This summer is flying by! It’s less than two months until the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover, and Cozmic One just keeps getting better and better.

Like I said in my last post, we’ve been working a lot on lengthening and shortening and lateral work. He’s gotten really good at it.

We took him to the Country Heir (Kentucky) shows in June and schooled him around in the hunter rings, then flatted around in the indoor jumper arena. He was very calm for his first time jumping hunter jumps! He popped right over them like he’s been doing it every day of his life.

Isabela de Sousa and Cozmic One competed in the baby green division at Country Heir. Photo by Shawn McMillen.

After the Country Heir shows, we participated in RRP’s demonstration at BreyerFest 2018, along with six other horses and trainers aiming for the Thoroughbred Makeover this year. BreyerFest was really cool because we had so many people come up to the stall and take pictures with Coz, pet him and learn about him and the Makeover.

A fan brought the Breyer model of Coz as a foal to meet him at BreyerFest. Photo courtesy of Isabela de Sousa.

I would often ask the group of people visiting, “Do you know the famous racehorse Zenyatta?” Most people would say yes, and then I would explain that Cozmic One is her first foal and how he came to me. That often jogged people’s memory about who he was! I’m very pleased with how he handled the atmosphere and the amount of people who were coming up to him. He gets a little anxious in the stall but was very calm with everyone, and when he gets into the ring, he is all business. We had three hour-long demonstrations over the weekend, and he was definitely on his best behavior! He also got to meet some famous horses like Brass Hat (who won more than $2 million in his racing career) and Harley the Appaloosa track pony.

Isabela de Sousa and Coz pose with Brass Hat, a multiple graded stakes winner, at BreyerFest. Photo courtesy of Isabela de Sousa.

We also entered the Kentucky Summer Series, which takes place at the Kentucky Horse Park. We showed in the baby greens and the hopeful jumpers. It was wonderful to see that almost nothing fazes Coz. The first week I had enough time to braid him, and he almost immediately wanted to rub out the braids, but eventually he realized that wouldn’t help! He got a little strong in some of the rounds but otherwise was pretty smooth. I think with more miles and seasoning that will improve.

We are figuring out how to prepare him for the show, and at this point it seems like he doesn’t need a lot. We just schooled in the rings the day before! I’m really pleased with how he wasn’t bothered by all the horses and the commotion going on. Especially the second week, which was the week before USEF Pony Finals. When we were warming up for the hunters, these little ponies would weave right in front of him, and he would just look down at them and keep on going. Most of the horses in the schooling ring did NOT like these ponies, but he was unfazed.

“It was wonderful to see that almost nothing fazes Coz,” said Isabela de Sousa. Photo by Shawn McMillen.

We also did the jumpers, and our focus was just to get in the ring and get some experience over the different courses and just give him a good outing. We had a couple rails here and there, but that doesn’t worry me, because he is figuring everything out!

We are hoping to take him to the next couple shows at the Horse Park, and we are signing up for the New Vocations Kentucky All-Thoroughbred Charity Horse Show that will also be at the Horse Park in September.

Last week we turned him out while my family and I went on vacation. It’s always good to give them a little break!

Isabela de Sousa is retraining Cozmic One, Zenyatta’s first foal, for the Retired Racehorse Project’s 2018 Thoroughbred Makeover. She comes from a family of horsemen and trains out of the De Sousa Stables in Lexington, Kentucky. The teenager won the show jumping division of the Thoroughbred Makeover in 2015, ’16 and ’17 and also shows in the hunter, jumper and equitation divisions at shows when she can. Read all her COTH blogs.