I rode Rory in the evening twilight tonight. Totyo was alone in their paddock, but didn't fuss too much about being alone since he could see Rory in the sand ring. Rory was very good. He did a beautiful three loop serpentine, crossed the diagonal nice and straight so we could do the serpentine again off the other rein. As he came around the corner Rory drifted out towards the sand pile, then suddenly spooked and leaped away towards the middle of the ring. I lost one stirrup and would have come off if he hadn't stopped. We turned and went back around the corner in the same direction and I realized he was spooking at the mark from the tractor bucket beside the sand pile where the barn owner had taken some sand away. I tried to get him to walk on the bucket mark but he wasn't having any of it. I dismounted and lead him across, but he still wasn't willing to touch it. He climbed halfway up the sand pile, slid down onto the mark and after a couple of passes it was kicked up enough with hoof and foot prints that he was okay walking over it. I remounted and we walked over it again before returning to the work.
We trotted the serpentine and did a little canter. The right lead was okay, but again I really had to work to get him to canter on the left lead. He kept picking up the right lead. When we did finally get the left lead Rory fell to the inside and didn't keep it for very long.
I dared to take him out round the grass field in front of the arena at the end of our ride. He was very good apart from the little refusal to go past the big sunflowers on the corner of the lawn. We went past, giving them a wide berth just in case they had plans to bop Rory. The four horses in the front field came over to the fence to see who was going by and Rory looked at them, but kept walking when I asked him to go on. We came back between the arena and the barn, setting off the spotlight on the corner of the arena. Rory started when it came on, but didn't actually jump. I'd forgotten the light was there - the days are getting shorter again. I was very pleased with Rory tonight!
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