Rhythm is king

 aka My continuing attempts at figuring out collection with a horse that did not read any of the training books.  Any.  At all.  NONE.

Theo says he's fantastic and haters can exit stage left

It's been pretty dang amazing picking up my riding again with Theo playing the role of school master.  He's being ridden at a high standard most days of the week and it shows in his body and his expectations.  Trainer Z isn't going to put up with a lot of non-responses so he's gotten much lighter.  He's also gotten strong enough that doing the job isn't a big problem in his mind.  Trainer Z also rides him straight which means he's balanced enough to make up for my little (massive) physical issues.  When I get on him, I have a very level base underneath me which pushes me to ride in balance.  My shoulders aren't truly square since that's not physically possible but the weight is even and I'm not lurching off to one side or the other.  Kiki will benefit from this one day.

I'm very, very lucky to have this opportunity.  Theo's got a clean change in both directions now and by the time I'm given the green light to start playing with them, they're going to be pretty much confirmed.  I got to skip most of the struggles over the past six months while Trainer Z got those cleaned up and fully installed.  Theo knows me and we have our own, unique little relationship that results in us having fun even when we're screwing things up.  Might have crashed through some caveletti yesterday but it's still fun.  Just a little relapse into jumping reflexes at the exact wrong time.

Down side?  Theo is the freaking weirdest horse to ride in collection.  Trainer Z struggled with this as well until she was in a clinic and they stumbled on the fact that he doesn't feel like other horses.  He doesn't feel 'forward' in collection.  Trying to get him to feel 'forward' pushes him off his natural rhythm and the whole dang pyramid falls apart.  His impulsion powers up more than forward.  He's super willing and upward transitions are very prompt but you never feel like he's really going somewhere.  Both of us find it very weird to ride compared to other horses and at least for me it's been hard to get comfortable.  Because you must have forward!  True, but impulsion doesn't always feel like a drag car waiting to tack off down a track.  Sometimes it feels more like sitting on a rocket ready to launch.

When he's in collection you know you have all of this power but it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere.  The wild part is that it's just a feeling, it doesn't reflect what's going on.  From the ground, it looks great and he gets 7's and even 8's for the technical scores.  His hind leg is taking the weight and he's relaxed and balanced and responsive and all that.  There's a reason his simple changes are his strongest movement.  But he's got that short back, small moving front end, and no mental interest in going anywhere in a hurry.  Apparently he knows you pay the same fee at a show regardless of how long you're in the ring and he's going to get his money's worth.  When he goes into collection, his cadence slows a notch and he does his powerful fancy prance with a very active hind leg.  He'll get there when he gets there, it's not like the judge is leaving.  Allowed to do things in his natural rhythm?  He's got some serious bounce.

Nothing wrong with his collection for a mid-level horse, just feels totally wrong

We were practicing his half passe in trot now that I'm figuring out how to get and hold that collected trot.  First we did haunches in, shoulder in, haunches out, 10m circle, all at random so he was really on the aids and I could feel him moving into the outside rein on both sides.  Then it was half passe while worrying only about holding the rhythm.  It's so easy for him to go sideways, my job is mostly to set up the shape and then make sure his rhythm doesn't change.  Don't lock down, keep the aids moving and keep the rhythm, worry only about the rhythm and what the hind legs are doing.  I went to change bend and rebalance for the corner and he really started to bounce.  I glanced at the mirror and sort of yelped.  My 18 year old mutt looks like he's considering passage?!

Trainer Z laughed because yup, there's a passage in that collected trot.  She's been working his half steps in hand but the passage offers are all him.  He loves the mid-level work and gets excited when we're doing it.  He's an odd duck in that he heats up as the ride goes by and his most animated, fun work is at the end when other horses will be getting tired.  I'd been riding for 50 minutes when he decided he wanted to show me just how big his trot could be.  Not that it felt forward.  Added bonus, he's developing a real medium out of that collection.  Which also doesn't feel as forward as it should.

I feel better that even the professionals agree that Theo feels weird.  He will be so on the aids that you feel like you're on a ticking bomb but he doesn't feel like he's going anywhere.  He's not stuck, he's just going the way he does.  Is it mental?  Is it physical?  Probably both.  He's not really built to cover ground and he's a lazy, lazy boy.  If he was my FEI prospect we'd have a problem.  But for a Third Level school master, he's pretty darn perfect.

Until the fall crazy times get here.  Then all bets are off.

Where Marqui came from: Stonecroft Gold Medallion

 Hold onto your butts, I'm going to try to figure out bloodlines.  Apologies for my lack of proper conventions when discussing bloodlines, it's a learning curve.

Marqui had a great inspection and all kudos go to the breeder that made the match.  I still feel weird that the ribbon goes to me when, frankly, the award should go to the person that created the pony in question!  But she insists and I'll happily hang up my first red and white ribbon.  I do feel like I should be a better advocate for my filly and get to know the bloodlines that created her.  So here we go, dam side first since I've met her and like her quite a bit.  You get to bond with a pony while cutting out very secure yarn braids after an inspection.

This is Stonecroft Gold Medallion, aka Bonnie.  She's an 18 year old broodmare that just got added to the Westfalen Mare Book I.  Didn't get a movement score due to the flooding and her complete refusal to participate in this nonsense when it's storming out but still got a 7 as she's that darn pretty.  When the ponies aren't listening, Bonnie is generally considered the nicest mover of the broodmare band.  Her personality is more stand offish than the other mares but she will do anything for a peppermint.

She's had several foals for this breeder so Marqui has several half sibs.  2017 was the bay colt Quillane Rhaego who is off doing the hunters.  2019 she had Quillane Accolade who is in a dressage performance home.  He was just approved as a stallion for Westfalen.  2020 was a buckskin colt named Quillane Rubik.

Quillane Accolade (Gallod Auryn x Stonecroft Gold Medallion), photo from Wolf Run Farm

Bonnie's sire is Stonecroft Bold as Brass (aka Freddie), known as a driving cob that competed in combined events with his owner at the Novice level.  His breeder and owner is Marsha Himler and he was foaled in 1997.  Marsha Himler was on the board of directors for the Welsh Pony and Cob Society as well as a performance judge.  I found this picture of him and, well, it's kind of funny.  A little well placed censoring.  But he's got a big trot that his daughter definitely inherited.  Little bit of family resemblance as you go through the generations.

Poor Kiki trying to show her movement in a flash flood

Freddie's sire was Parc Dilwyn, an international champion from Parc Welsh Stud in Wales.  I've seen a lot of Parc horses in performance cob pedigrees and Freddie is mostly Parc lines.    No luck in finding a picture of Dilwyn.  I'll keep hunting but there are a lot of Parc stallions out there and it's hard to find pictures from forty years ago.  Per a video I found, the stud was still operating and competing in hand and under saddle in 2012.  When I look through lists of great cobs, I find examples like Parc Lady and Parc Rachel that are lovely, substantial mares with solid top lines.  There is a tendency to be butt high as is the fashion in the cob world but nothing extreme.  Parc horses do show under saddle and in harness as well as in hand.

Freddie's dam was Gweneth Pres Y Penrhyn, a chestnut with a wide blaze called Pres, that was foaled in 1976.  So yes, we're already looking at horses born before I was born.  Penrhyn Stud was based in Buzzard's Bay, MA and played an important part in the introduction of Welsh Cobs to the US.  Penrhyn was focused on creating solid, well rounded horses that could try lots of different disciplines while keeping the type and character of the Welsh Cob.

Photo from Welsh Review

On the bottom of the pedigree, Bonnie's dam was Thornbeck Golden Deilen, another cob owned by Marsha Hilmer.  Everyone that knew Deilen comments on how her daughter is basically her twin.  I'm going to keep hunting for a picture of her since so many people remember her but she appears to have dodged cameras since the internet became a thing.

Deilen's dam was an import which adds a level of complexity to my research.  The ones living in the USA are easier since the cob world is small and you hear about the ponies' personalities and barn names along with their performance record.  The names are also much easier for me to pronounce.  Cen-Y-Cerrig Y Penrhyn was from the UK and registered in Canada.  Deilen's sire was Cwmfelen Golden Eclipse and was also Canadian.  He was a palomino that was mostly used to produce crossbred ponies.  

I noted Dafydd Y Brenin Cymraeg both top and bottom of the pedigree.  He was certainly a handsome fella, look at all that bling.  I can see that movement in Bonnie.

Photo from Rimondo.com

So Bonnie is performance bred with driving in mind.  She never pulled a cart and instead got some points in western pleasure with a young rider before becoming a broodmare.  Marqui certainly carries that big trot forward for another generation.  

Next time, Taraco Mourinho!

Foal Monday?

 I've heard that Foal Friday is a thing.  And I tried to participate on time but Monday is close enough on a holiday weekend.  I'm too far away to participate most weeks but the pictures from the inspection are starting to emerge and I got to visit Kiki this weekend.  So without further ado, pictures of pony foals!

All good photos credit to Spotted Vision Photography, all cell phone shots are me or Marqui's breeder.

Kiki has to go first, of course.  Poor thing trying to show her lovely movement in water up to her ankles due to the flash flood.  

She tried hard to be a good girl but you can tell she thought this was all a bad idea.  It doesn't help that her mom was so utterly done with this whole thing.  Please note Bonnie's expression as she is plotting her revenge while trotting through the storm.

Second?  Revere, the colt that enjoyed the inspection and his captive audience so much.  He did not want to end it and come back to the barn.  Retained by the breeder for obvious (omg got an 8.3) reasons.  He's a half-uncle to Avanti and Ozzy (same dam as their sire).

Third is Avanti, the little filly I waited for but ended up passing on.  She is such a personality, she will present you with her rump and refuse to move until she has received the skritches she wants.  She's shedding out jet black and will be stunning.  She's also growing into quite the little chunk.  She's going to be a strong, fast young lady.

Last but not least?  Ozzy.  This is a half brother to Avanti with the same sire.  He also enjoyed his inspection greatly as he got to run amok while people coo'ed to him.

Bonus picture of Ozzy checking in with the inspector to see if there were any other instructions.  The cobs are not a shy group.

She's not really a foal but she's still a filly and there was no way I was not going to share this picture.  Half sister to Avanti with the same dam, two year old Raleigh got an audible 'ooooh' from the spectators when she started moving.  And then a scramble to make sure she didn't jump out of the ring as she was clearly considering doing.  Spicy little red head.

And now for the candids of me visiting the mob for no other reason than I was in the area and wanted to love on my foal.  I have never been around a foal mob before and it was a lot of fun, even if I was definitely concerned that the kids were going to knock me over while jostling for position.

Rhya is the one giving me a kiss on the cheek, Kiki is the one wanting to know why I'm being interrupted from rump scratching duty.  The kids are starting to shed out and get ready for winter so they were even more itchy than usual.  Poor Avanti is going to shed her baby fuzz just in time for her winter fuzz.  

I love this picture and I'm going to look back at it a lot over the years.  Me cuddling with Kiki at 5 months old.  She's going to be quite sensitive but that's an attribute for a future dressage horse.  She loves cuddles and grooming.  Her ears never stop moving and she's very aware of everything around her.  She's going to be spicy but I think she's going to be the good kind of spicy.  You need some spice to move up the levels.

It'll probably be a couple weeks before I make it down for another visit.  She's being weaned at the end of the month, I can't believe she's already six months old!