September 18, 2011 - Cup Qualifiers

We got to the barn early this morning and gave Rory his bath.  He steamed dry under a fleece cooler while I braided his mane. I left his tail until shortly before the first class, and ended up redoing the pinwheel because the yarn I use in his mane was far too light coloured for his tail and looked nasty. I did manage to do a better pinwheel the second time round so it was worth the effort.  We went for a little walk round the warmup arena and he looked and huffed and decided it was okay. I did a couple of trots with him and he was listening to me nicely. Back to chill in his stall for a while.

Ready for the judge (armed with carrots)

We were in the first flight at ten o'clock and we got him ready and went down about ten to. Thirty feet or so before we reached the doors Rory stepped on my foot and I had to stand for a minute until I could walk well enough to go on down. He looked around and I let him take everything in. After a few minutes the announcer sent us to the rail and put us in the ringmaster's hands. By some stroke of good fortune Rory and I were called to start the lineup for conformation inspection. Rory posed beautifully, and stood well with only a little wiggle. I was super proud of him. He did get a little bored waiting for the judge to work his way down the line and was ready to move when it came time to walk and trot around to the back of the line. I had walked him in a couple of small circles when he got too fidgety during the wait. We walked out nice and forward to M and I asked him to trot. He went nice and forward in his big relaxed trot and I ran as fast as I could and had to tell him "easy" so he would stay slow enough for me to keep up and he did! The shuffle down the other side as each horse did their trot went well and Rory stood well while the judge made his decision. We didn't get a call back for the final group but I was too pleased with Rory's performance to mind. The aisle down to his stall was blocked so I took him out and walked around in the back sand ring for a few minutes until he settled down. He did jump away once and I had my left hand holding the buckle and my right pushing on his bum and he turned back to me. Back in his stall he was happy to chill and munch some hay for a while.

He looks huge!

I decided I had better longe Rory before riding today and took him out around 11:30 so he'd have some time to recover his energy before the next class. There were a couple of riders in the sand ring just sitting and talking so I went and asked if they minded me longeing in the corner. They didn't, so off we went. Rory was a perfect gentleman with none of the taking off in canter that we had at the last show. He trotted both ways and then we went back inside and he happily chilled out again.

We were in the first flight of the LG cup as well and I decided to go into the show arena to warm up. Rory was good for me to mount up and I let him look as we walked around a couple times. I wanted to get a trot in but then remembered that he needed time to look and think, and just relaxed. Rory handled the traffic well when we did trot and canter, and when others came up behind or cut in front. We had several false starts on the right lead canter again before getting it. The class was called to order. Rory was excellent and I did a pretty good job of getting him into a clear spot for the trips down the far side of the ring from the judge. He did break from the left lead canter once, but picked it up again fairly quickly. One false start on the right lead, then no problem. He stood quietly in the lineup and I was thrilled to hear our number in the call back list. Back to the stall to chill again.


"Well?  Are you going to take the darn picture or not?"


I had been told, and told by many people that any hint of dressage in your presentation for the Cup classes was the kiss of death despite the fact that the classes are intended for horses bred for the Olympic disciplines.  I had checked to see if a friend's close contact saddle would fit Rory, but it didn't and I decided that I was just going to use my dressage saddle.  Rory's breeding is primarily dressage bloodlines and he moves like a dressage horse, and I wasn't about to apologize for it.  The standard presentation for the Cup classes is the same as you'd find in the hunter ring.  I wondered if the dressage taboo was because all the pros insisted on hunter turnout, and thus no top horses were ever shown in dressage gear, which meant no one ever qualified in dressage gear.  The judge for this first set of qualifiers was a "hunter icon" (according to the CSHA) and I decided that I would not make my dressage saddle the first thing he noticed about Rory.  He was braided as a hunter, I got a fitted pad for the saddle, and wore my hunter show clothes.  It seemed to work as we did get called back to the final and the other two horses presented in dressage kit didn't.

While we waited for the next two flights to run Rory managed to get his hind foot up and scratch out two braids before I could stop him. One braid I could rebump but the other I had to take out and redo entirely. He mostly behaved after that, though I did have to warn him a couple of times when he started to lift his hoof.

Warming up for the LG Cup qualifier.

The last class went quite well.  We had a late transition to the right lead canter because Rory tried to take the left lead and I managed to stifle it before he left the trot, but then it took a few more strides to get him set up for the right lead.  On the next pass around the arena a horse came up to our inside and blocked the judge's view of us.  Rory handled the crowd of horses beautifully, and stood really well for a very long time.  The class was split into two groups for the canter and we were in the first canter group.  While we waited for the judge to make his decision the announcer started the usual "thanks to the sponsors" announcements.  The crowd applauded after the first sponsor's name and all the horses at the gate end of the arena, and many of the others spooked.  Rory just looked over with idle curiosity as they scooted forward. We didn't place in the top 20, but again Rory had been so good I wasn't too disappointed.

We packed up and loaded the trailer.  Rory loaded up without a hitch and travelled well all the way home.   Again he refused water when we stopped partway home.  I unwrapped his legs and put him out with Totyo who'd started whinnying the moment he realized his buddy was back.

Watching the other half of the class canter.

September 17, 2011 - Off to the Qualifiers

We went and picked up t the trailer this morning and discovered the right taillight didn't work (Brake and turn).  It turns out that the rental trailer had blown a fuse and once that was replaced everything worked
properly.

I brought Rory in, rinsed the mud off his heels, groomed him, wrapped his legs and hand grazed while waiting for the trailer light/truck fuse issue to be resolved.  It didn't take long to long my gear into the trailer, and once Rory was on board we were shortly on our way.  The nice thing about this trip was that we didn't have to be there until tomorrow morning so there was no major stress over the delays.

We arrived late in the afternoon. Rory travelled like a pro and ate almost all of his hay.  He refused water when we stopped partway, but accepted a couple of carrots.  Before I unloaded him I took the shavings into the barn and set up his stall.  The floors were concrete so I dumped part of a bucket of water on the floor first so the bottom layer of shavings would get a bit damp and be more stable under his feet.  I also put several flakes of hay into the stall before bringing Rory in.  He was interested and looked at everything as we went down the barn aisle.  One horse screamed at Rory as we went by and Rory speeded up a little to get past.  In the stall Rory looked around, peeked out the window and then started munching his hay as if he'd been doing this for years.  I went and got him a bucket of water and he couldn't even wait for me to hang it up before he had his nose in the bucket.  The fact that the water wasn't "his" didn't bother him a bit.

After I unloaded the rest of my gear I rode him in the show arena for about 20 min. There was another horse just finishing up as we went in and the company helped Rory settle.  He was really good with all the sights and the strange venue.  There was a young boy lying on the top of the half wall between arena and bleachers playing video games on his notebook.  The video games must have gotten boring as the boy started scrambling around the bleachers, trying to get all the way around the arena without touching the ground.  Rory didn't mind him at all.  The right lead canter was a little sticky again, but we got it.  At the end Rory settled enough to give me a nice stretched outline at the trot.

I fed him and settled him for the night after deciding to bath in the morning.

September 16, 2011 - Transport troubles!

A couple of weeks ago I found a trailer for rent, small, older but beautifully reconditioned and arranged to rent it for the weekend. I was supposed to pick it up tonight, but couldn't get hold of anyone at any of the three numbers I was given. So my barn owner called a friend and begged for the loan of her trailer, and the friend said "I'll just make sure the SO is okay with it and call you back." We sit in the truck in the middle of hicktown waiting for someone to call back. Finally the rental owner called me back and said go ahead, so-and-so is there you can just leave your contact info and pay him and take it away. I didn't want to flake off on this woman just in case I needed to rent the trailer in the future so my barn owner called her friend and left a message "we got it, thanks but we don't need yours." We arrived at the shop to find the trailer hooked up to another truck for stability while the shop guy is messing around with it.  First clue.

He unhooked his truck, we hooked up and discovered the plug wire was too short. He added extra wire, clamped it all, set the plug, etc and plugged into the truck. I went to check the lights. Right side tail/brake light wasn't on. No running lights either. To make a long story short (and sanitized) we were there for an hour while he and another guy messed around trying to figure out what was wrong and fix it. Eventually he asked if I was leaving tonight and suggested I pick it up in the am.

Are we done yet?

We got unhooked, got back in the truck, looked at each other and said "lets's call your friend again!" We both felt that if you are renting a trailer and know about it for a couple of weeks it shouldn't be getting rewired the afternoon the client is picking it up. I know we'll be making the last leg home (if not more) in the dark so I darn well want running lights! The friend agreed to let us take her trailer (blessings upon her head) so we're good to go!! But I really didn't need this aggravation today!

Rory had his feet trimmed, and socks washed and clipped today. It was too cold for a full bath so we'll be doing that at RCRA tomorrow night. I tried my older horse's red sheet on Rory and it fits pretty well. It must have shrunk a fair bit as it's tagged 76 and I measured him as 72 last week. No wonder it's small on my other 78" horse!

September 15, 2011 - Practice for the Cup Qualifier

The Governor General's Cup is an in-hand class for three year old horses bred in Canada for the original three Olympic disciplines of jumping, dressage and eventing.  The Lieutenant Governor General's Cup class is an under saddle class for three year old horses bred in Canada for the original three Olympic disciplines of jumping, dressage and eventing.  This class is run as a typical hunter under saddle class with the basic walk, trot and canter in each direction.  Since today was our last ride at home before the Qualifiers I ran through a mock class with Rory at the end.

We started in walk and did some serpentines and big trot circles. He looked out the back door but didn't try to go out today.  I asked him to stretch for the contact and lift his back - it was a bit hit and miss.  When Rory was listening well I rode large around the arena and practiced for the cup qualifier.  Rory had a little trouble with his right lead canter and took a few tries to get it.  He did canter around a couple of times without stopping which is something we haven't done often.  We again walked round the grass field to cool off.

One of the other boarders at the farm has a Clydesdale mare that he drives.  He brought over his sleigh this week and threw a tarp over it last night.  Rory was a bit snorty about the tarp covered sleigh and I let him have a good look at it as we headed out to the arena.  As usual it didn't take him long to decide it was okay and he started pushing the tarp off the sleigh bed to see what was underneath.

September 13, 2011 - Two days in a row

Looking for the perfect rolling spot.

Since I plan to ride Rory in the show arena on Saturday afternoon/evening before the Cup Qualifiers on Sunday I decided to to a test run of riding two days in a row just to see if he'd be any different on the second day.  Overall he seemed to be just as willing to go as he usually is and gave me a good ride.

I rode inside for about 20 min.  I kept things simple and did a little trot and canter mostly going large or on 20m circles.  We managed to canter all the way around the arena on both leads, and had a couple of drifts towards the door, but didn't break from trot.  Rory had a few "don't want to turn that way" moments, and I just kept quietly asking him to turn.  Once he almost hit the wall when he turned at the last possible moment and halted with my leg touching the wall.  He was a bit better next time - the turn was very sharp but he kept the trot.  The third time round the circle was very good.  We walked around outside to cool out.

September 12, 2011 - Pushing too hard

I rode outside in the sand ring today.  I left my dressage whip on the fence but it fell off before I needed it and I couldn't be bothered to dismount and pick it up.  The sand was deep enough that the footing made for hard work today.  We did some circles in trot, and cantered on each rein.  Trotted four poles today.  They didn't concern Rory at all, and he was better at trotting straight over them.  We managed to canter twice round the ring on the right lead, and a bit more than once on the left.  Rory got a bit tired and reluctant to go but was good.  In my efforts to get him into a more forward trot I kicked too hard a couple of times and he slowed and balked for just a split second each time.  I apologized and backed off on my go forward requests and he was much more responsive.  After the work in the ring we walked around the grass field to cool off.  He's getting much steadier in his carriage and improving his steering finesse too.

September 10, 2011 - The hay field

Out behind the stable's property is a neighbour's hay field, and he has very kindly given us permission to ride around the edge of it.  The field is a large rectangle with the short edge sharing the property line with the stable property.  We're at the low end of the field and it rises up gradually for about two thirds of the length and then drops down fairly sharply in the furthest quarter, enough that we can't see anyone riding on the opposite short side.  The field is mostly alfalfa right now and close to knee deep on the horses.  Late last fall the neighbour replaced the tile drain at the near end of the field and had to leave the ground churned up as it was frozen chunks of ground mixed with big chunks of ice.  The spring was so wet that he couldn't get in to plant that section and has just recently given it a rough levelling.  We have to cross this rough section when we go to ride around the field.

Today we went for a ride around that field with another boarder after a few minutes in the ring Rory was very good.  He marched out in front and went over the berm first.  He paused to look for a moment before going down into the chewed up area and picking his way over to the grass.  I made him wait for the mare and we sort followed for a few steps but by the time we reached the corner I had him on a track to her right and he was pretty much beside her.  Partway down the field he drifted sideways as he eyeballed a very large boulder that was hiding in the treeline.  I halted him and he looked everywhere except at the boulder so he must have decided it was okay before the halt.  We continued and the mare spooked at a critter scuttling away through the treeline.  Rory spooked sideways a couple of steps too, but he only did it because she'd jumped sideways - he had no idea what he was spooking at.  The whole way down the field Rory was looking around, alert but not afraid.  We halted occasionally to let the mare catch up. 

Across the far end of the field he was looking up the hill then very suddenly brought his attention back to the ground under his feet as we reached a patchy area.  He didn't stop, but did look where his feet were going for a dozen or so steps.  The mare had another spook a bit further on and Rory didn't even flick an ear at her, it was like he hadn't noticed.  Coming back up the other side of the field he eyed the pile of metal and wood in that treeline as we went by but didn't move off course.  I had him walk over the chewed up area in the caterpillar tracks along the last stretch of field before we got back to the gap.  He led the way again, and again had to stop on the berm for a moment to look around and decide it was okay to go.  I was really pleased with how he handled the trip around the field.

September 7, 2011 - Back to the basics

I rode inside today because the sand ring was still too soggy after Sunday's rain.  Rory wasn't thrilled about being back inside the arena, but he was very good about not trying to go out the back door every time we went by.  I worked for about ten minutes at the walk trying to get him to stretch over his topline, lift his back and reach for the contact.  He gave me a little bit, but not as much as he'd been offering last week.  It occured to me that he might need a bit of trot to adjust to the rider's weight before really getting much lift.  We trotted and I concentrated more on asking for him to bring his back up and stretch than on exactly where we were going.  I did discover that if I can get him to turn his head in the direction of the turn and then very lightly wiggle the outside rein he will soften and turn more easily.  He was being a very good boy so I quit after about twenty minutes and we went outside onto the grass (which had drained better than the sand ring).  We walked around a bit with more work on lifting his back.  I asked him to canter once each way and he got the correct lead easily both times. I ended up riding for just over half an hour.

Dressage show video!

Here is the video from Rory's first dressage show.  I only included a very short clip from his test because my videographer wasn't very steady and I was ready to shut it off the first time I watched the video - and I wanted to see how Rory went!  There is also a clip from our walk/trot equitation class where Rory was much more relaxed (different videographer too).