April 2-3, 2011 - Back inside for now

I took Rory out for a bit of work today.  I tacked him up and we went into the arena.  Totyo was calling for his buddy, but he was standing still while he did so.  Totyo seems to be fine after his misadventure on Thursday.  One leg swelled up a bit, but he seems sound and the swelling was smaller by the end of the weekend.

I ran through a quick check of the longeing commands on a fairly short line first, then hooked up the side reins.  I had set my camera up to record the session, but the batteries died just as I was snapping the side reins onto Rory's bit.  I was disappointed about that because Rory really lifted his back and arched his neck and carried the saddle for a few steps several times.  I worked specifically on his halts today as he kept swinging his bum out and facing me as soon as his front feet stopped moving.  The left rein is still worse than the right, but both improved with a little reminding.  I shortened the line and went out to him quickly as soon as he halted.  If he swung his bum I put it back, patted him and then asked him to walk on again.  When he stayed straight I gave him a bit of carrot and a pat.

After the longeing I snapped the leadrope to the left bit ring and reminded him about steering.  He was really good.  I changed the lead to the right bit ring and we started on that side.  There was a bit of resistance at first, but then he'd resisted when I first started on the left side too.  I got a couple of good responses from him at the end and stopped there.  I'd say he was just as good turning to the right off the bit pressure as he'd been the first time I worked on the left.

The weather was beautiful this weekend.  We had lots of sun, and warmer temperatures (compared to the last couple of weeks) with no precipitation in the forecast until late Sunday night.  It was windy, but not too cold and I decided to let Rory go without his blanket for the weekend.  On Sunday afternoon I brought him in and gave him a good grooming before putting his blanket back on.

Spring sun at last!

I forgot one little event that happened on Thursday before all the excitement.  Rory was lying down when I went out to get him.  He looked at me but didn't get up.  I perched on his back, sort of sitting on him but bearing most of my weight on my legs, and leaned over his neck so he could see me above and behind him.  It didn't bother him a bit and I rubbed his neck and talked to him.  He was lying down again on Friday and I hoped to repeat the exercise, but got up when he saw me come into the paddock.  It was a non-event, but kind of exciting for me anyway.