I think L. Williams blog hop is now a Thing with a capital T, since this is the second one! Both have been great topics so far, keep them coming - no pressure, of course.
What's in Cob Jockey's name? This blog started as the decidedly less cool "Equine Chameleon" for a brief period before anything interesting ever happened to my horse life. I knew I liked horses, but I didn't know what I liked doing
with them, or where I fit in. I felt like I could adapt to fit whatever equine situation I found myself in at the time, but I didn't feel passionately about anything yet, breed or sport - I was a chameleon.
Cob Jockey is a nod to two things: my love of the Welsh Cob, and the sport in which I got my start.
I was never a jockey myself, but I did gallop one once or twice in the mornings. I helped break babies, trail riding them in a western saddle and then teaching them to move back and forth on the track. I learned a lot about conditioning and structuring a workout program and what "he needs a race" means.
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| I guess this is where I first started loving classic red and white wood barns that are rough around the edges, just like my current barn. |
I got to be a decent groom, too, running out of the stall I was cleaning to catch blowing racehorses as they came off the track, then bathing them, then putting them on the hot walker - usually a death-defying experience for my 5'0 105lb self. I had the size to be a jockey, but not the skill or the cojones.
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| Catching one post-gallop |
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| I also learned how to teach them to pee on command, thanks, detention barn! |
Racing is what I share with my mom, where I learned to wrap legs, and where I learned to handle frisky kites on the end of my lead rope. The first time I ever cantered was on a lead pony on the track. The trainers I worked with are some of the kindest people and horsepeople I know.
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| Texas Best, racehorse, literally running circles around the patient lead pony. |
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| Circles... |
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| Circles... |
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| I love that everyone got turnout, sometimes for extended periods of time when they needed it. They let them be horses as well as racehorses. |
By now you all know what the 'Cob' part of my blog title is about, and while the 'Jockey' part is partially a funny joke (can you imagine a Welsh Cob race? I can't without laughing!), it's mostly a nod to the only part of the horse world in which I felt at home for most of my life.
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| My trainer in the paddock pre-race. |
How cool! I always just assumed it was because you're a cob jockey :). As in you ride cobs. Very very nifty. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I am also a Cob Jockey. It works both ways. :)
DeleteThat was my assumption, too! Very cool. :)
DeleteOmg. A Welsh Cob race ... someone would get a knee to the face. Bahaha!
ReplyDeleteHaha, probably so. I just laugh about feathers flying everywhere. It would look like a hair explosion.
DeleteI thought the same as Hillary :) I had no idea you had experience on the track, I'm incredibly envious!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I had mentioned it, but maybe not for a while. It was a lot of fun!
DeleteCool! I had no idea you got your start with racehorses. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYeah! I love them, they are my first love.
DeleteLMAO! Pee on command!!
ReplyDeleteA very useful skill when you don't want to be walking a horse around the spitbox for hours after a race! ;-)
DeleteAwesome! I never knew you worked with racehorses. I always thought jockey was a cool name and never realized it referred to you riding racehorses. Cool.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your experience at the racetrack. I have a cousin (in Indiana) who volunteers for Friends of Ferdinand and from her I have discovered that (in Indiana at least) lots of racehorses spend their downtime being ridden on trails or hanging out in muddy fields.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if they can have a Shire race in the UK then I'm sure a cob race would be totally possible. (Think the Shetland Grand National.)
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFigured you'd like it, with your recent track experiences!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I had no idea you were involved with racing.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating never knew you galloped, I am jealous I have always wanted to but got scared away from it in my teens.
ReplyDeleteSO jealous you got to work at a track! I have always wanted to try my hand at being an exercise rider but the only time in my life I was small enough to do that was probably when I was like 10 haha
ReplyDeleteWow I had no idea!! Such a cool backstory to your name :)
ReplyDeleteCool! What a great experience and I love the name of your blog!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea you had a background in racing!
ReplyDeleteI also had no idea you had a background in racing. I just thought the name was because you rode a cob :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting, did not know you worked at the track. Cool!
ReplyDeleteI'd read your history ages ago so I knew about your racehorse experience, but I'd never made the connection between that and the 'jockey' in your name!
ReplyDelete