Cob Jockey

In the past, our Welsh shows have had all of the English under saddle classes on the same day, and typically the English Pleasure division (2-3 flat classes) goes before Ridden Cob, which is a class that demands a fiery and forward mount.

Me showing a very young, very green, Castleberrys Aviator in Ridden Cob in 2011, my first time doing the class

This year, they decided to put Ridden Cob as the last class of the day on Friday after the halter classes, and English Pleasure on Saturday, which meant Ridden Cob was the first thing Connor got to do all weekend and really was the first time I'd ridden him hard in...two weeks?

Oh my god, you can hear him yelling "WHEEEEEEEEEE" from here, lol. This and all of the following photos in this post are courtesy of Leah

Out of all the things we do at the Hoosier Horse Park, this Welsh show is the only time we ever show in this indoor arena. And I swear, the moment the judge called for the canter in the rail portion of Ridden Cob (which is a standard w/t/c rail class, followed by a pattern that includes a hand gallop, followed by stripping tack for conformation judging), Connor was like "F*** YEAH I KNOW WHAT THIS RING IS FOR!!!!!!!!"

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

He knew, I could feel it, that this class was going to ask for a hand gallop. I contained him as best I could in the rail portion of the canter, and then we had a brief cooling off period where the judge lined us up and went over the pattern, which was the usual walk down the long side on the left rein to the corner, trot the short side, lengthened trot across the diagonal, right lead canter the short side, lengthen trot across the other diagonal, left lead canter the other short side, then hand gallop to halt on the long side.

You get a groom in Ridden Cob to help you strip tack and give them a quick once over with a brush mid-class, since 50% of the class is judged on conformation. Lisa has been my groom every time I've done it over the last decade!

I volunteered to go first for the pattern because I knew there was no way he was going to stand quietly on the rail that long. And as we picked up the right lead canter after the first lengthening across the diagonal, I saw that there were people sitting on the haybales that divided the warm-up area from the show ring, and I knew shit was about to go sideways. I know this horse, and I could feel that spook coming from miles, counties, states away.

Juuuuuuust Connor things

I actually didn't realize it at the time, but he spooked at the haybale people and swapped his lead so smoothly, and then counter cantered so balanced, I didn't even notice. Not that I had much time to notice - there were only a handful of canter strides before I had to bring him back to a lengthened trot, and I spent half of them recovering from the spook.

As we approached the last long side, I could feel him gearing up for the hand gallop in a way he never had in Ridden Cob before. He knew what we were there for! I leaned forward, put my leg on and clucked at the top of the long side and he FLEW for me - to the point that I wondered if I'd be able to pull him up in time or if we'd be jumping the hay bales at the end.

We did stop in time (no points off for saying "WHOA" in Welsh, thank goodness), and I was so proud of him. Every other time we've done Ridden Cob, he's been too spent after the English Pleasure division to give me much, but THAT - that was some Welsh Dragon coming out!

Showing in the conformation portion of Ridden Cob

In the lineup, the judge came up to me and said, "You know you would've won that class, but I can't overlook the blown lead and the spook." That was the first time I was made aware that he blew a lead, so I was pretty confused until I saw the photos later, lol. 

But we still took Reserve which was good enough to get us into the Ridden Welsh Championship (combining the winners of Ridden Welsh Pony and Ridden Cob), where Connor was much better behaved after getting that hand gallop out of his system.

Interestingly, in this class the judge called for a canter, and then she called for "reverse at the canter." Now, I had never heard a judge call this at a Welsh show, and in my head, I'm like, "Is this a trick question? Do they want a counter canter, or do they want a lead change?" Second Level (and #IHSAsurvivor) me was like welp, I'm not going to risk it, we're going to stay on this lead, because if she wanted a lead change, surely she would have said it explicitly, otherwise this must be a trick question.

Wrong. And as punishment for being wrong, we got to do a counter canter hand gallop shortly after (which was, to be clear, not what the judge wanted). Connor though, said f*** this s*** and threw in a flying lead change to put us on the right lead for the second half of the hand gallop. I just let it roll - it was a clean change, why would I get after him?

And we won.

I mean look at the little guy, leg on each corner like a proper Cob

As the judge was leaving the ring, I stopped her and asked her if she would clarify what she meant with the reverse at the canter just so that I would know for the future. I'm going to paraphrase here, but she said she was looking for "whatever the horse was capable of - a simple, a flying - but I did want a lead change. Everyone had some issues in that class, but you won based on the overall picture. Really, he won based on the merits of his hand gallop. So often you see ponies just speed up the canter, or get flat and strung out, but his was animated, true, and balanced, and a joy to watch. This horse is incredibly fit and at a perfect weight and just looks wonderful, and you can tell that you've taken no shortcuts in his training, he's not just going around in a frame. Truly a pleasure to watch." And this was the judge that breeds Cobs.

I almost teared up on the spot, and I am tearing up writing about it, tbh. You guys know how up and down our journey has been over the years as I took the slow road learning along with him. For a judge to say that she can tell we've taken no shortcuts meant more to me than any of the ribbons we won last weekend.

The Best Boy

And that wrapped up the first day of Welsh showing!