March 31, 2011 - The great outdoors

Spring is coming, finally.  The frost is coming out of the ground and there is enough thawed sand over the still frozen layer to provide some give in the outdoor sand ring.  I rode my other horse in the ring first, then I decided to take Rory out for a very basic longeing session.  I wasn't expecting him to be anywhere near as good as he usually is because there were so many distractions and things to look at.  Add to that the fact that his paddock shares a fence with the sand ring and Totyo would be hanging over the fence whinnying and I really didn't expect much.  I was hoping for a very basic "even with distractions you still need to listen to me" lesson.

It started off well.  Rory walked out on the circle (small) when I asked.  He was gawking around at anything he could see outside of the ring, but he listened when I asked for a halt.  The halt wasn't terribly stable, but I really wasn't expecting much. Another circle and halt and then we changed direction.  This time he stood still while I settled the longeline he stood still and just looked around.  On the right rein he looked around and then checked out the sand.  His nose was so low I thought he was considering having a roll, but I kept him moving.  Rory was doing well, so I dared to ask for trot.

The first trot lasted about a third of the circle before he broke into a canter and leaped into the air, bouncing towards his paddock.  I let some of the line slip out, and brought him back on the circle.  It took another circle or two to bring him to a halt so I could reorganize.  Although Rory jogged a bit, he was pretty good on the circles and ovals for a few rounds before he leaped into the air and bounced away across the ring.  I didn't let him have as much line this time and got him back on the circle fairly easily.  The whole time, Totyo was trotting up and down the fence, occasionally going for a canter.  The garbage truck stopping to pick up at the end of the driveway sparked a bounce and some very suspicious looks.

Rory was pretty well behaved for a bit again.  He had a few head shakes and transitions to trot when Totyo ran by, and he was still gawking around.  Totyo started whinnying and cantering back and forth just before I changed direction again, and Rory tried to bolt as soon as I let him move off on the new rein.  I stopped him quickly and did a bit of yielding to get his attention off Totyo.  The next two circle attempts weren't any better.  The next time Rory managed to walk a whole circle before he reared and leaped into the air.  He did three or four leaps sideways and a bit backwards until he got close to the corner of the ring where I managed to stop him.  Totyo was still running and Rory reared once when I wouldn't let him bolt. 

Then Totyo misjudged his turn, lost his footing and slid into the paddock gate.  He thrashed, banged and I could see his feet had gone between the bars of the gate.  Oh no!  What do I do now? I had my hands full keeping Rory calm (or at least in one place) while his buddy panicked.  It felt like forever before Totyo finally got the gate off it's hinges and was free of it, but it was really less than a minute.  Now I had a new problem.  Both Totyo and their older buddy were standing in the corner of the paddock near the gap where the gate had been.  I didn't know how much of a mess the gate was, and was trying to figure out how to get that gap blocked before anyone escaped.  I couldn't let Rory go as the sand ring currently doesn't have a gate, and I didn't want to take him back to the barn because that would lead Totyo down to the missing gate.    Fortunately Totyo ran down inside the fence to get closer to us, and their older buddy just stood and watched.  I ended up stuffing Rory into the arena while I went and tied the gate up before anyone escaped.

I had to get help to get the gate back onto the hinges, then I retrieved Rory (who'd worked himself into a sweat) and took him into the barn.  I brought Totyo in as well to make sure he hadn't hurt himself too badly.  I discovered that I'd had the gate on the wrong side of the post and it now opened out instead of in (we fixed that later).  Totyo had a bit of missing skin, and a bruised leg - nothing serious - but I'll bet he's stiff tomorrow.  After Rory cooled off I put them both back out.

All things considered Rory handled everything fairly well, even if we did have rather more exciting distractions than I'd expected.

March 28, 2011 - Busy barn

I didn't do much with Rory today.  I brought him into the barn for a quick grooming session.  The barn was busy and we had to use a different set of crossties that Rory hasn't been on before.  He was very good with all the activity of people taking hay and feed to the stalls, and dragging the water hose around, and tack into the tackroom.  I went into the tack room for a minute and he started swinging his bum towards the mare on the next set of ties (they're at right angles to each other).  I was just about to open the door and tell him to be careful the mare didn't bite his bum when she lunged at him.  Rory was out of her reach, but he got the message and straightened up quickly.  I was quite pleased with how calm he was with all of the activity around him.

March 23, 2011 Side reins and steering

Rory started off fairly well today, then decided that he didn't want to walk, or halt, or actually stand still once I managed to get a halt.  He was a little distracted, and I think a little full of energy as the footing outside is varying between frozen ruts and greasy mud on a daily basis.  He didn't even offer to buck once today.  After about five minutes he was listening reasonably well and I halted him and snapped the side reins onto his bit.  They were really long so he'd have to reach out to find the limitation - and find it he did.  Even though he had to stretch his neck to get to the limit of the reins, Rory chomped and pulled for a few circles before realizing that he could just relax and the reins wouldn't be pulling on his mouth.  I allowed him to trot for several circles without any transitions while he figured that out.  We did a few transitions and then changed directions.  Rory did get a bit distracted again when he heard someone walking outside the arena, but he continued to trot around me and did come back to walk when I asked.

After the longeing I snapped my lead rope to the left bit ring and introduced the idea of steering.  I had Rory walk forward while I walked beside him just in front of his hip, and then I put a little pressure on the bit.  At first he pulled back, but almost immediately he turned his head.  His front feet tended to stop after three or four steps while his hind feet kept going until he was facing me.  I gave him a carrot and a pat for that.  When he got good at turning towards the bit pressure I started releasing the pressure after he'd started the turn and asking him to keep walking forward.  This confused him a little bit the first time, but within four or five times he was continuing to walk in the new direction as he realized that was what I wanted.  I was quick to stop him and give him a carrot after he'd taken a few more walk steps so he would still get his reward.  It still amazes me just how fast Rory will pick up on something new when I get the carrots involved.

Time flies and I forget just how big Rory has grown until I see a picture of me standing beside him.  It seems like only last year he was a tiny little fellow, and yet I expect to be getting on his back in another six weeks or so.

March 17, 2011 - The good, the bad and the ugly



Spring must be coming - everything's turning to mud

I took Rory out for another longe session with side reins tonight.  Once again it was later in the day than usual and there was a fair amount of activity outside the arena to distract him.  When we first went into the arena his older paddock buddy was already there walking with his owner.  Totyo's whinnies got their buddy a little up, and his owner took him back to the barn.  That's the first time Rory's had to watch another horse leave while he was working.  Naturally he was a bit distracted and whinnied a couple of times, but he still walked and trotted when I asked.  I had set up four trot poles on one side of the arena and made sure we didn't start over them until after refreshing the longe commands.  Rory bolted, or tried to, several times tonight, once managing to pull the longeline right out of my hand.  He only bucked once, and walked out of a couple of halts without being asked.  But Rory did give me some very good work tonight as well.  He walked and trotted over the poles, and stayed in a steady trot as I jogged with him along the long sides of the oval.
The barn was busier than usual as well, but Rory stood still on the cross ties while I untacked him, put things away, and got his blanket.  It's frustrating when the youngsters get distracted and seem to forget all they've learned, but it's just as important that they learn to deal with distractions.  I just have to keep that in mind.

March 15, 2011 - Bucking bronco

I was sick all last week and didn't do anything with Rory.  Today was the first time in a while I had him out.  It was late afternoon and there were other people around making noises outside the arena.  Rory's not used to it and found them a little distracting at times.  He was also full of beans since the footing isn't great outside.  I saddled up and we went out to the arena.  I finally remembered to take my side reins out to the barn and I put them on Rory today.  We started without the side reins just to get the longe refresher.  Rory walked and trotted on command, then something got his back up and he started to buck.  The first couple were pretty decent jumps up into the air that probably would have unseated me had I been riding, but as he lost forward momemtum he ended up just bouncing up and down on one spot.  I sent him forward again at the trot and he settled down.  He tried to start bucking again a minute later, but I was quicker to pull him in and send him forward again so he only got a couple of bucks in.  Once he was paying attention, mostly, I halted him and attached the side reins to his halter.



Rory took a couple of steps of walk, then slowed down as he poked his nose forward and felt the restriction of the side reins.  I encouraged him to walk forward and he found that his normal head carriage didn't pull on his nose.  The trot went okay as well, and I found it was easier to keep him on the circle when he got a bit quick.  I think the outside rein helped.  A couple of times Rory really lifted his back and arched his neck for a few strides, but he didn't hold it for long.  There's always another noise to distract him.  I found it a little frustrating, but on reflection it's coming at a good stage of training for him to learn that he does have to listen to me first even when there are distractions.

March 8, 2011 - Another photo op

The weather was just right last night to settle the moisture in the air on everything in sight.  The sun coming up over the frosted landscape inspired me to take more pictures.

March 1, 2011 - Suckered by that cute face

I hadn't planned to do anything with Rory today.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I wandered around taking some photos.  Rory always has an eye on whatever is going on around the property, and I was no exception.  The fact that I often have carrots in my pocket doesn't have anything to do with his attention I'm sure.  I was back by the barn, about ready to head off home when Rory spotted me and wandered down to the paddock gate.  It was such a nice picture I couldn't resist taking it.

Rory stood there and looked at me as I took the picture.  And stayed there as I told him to go back to his hay, or chase Totyo around.  He's got such a cute face that I just gave in, went and got his halter and brought him in for a grooming session.  And carrots of course.  Suckered again!

February 24, 2011 - A cautious bravery

Last week I longed Rory a bit without messing with the rope side reins.  Rory was his usual pretty good self.  I had set the camera up to take photos, but somehow the exposure got set wrong and everything was a blur of white.  I tired to take photos again today, but the angle was wrong and I got a load of pics of Rory's legs.  Oh well, at least with digital it doesn't cost anything to find out the pics failed.

Today I didn't bother with the saddle.  I took Rory out to the arena and let him run for a few minutes.  We haven't had a great winter this year - too many warm days and not enough snow has made for poor footing outside.  The boys don't run as much when it's icy so Rory is happy to get the chance to stretch his legs inside.

After his run we had a quick longe refresher, and then I started with bit pressure again.  Today I snapped a lead rope to the bit on the left side and applied a little pressure out and back - a leading rein aid. When Rory turned his head, even a little bit I dropped the pressure and gave him a bit of carrot and a rub on his neck.  He was listening to the noises outside the arena again, but they weren't as distracting as the last time we tried this exercise.  As Rory got quicker and turning in response to the bit pressure I asked him to turn a little further before releasing and rewarding.  A couple of times he moved his feet instead of his head, but I just walked with him as he swung his body around and waited until I got the response I wanted.  He was definitely getting the idea today.

Food!

The weather was fairly warm, and we hadn't spent much time in the arena so I decided to walk Rory back to the barn by the long way around.  At the beginning of the week we'd gotten a giant square bale of hay to feed to a few of the outside horses.  The bale was sitting outside the paddock, covered by a bright blue tarp, which was naturally flapping in the breeze.  When we walked around the end of the arena Rory jumped, and then stopped and stared at the monster suspiciously.  He's curious, and brave enough - if cautious about new things.  I didn't have to encourage him too much to walk over to the monster.  The last few steps were a little harder for him to take, but once he realized there was food involved he just about stuck his head underneath the end of the tarp to reach the hay.  To complete the tour of interesting objects we visited the Christmas horse before going back to the barn.

Christmas horse and Rory nose to nose

February 11, 2011 - Introducing side reins

Clips from today's video

I still haven't gotten around to digging out my side reins and taking them out to the barn, but I did feel it was time to introduce the concept to Rory so I used a matched pair of lead ropes today.  They were quite long and I clipped them to his halter.  In his one bouncing fit of the day he barely hit the end of the ropes when he flung his head right up.  Rory was pretty good for the most part today, but he was just distracted enough that whoa was not getting through to him.  I actually had to use the walls a couple of times to stop him.  Rory wasn't running or anything, he just kept walking when I asked him to whoa.  I don't like to ask for something too many times without getting a response as that is training the non-response.  Overall it was a good basic session today.  Rory was very good standing on the crossties for the grooming and tacking up.  He does tend to want to stick his nose on everything in sight when I take the cross ties off so I can put the bridle on.