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.
No comments:
Post a Comment