Cob Jockey

Last night was probably the last time Mary will get to see Disco for a good long while. She's moving a bit further away for her husband's job in the next month or so, and Disco is leaving for The National Drive and "S3x Camp" right after the drive. So, she put a proper ride on him for the first time ever (her only other time on him was cooling him out bareback).

PC most photos: Leah

Shenanigans and all.

It was great to see her on him and to get her assessment of him. She really enjoyed herself, and couldn't stop commenting on how much he enjoys new games, how thoroughly he thinks through problems, and how you can really feel his moment of understanding when he gets something "right". 

She's right, in all those respects, and it's such a very different ride from Connor. Connor is not a thinker, he's react-er. He learns more slowly and less deliberately than Disco does, and it takes things longer to be confirmed with Connor.

Of course, she also pushed his buttons in ways I haven't, and as a result, we had one small moment of disobedience, his first since he's been here.

This was not a spook, it was a very obvious attempt to see if he could get out of work a few minutes into the steering game. Mary sat it well, and just like when he tried to lawn dart the trainer in Canada, he seemed to go "Well, that didn't work so I guess I'll just get on with it," and never tried it again.

She didn't ride him to exhaustion at all, but it just doesn't take much to wear him out yet, and he was more than up for being ground tied for grooming afterward - didn't move one single foot.

Now that his ground tying is very solid, I've been leaving him ground tied for post-ride grooming as much as possible - both for the practice, and so that he can relax over his topline. "His" crossties are still set very short so that he can't grab them - although now that I type this, I realize he hasn't tried that in months, so we should probably lengthen them and see if we're past that stage. Babies!

I am really going to miss Mary living so close, both as a friend and especially as an exceptional horsewoman. She just thinks differently than I do, and all of us have benefited greatly from having her around these last 5 years.