need to let him grow up a bit.  He’s a Cob, not a Thoroughbred, just because he’s 6 does not mean he’s matured.  I want to take at least a month in which we only do things like hacks and easy conditioning sets outside of our lessons.  (This also coincides with me trying to put off trace clipping him as long as possible so that he gets niiiice and fuzzy before I start blanketing.  Success.)  

Love my pony!

After that, over the course of the winter, I'm still planning on riding 4 days a week, but I want to have a varied game plan each week.  I'd like to jump/do poles once a week, hack once a week, and have two flat schools that maybe also include a hack warmup.  Even if we’re just flatting, I’m going to put random objects all over the arena that he has to go through/over, both to desensitize him and keep him interested.

Game on, little buddy.