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.