In preparation for the show on Sunday I wanted to introduce Rory to working in the ring with other horses. The warm up ring is never terribly busy at this show, but he will have to deal with horses going in different directions. I asked a couple of friends to come and ride with me to help introduce Rory to some of the situations we're likely to encounter.
As usual I longed Rory for a couple of minutes in each direction before mounting up. He kept an eye on the other two horses in the ring, but still listened to me very well.
We started off at the walk with all three of us going wherever we wanted to. Rory watched the other horses with interest. We encountered the other horses coming in the other direction at separate times. Rory was a little uncertain when he saw the other horse coming towards him. At first I kept Rory to the inside and left a good distance between horses as we passed, then we got closer and I kept Rory to the outside.
Rory trotted first and went past the other horses, then asked my friends to trot as well. We repeated the head on encounters at the trot and Rory accepted it calmly. I got my friends to walk beside each other with a space between them so Rory could go in the opposite direction between them. I trotted him between them, and then we all trotted. Rory was very good. We did a pretend show class with all of us walking, trotting and cantering in the same direction on both reins and then lined up together. In the line up Rory looked at the other two but didn't try to go and say hi. I was really pleased with how well Rory accepted all the new activities.
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