Cob Jockey

There are some big changes afoot in CobJockey Land. Starting with the biggest, which is that today is the last day of my home trainer's boarding, training and lesson program. It's not my place to advertise why, although I'll just say she's doing it for all the right reasons, and I'm so proud of her for it.

I first reached out to my trainer when I moved to my current city right after getting married in 2010. I found her via an old ad on Craigslist and at the time she didn't have a spot for me in her lesson program. But in early January 2011, days after I started my first "real" job, she emailed me and let me know she had a spot.

I introduced myself as someone who likes the idea of jumping, but was scared to jump after being overmounted in college, and was mainly interested in Dressage. She put me on Dillon, the "steady eddie" 20+ year old retired eventer (warning: cringy early days immature blog posts ahead), and proceeded to rebuild my position from the ground up. She would later describe me as "locked in" to place in the saddle, which I would tell you now was a lot from fear.

Lesson on Mac, June 2011

It would be six weekly lessons before I would canter, and a couple of months after that before I jumped a fence. By that point, I trusted her. She had never put anything in front of me I couldn't handle, whether that was the rotating cast of random sales and boarder horses I rode at the time, or the exercises she had me do. 

Every lesson was an exhilarating rush of learning which I would recap in excruciating detail both on this blog, which pre-dates my relationship with her by about a year, and when calling my mom on the 45 minute drive home.

On our way to a second place finish in Starter at Penny Oaks. We lost out on 1st by 0.2 of a point to a horse my trainer had trained and sold, Marvin.

When Connor's breeder called me in October of 2011 to make an insanely good offer on Connor, I wouldn't have - couldn't have - taken her up on it if it wasn't for my trainer. Not only because I knew I wasn't ready for a green horse on my own, but also because she made it financially possible for me to own him, by letting me work off board by doing Sunday stalls back when I was making just slightly more in county government IT than the janitors did  (not even a little bit exaggerated!)

Baby Connor in a borrowed cooler after my first ride on him at my old barn, November 2011

I'm sure my trainer would have preferred I got something a little less...quirky...especially after we spent my entire first lesson after I brought him home trying to catch him and ultimately needing to pin him against the barn with stock panels in order to catch him that day.

Meeting the barn parents for the first time, after Lisa had made me the offer but before I officially owned him in October 2011

But we persevered, through a lot. She coached me through so many firsts. 

Our first event, which was also our first time jumping a full show jumping course:

Our first Beginner Novice, which was also our first proper 3 day:

"These fences are HUGE!" - Connor probably

Our first rated win:

Finishing on our Dressage score of 28.0 to win BN at the Kentucky Horse Park was so sweet

I can say with all kinds of certainty that without her, I wouldn't be where I am today. She re-taught me how to ride, but she also taught me how to go XC, how to show, how to fit a vest, how to walk a course, how to warm up, how to blanket, and a whole host of other things. I wouldn't be the horsewoman or rider I am today without her.

I know they say you shouldn't mix friendship and business, but over the years we have, which is not surprising since we're the same age and obviously have common interests. I'm excited to transition to this next phase of our relationship, which is that of "just friends" instead of trainer/student, and I can't wait to see what kinds of horse adventures we get to go on together in the future, as friends this time.

Thank you for everything <3