July 18, 2011 - The mane event



Scraggly mane before tidying up.

  Rory has such a thick mane that I have to pull it on a schedule.  Normally I don't do much pulling of manes, but Rory's is so thick that I'd never be able to braid it in small hunter style yarn braids if I didn't thin it out.  Last year I shortened it all in the spring and discovered that all the hair grew back at roughly the same time and I ended up with a 2" long bush growing through the longer hairs by the end of the summer.  Fortunately I didn't have to braid his mane last year.

I decided the best way to manage this mop would be to do a partial pull on a regular basis so the hairs would be different lengths as they grew back.  I planned on pulling it an inch or so shorter every month, but somehow it ended up being six weeks the first time and I've stuck with that ever since.  It seems to be working fairly well.  If Rory's ridden work has progressed far enough we will be going to a local breed show in about six weeks and he will need to be braided.  It's been about six weeks since the last time I pulled his mane, so I brought him in to look after it today.  Rory is completely indifferent to having his mane pulled (good thing for both of us - I'd choose to do something else if he objected) and stood nicely as I worked.  At the end of the session his mane was my preferred braiding length for the first time this year.  I started the six week cycle at the end of February.  It won't take much work to get back to this length the next time it's due for pulling.  He looked pretty cute with a short mane.  The middle section still stick straight up when it doesn't have the longer hair to weight it down, but it should braid up nicely.


Afterwards somewhat less scraggly looking



July 16, 2011 - Hot stuff!

Now that Rory is three, it's time to increase his work a bit.  I could ride him for longer each time, or ride more often but keep the sessions short.  At this point I'd rather keep the sessions short to prevent him from becoming fatigued and straining himself, or getting bored and soured by constant repetition.  The other axiom about fitness training is to increase intensity or time, but not both.  Since Rory is trotting more, and starting to canter the work intensity is increasing I don't want to increase the length of his work.

Today I started in the sand ring with a short longe session.  Rory was good, even when Totyo came down to the fence and trotted along.  Mounting review was short and sweet with Rory standing still while I mounted and dismounted.  I did have the dressage whip with me from the beginning making this the first time I've mounted while holding the whip.  Before taking Rory to the block I rubbed him over both sides with the end of the whip to remind him that it was nothing to worry about.

At first Rory was a little sticky about going forward, but not as much as the last ride.  Then he settled in nicely and trotted forward.  Every ride he's getting better about steering.  I decided to try asking him for a right lead canter today and he got it on the first try.  After a couple of right lead canters we changed direction and I asked him for the left lead.  Rory found that confusing and kept picking up the right lead.  We did manage two very short canters on the left lead.  Thinking about it afterwards I wondered if trotting a bit longer before attempting the other canter lead might work better.  I was still quite pleased with him today.  The transitions to canter were quite well balanced and easy for Rory, and it was only the second day we've cantered.  It was hot and he got a bit sweaty, but was still willing to try to do what I asked.

Back in the barn I stripped his tack off before taking him out to the washrack.  On the way out of the barn we paused by the tack room so I could get a bit of carrot and the sweatscraper.  Rory put his nose down to check out the kittens and spooked backwards, bumping into a shelf which spooked him even more.  I took him out to the washrack and the barn owner came over with the tractor to pick up the water cube.  Rory leaned over the washrack to get a very close look at the operation, and though I stood ready to pull his rope loose he wasn't the least bit afraid.  Silly boy.  He got rinsed, scraped off and then I took him to graze while he dried off enough to let the bug repellent stick.

July 14, 2011 - Whoo hoo!

I cantered Rory three times today!  Twice I actually asked for canter!  I had two friends out to watch, so one ran the camera and the other held Totyo in his paddock to prevent him running around and getting Rory excited - or repeating last week's episode.

This week we started in the sand ring and longed for a few minutes each way.  Rory was very good and managed a couple of short canters on the right rein.  In looking at the pictures of him on the longe the thing that struck me was the sheer height above the ground he is in the suspension phase of the trot when he's going forward well.  Rory is definitely not dragging his toes!

After the longeing I ran through the mounting exercises very quickly, mounting a couple of times from each side.  Rory was keeping his eyes on Joey for the most part, but pointed an ear back at me to let me know he was also paying attention to what I was doing.  He stood still and waited for me to ask him to walk on.  For the first couple of minutes Rory had a small hump in his back, but he let it go after a halt.  Then he got a bit sticky and kept slowing down and trying to halt.  I persisted and got a reasonable walk, but when I wanted him to trot things got worse.  I did get him to trot a couple of times, but he wouldn't sustain it and kept falling back into walk and trying to halt again.  I asked my friend with the camera to go back to the barn and grab my dressage whip for me.  I'd intended to bring it out, but forgotten.  While she was gone I did convince Rory to trot all the way around the ring, but it wasn't a very forward trot. 

Once I had the whip I showed it to Rory and rubbed his right side, touching neck shoulder, belly, flank, hindquarter and hind leg before switching it to the left side and repeating the process.  He was okay with it on the right, but stepped away once when it touched his flank on the left side, then settled and accepted it's presence.  With the introduction out of the way I asked him to walk on and backed up my leg with a very light tap of the whip on his hip.  Rory responded well and I was able to touch him and get him going forward again whenever he started to slow down.  I praised him and gave him little rubs when he went forward.

Whoa Rory!

After some good trot around, and changes of rein I started thinking about trying a canter.  Rory must have been reading my mind because he jumped into canter before I was anywhere near asking and just about bolted down the ring.  We were on the right rein, he picked up the left lead canter and with the pile of sand in the corner to our right I decided to pull him up rather than try a turn and risk him stumbling up the sand pile.  He stopped just short of the fence, then calmly turned and proceeded to walk and trot on request.  Since he'd chosen the left lead for his first canter I changed the rein, trotted around the ring and asked him to go forward in canter as we were headed back towards the barn.   Rory was a little uncertain of what I wanted, but he picked up the left lead canter!  It didn't last very long, but I praised him and gave him lots of rubs and a bit of carrot before heading off to try again.





Good boy!!


This time he picked up the canter about two thirds of the way down the long side and kept it (with a little encouragement) around the short side of the ring.  When he broke to trot I asked for a walk, then halt and jumped off to give him a handful of carrot chunks.  We'd reached our fifteen minutes at the end of the previous canter, but I did want to try again and when he was successful it was a great place to end the ride.  I am so pleased with him and just thrilled to have had our first canter under saddle go so well.  Rory quite well balanced at the canter.  I think his slowing down was largely due to being uncertain that he really was doing what I wanted.

Thanks to my friends for the pics and video, and for keeping Totyo occupied!

July 9, 2011 - Happy Birthday Rory!

Rory is three today!  It's a milestone in any horse's life.  It doesn't feel like we've been together for three years already, and I still tend to think of him as my "little" horse.

"Baby" Rory in July 2009

Three year old Rory in July 2011

Happy birthday "Little" man!

July 5, 2011 - In which Rory sends me to the tack shop

I need a new helmet.  Due to Rory,  but not quite in the way I expected.  The day started off okay. I brought Rory in and gave him a good grooming.  There were a lot of mosquito bite bumps on his left shoulder, but didn't seem to be itchy.  He was very well behaved on the cross ties, except for the irresistable lure of the cross tie.  I caught him with one in his mouth when I came back with the saddle.

Rory started bucking and didn't stop

I tacked up, put his boots on, and then his bridle.  We started inside with a bit of longeing.  Rory was very energetic and trotted off with a nice forward stride.  The first time I asked him to walk he didn't want to slow down and I had to reel him in to a smaller circle to convince him I was serious.  After that he listened even on the larger circle.  It was a different story when we changed direction.  Rory put his head down, humped his back and bronced around the circle.  I pushed him forward and he bounced even harder.  Not even a sharp "Get up!" Convinced him to stop.  If we hadn't already had some good work on the left rein I would have wondered if the saddle pad had a wrinkle or if the girth was pinching him.  As he bronced the back of the saddle was lifting progressively higher off his back, and it looked like it was sliding forward.  I got him to halt without too much trouble and asked my friend to hold Rory for a minute while I checked the saddle.  I'm using a folded towel over Rory's withers to widen his shoulders enough to make the saddle fit well enough to use.  I refolded the towel to make it a bit thicker, resettled the saddle and did up the girth.  Once I got him going on the longe again Rory was his usual willing self, even cantering a bit.

Rory spotted Toyto and bolted

We went out to the sand ring and I longed a bit more.  Rory tended to fall in on one part of the circle and I had to push him out a little harder than I do inside.  He was looking for his buddies who were out of sight in the shelter, but quickly settled and was listening to me nicely.  I changed direction and all was well until Rory suddenly leaped into canter, pulling me forward.  I tried to run to keep up with him but he went too fast and pulled me off balance.  I let go of the longeline and went ass over teakettle ending up with the back of my head crashing into the ground.  Fortunately I was wearing my helmet, something I don't always do for the longeing when it's hot. I'm glad I put it on today.  Modern helmets are designed with padding that crushes without springing back to slow the head as it comes to the ground, reducing the amount of bounce back, which reduces or eliminates the impact of the brain against the inside of the skull.  I had a stiff neck, shoulders and arms for a couple of days afterwards, but thanks to my helmet no headache.

Me going heels over head as Rory bolts towards Totyo

I rolled up onto my feet fairly quickly, before Rory reached the corner of the ring closest to Totyo.  I suspect that Rory saw Totyo walking out from behind the shelter and took off to go and see his friend.  Totyo squealed and bolted along the fence with Rory a split second behind when I had gotten partway over.  I ran towards the fence, raising my arms and holding the longe whip right up in front of his face.  There was a moment I thought Rory was going to run past me anyway, but he slammed the brakes on and spun away before running back to the corner.  Totyo turned back a moment later as well. When I got close Rory backed out of the gap and turned away from Totyo.   I was close enough to pick up the end of the longeline and bring Rory back to me. 

Back to work as if nothing had happened.

Joey watches as Rory walks around the ring.

My head was aching a bit, but not badly so I took Rory back out into the middle of the ring and longed him again starting on a much smaller circle.  Rory settled quickly and I pushed him out onto a larger circle.  He kept an eye on Totyo, but listened to me.  Totyo and their older buddy wandered over to the hay and started munching.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep enough of Rory's attention to ride safely, but decided to take it one step at a time and start with some mounting exercises. 

Rory stood still as I mounted and dismounted several times, so I picked up the reins and asked him to walk.  At first I kept a close eye on Totyo, but as Rory showed he was paying more attention to me I shifted more of my focus to him.  Totyo came partway over to the fence a couple of times, but found the process boring and went back to snooze beside his old buddy.  With Rory listening well I dared to ask for a little trot, and when Totyo showed little interest dared to trot for longer.  Rory was very good and when I made sure to separate the turning aid from the forward aid he steered really well.  I asked him to trot with a little more energy and he responded nicely and maintained the trot for several trips around the ring.

 After all the longeing and trotting in the sand Rory got tired before our fifteen minutes were up.  He tried to stop a couple of times, and I did have to push a little to get him to trot again.  I got him to trot most of the way around and asked him to walk before he tried to stop again, then called it quits for the day.



A very nice, calm trot.



July 1, 2011 - A good ride.

We started in the arena today.  I wanted to go outside, but there was another boarder riding in the sand ring.  Rory longed well.  He didn't pull as hard towards the open back door and managed a bit of canter on each rein.  He was full of energy and very forward today.  There was one head down bouncing fit for a full circle before I sharply told him to "Get up!" and off he went.  A few times he got a little distracted - he could see the horse in the sand ring outside, a chainsaw was in use outside, horses walked by the big doors three times.

When it came time to ride Rory walked off the first time I jumped onto the mounting block.  The next time he stood still then walked again when I put my foot in the stirrup.  I did a bit of on and off exercises just to remind him about standing still, then led him away from the block and back to it.  Second time up he walked off but halted easily.  I hopped off and backed him up and remounted. 

He was quite relaxed as we walked away from the block today.  Near the back door he got a little sticky, but we were able to go quite close without a big problem.  The chainsaw didn't really bother him after he'd thought about it for a moment.  He trotted easily when I asked, and tried a little harder to go out the back door as we went by, but I was ready for him.  The first couple of times past the back door he did break to the walk, but then I managed to keep him trotting.  On the right rein Rory trotted easily around the arena.

He was being very good, so I dismounted and picked up the little mounting block and took Rory out to the sand ring.  I did a quick mount/dismount reminder to stand still before mounting up and asking him to walk on.  Rory was happy to be outside and looked around as we walked around the ring.  A couple of times he was too intent on what he was looking at and ignoring my steering aids.  Once we trotted the steering got worse.  Rory was going places and I halted him a couple of times right before he got to the fence.  Although he pushed the trot forward he didn't hump his back or put his head down and shake it.  After a few minutes I tried to separate the turning and forward aids by closing my hand as I rose, and using my leg when I sat.  It wasn't immediately successful, but Rory very quickly started to respond and we managed a very rough figure eight to finish our ride.  He got lots of pats and praise.