August 2, 2012 - The Princess and then Pea, or Goldilocks

In case you don't know it here's The Princess and the Pea  [url]http://ivyjoy.com/fables/princess.html[/url]

And Goldilocks and the Three Bears  [url]http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/goldilocks_story.htm[/url]

Rory is super sensitive about saddle placement (in fact I'm pretty sure that's why he bucked me off in January).  If it's too far back he bucks.  If it's too far forward he bucks.  And by "too far" I mean a quarter of an inch!!  I've been calling him Princess Pea (or Prince Pea) when he does this, but today when I was doing the quarter inch adjustments it occured to me that perhaps Goldilocks would be better - "This saddle is too far back!"  "This saddle is too far forward!"  "This saddle is just right!"  Though I rather like Prince Pea as a silly-boy name.

 

He's getting better.  Didn't actually buck today, but made it clear he would if I didn't fix things.  Then when it was finally just right he was a very good boy!

So what do you think?  Prince Pea or Goldilocks?  

July 27, 2012 - Free Running

Apparently Rory is lacking in running time since the brat and the other horse don't play with him.  Today he just couldn't contain himself on the longeline and bucked and bounced and stopped facing me and so on.  I fiddled with the saddle - no change.  Stripped the saddle - bigger bounces.  So I thought that since I couldn't ride him the way he was acting I'd just turn him loose and let him do whatever he wanted.  

And he ran!  Full tilt, and then faster than that!  Bouncing stops into the corners, then spinning and bolting out again.  He ran into the corner with the sand pile, and when he turned around to run out again he completely missed the ground with his front feet and did a faceplant (sand in the noseband and browband, plus green weed stains on his blaze).  

I had TOLD him not to fall down (the chiro came on Friday last week).  He scrambled up and trotted away sound, then resumed the galloping around with no apparent ill effects.  

Once he settled down I did a little free longe, then a quick longe on the line again to remind him that he does have to listen to me, and then he was still huffing and puffing and very hot, so I saddled up again and worked him at the walk to cool him out.  He was a very tired boy when we were finished.  

If I may quote for a moment... "My eyes just about popped out of my head" when I saw this one! See how high his hooves are compared to the dead weeds?  He's actually running on the sand which is 3-4" lower than the weeds!!!  "He trots the air... the earth sings as he touches it."

Peeking at the mini, but not ready to stop yet...

It doesn't even look like he's putting any effort into this...

Or this - but look at the lean he's got going...

Finally settling down

I think I will be adding a free run session into his routine a couple of times a week.  I might even see if brat is willing to join him.

July 20, 2012 - Sanctioned jumping

So Rory turned four last week and we celebrated by giving him a week and a half off because he'd gone and gotten a bump/kick where the girth sits and the pressure of the girth made him buck (not that I blame him but... :rolleyes: ).  So back to work this week!  I rode my FOUR year old for the first time on Wednesday and he was very good. :grinwink:  I rode again yesterday and decided to start the jumping process (since he seems to think he should jump).

I set up a cavaletti in the planks that we have cantered several times and walked him through the first time.  He lifted each foot way up high to clear the rail.

Then we trotted in and he tripped over the cavaletti.

That's my little jumper!

We tried again at the trot and he managed to lift himself over it

Then we tried cantering and he got his front feet over just fine, but got a bit close behind and knocked the rail again

Rory tripped at the first plank and got a little discombobulated, but he didn't want to knock his legs again so he stretched over the cavaletti.

This one wasn't bad (apart from me jumping ahead. 

We changed direction and cantered it.  Rory had to stretch a little bit and he swapped leads, but managed it quite well.

This one was very good!  Rory kept a good rhythm, the lead and lifted his feet easily over the cavaletti.  I should have quit there.

We had a bad approach to this one and Rory jumped off to the left and banged his front toes (and I'm jumping ahead again).

Then Rory stumbled a bit on the leading plank and the jump was a bit ugly, but he was trying not to bang his toes.

This one was very good as well.  Rory just had a bit too long a stride and rolled the cavaletti a quarter turn with his last foot.

So we tried a trot approach again to see if he could figure out how to use the cavaletti as the transition to canter.  Not quite, but he did manage to canter away.

This time he got it!  Rory very neatly stepped into canter as he stepped over the cavaletti.

He did very well.  When he had a miss it didn't cause him any concern the next time we headed towards the cavaletti and he just tried to get himself over it as best he could.  The planks turned out to be a bit short for him, but most of the time he just adjusted his feet without issue.  I used planks because they don't roll under foot when he steps on them.

If you're wondering, yes that's my dressage saddle.  I'm still riding a hole shorter than normal because of my tailbone so jumping a cavaletti wasn't a problem when I didn't jump ahead.  My tail still hurts!  When they say tailbones take a long time - no kidding!

June 11, 2012 - Not quite Harry Houdini

Every morning I've been putting brat and Rory into the temporary grass paddock for a couple of hours.  I put Totyo with him the other day because I was riding brat.  Afterwards I took brat out and went to put Rory and Totyo back into their regular paddock.  Totyo got to me first, so I put the halter on and took him out.  We got about 30' along the alley to their paddock gate when Rory started whinnying.  I got Totyo into his field and turned to close the gate before taking off the halter and there's Rory cantering up the alley towards us!  I held the gate open and he came right in, turned around, neatly stopped right beside Totyo, and asked me for his carrot.  :lol:  My friend reminded me that he did jump over his mum right after he was born.  Before she'd gotten up.

Today I put Rory and brat out and thought it would be a good chance to swap their older buddy for another horse as we had planned to do.  This way the new boy would only have to deal with one new horse at a time.  Well, Rory didn't like me taking his older buddy away, and started whinnying and trotting up and down the fence.  Totyo was doing the same in their paddock.  Rory seemed okay, so I went and got the other horse.  This is what I found when I got back:

See brat on the left behind the tape?  That's where Rory was supposed to be, but nooo - he'd jumped out and started eating grass since he wasn't sure what to do next.  I quickly stuffed him back with brat and took the new boy up to the paddock.  Rory jumped out again - but only 3/4s of the way (left one leg behind) breaking the "gate" tape before cantering up to us.  This time I left him in his usual paddock with the new horse and Totyo.  No more grass field today!

Rory and Totyo prceeded to have fun tearing around their paddock...

...while the new horse ate the hay...

... an sometimes ran with them too.

Here's hoping I just have a dressage horse who likes to jump... 

June 10, 2012 - Working "like a Sporthorse"

I rode Rory on Wednesday and with Per's admonishment in mind about "working like a sporthorse" I concentrated on really getting him to march in the walk and trot forward without nagging.  Looking at the video it seems like we're going a hundred miles an hour, but when I watch his legs the rhythm is nice and steady - he's just covering more ground.  He was very good apart from one bobble when I wanted a leg yield, and very quickly decided that the giant snake coming out of the ground beside the ring (coil of tile drain) was nothing to be concerned about.

So the major themes taken from the clinic:

Finish the transitions, get the rhythm in the new gait (whether between or within gaits) and make sure the horse is light on both reins before going to the next transition.  Be patient, and wait for the horse to relax.

Priority is a nice rhythm in the chosen gait, make sure it's going forward even in the collecting steps.  Especially with Rory I need to get him going forward in a nice rhythm, then bend, then the shape of the circle or chosen track.

Get a response.  Whatever you ask for make sure you get a response from the horse, then see if you can be light on the rein and quiet with leg and seat, correcting and allowing as needed.  You want the response so you don't have to nag every step.  It's okay to ask often, but try to let the horse carry on without the constant direction once you have him going.

Know what you want.  For example how much bend you are asking for on a circle so you don't get distracted just looking for more bend.  Work towards the best the horse can give, but accept less in the beginning of the ride - a little less bend or impulsion.

Get the horse light and responsive and set up so that you can push a little harder without losing the connection you have - more impulsion on a circle or shoulder in for example.