Cob Jockey: 2014 Year in Review: July-December

December 31, 2014

2014 Year in Review: July-December

July

My husband's part time job ended, so I stopped entering events. In lessons, we started focusing on making things come at him faster in Dressage, and helping him jump across fences in jumping. My mom came over and Connor gave her a pony ride! At the end of the month, my husband landed the full time job of his dreams, which involves heavy travel, so I gave notice on stall cleaning. Finally, totally not horse related, but my best friend qualified for the CrossFit Games, so I went out to California with her as companion and "coach". One of the coolest parts of my year!

August

Castleberry's Regalia

Impulsion, impulsion, impulsion. I hit 100 followers and held a contest. The wheels really fell off of our Dressage, and my trainer had me ride her fancy Lusitano to help diagnose the issue. I figured out what was going on, and the magic came back in a big way. I worked hard with him on staying where I put him, and Connor's breeder came out to visit a horse she had in training here, Regalia.

September

Cathy made her biannual trip to the farm, declared his canter "phenomenal", and talked about the importance of good geometry and letting him have his head. My trainer thought about why our XC is so much smoother than our SJ and had me start jumping more in my feet/less defensively. We had a wild lesson in which we "thought in the air" more, and went XC schooling at Bea Hive in preparation for our final event of the year. We WON our division (BN) at Jump Start in our first show at the Kentucky Horse Park! (Dressage) (Show Jumping) (XC), and broke 30 in Dressage for the first time.

October

We realized he likes to pile all his weight on the right shoulder on the flat and worked on fixing that. Connor started offering automatic simple changes, and we jumped outside of lessons for the first time. Clip #1 occurred in mid-October.

November

Our Dressage was really 'meh' in the beginning of the month, which my trainer diagnosed was because I don't have solid left rein contact in either direction/pony isn't straight. My CWD rep best friend Mary found my unicorn, and I immediately sold my Toulouse to pay for it and committed to riding bareback until January. We carried our Dressage straightness lessons over fences, and clip #2 happened on the 29th.

December

Our bareback winter began. I (finally) completed my handmade tack locker, and we did a lot of bend-counterbend-leg yield type work in lessons. Work got nuts and prevented much practicing, but lessons went well, with my trainer trying unusual strategies to get me to use my reins effectively, and we borrowed a saddle for a wild lesson in the field.

Connor and I had an amazing 2014, and we are looking forward to our first full season at BN next year! Happy New Year, everyone!