May 10, 2011 Polish practice

Today's lesson was about standing on the crossties while I messed around with him.  I groomed him well, braided his tail, mane and forelock, and oiled his hooves.  Rory was pretty well behaved.  He shifted side to side a few times while I was braiding his tail, but accepted the activity. 


They were still wearing their flymasks today, but...


Braiding his mane was another adventure.  I decided to try a new-to-me technique for tying the braids up which meant I could do fewer braids, but also meant I was trying to figure out how to make the technique work while Rory was walking forward and backwards on the cross ties.  He stood at times, but those times got shorter and shorter as we went along.  I wasn't sure I liked the result - the braids were interesting, but there was something that bothered me. 

Once he was polished up I had to take some pictures so we went outside.  Rory stood for a minute or two, then he had to move his feet so I let him walk around me for a few minutes while I took some more pictures. Taking the braids out took only a few minutes and I put Rory back outside with some pats and carrots.

All polished up with nowhere to go.



Top - the illusion of a dip in his neck
Bottom - back lit showing the true topline


When I was looking at the pics later I realized what bothered me about the braids.  A long time ago I read that the line along the bottom of the yarn hunter style braids is what catches the eye, making it more important to get the loops the same length rather than making the bumps on top the same size.  I wasn't sure I believed it, but I started paying more attention to the loop length.  On Rory's pictures the line along the bottom of the braids caught my eye and it made his neck look like the topline dipped down in the middle instead of having a nice arch up to his ears.  I don't think I'll be using this style of braid on Rory again.

May 25, 2009 – Polishing

I decided that I want to tidy up Rory's shaggy mane so I took him out yesterday and braided his mane over to one side (I picked the right side) as a first step. It's not braided all the way down, just a few crossings then an elastic to hold it all on one side with the rest left loose. He was pretty good about it and I let him nibble on the grass while I started at his withers. He did have an "OMG what is that!" moment when he spotted the neighbour tossing mulch around. We went over to see that he was harmless and chat for a minute. Then I took him back by his paddock and tied him so I could do the last few braids up behind his ears.

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and I scritched him and examined his summer coat peeping through the holes in his coat, and looked at his chest and his ears. There are a lot of darker red highlights gleaming in the sun now. He looks like he might be bright chestnut again. I did get a couple of pictures. Many of the pictures seem to be Rory walking towards me because he wants to see what I'm up to. I enticed him out of the shelter yesterday by turning my back on him and combing TOW's mane and tail. TOW enjoyed it and actually stood without trying to nibble on me or my stuff. I did look at Rory's tail, but he's got the same spiral hairs as his half sister so I didn't bother combing it out. His tail hairs are a mix of bright red chestnut and dark brown apart from the pale bits of baby hair.

August 25, 2008 – Show time!

Saturday was the breeders show. Friday night I braided his mum. I had debated bathing them that evening, but in the end didn't. I was glad I hadn't as Rory was sleeping on a pee spot when I went in to braid mum. He got up and bothered me a bit for scratches and attention, but he didn't nibble on me, steal yarn, or anything like that. He did chew on mum's lead chain and try to bite the spray bottle of water a few times. I sprayed him. I hit his nose and he backed off and I thought "Maybe that wasn't a good idea" but later he came back and I sprayed his side, bum, back and belly and he didn't care one bit. Later on he was nibbling on the head and I sprayed water into his mouth - he came back for more.

In the morning I braided him. I started at his withers and worked my way up his neck. He was munching on the hay while I worked and was good. When I got about halfway I had to put his halter on and tie him (looped lead through stall bars) so I could finish. The hardest part was bumping the teeny tiny braids. He wiggled a bit of course, but was good.

Then it was bath time. I didn't have anyone to help, so I tied mum at the wash rack and bathed her one handed while I held Rory's lead in the other. Soaped, scrubbed and then rinsed. While I was spraying the soap off I sprayed Rory's feet, then back to mum, then his feet up to his knees, then mum. When I did his side he didn't mind, so I went all over his sides, back, bum and legs before working up his neck. He was really good. I scrubbed him with his new wash mitt and rinsed him off. It's hard to scrape the excess water off baby sized horses. I used my hand a good bit.

After the bath we went for a little walk while a stall was cleaned. Rory wanted to run and play and just get out. I put them in the stall while I got everything else ready. I had to drive the trailer myself. It was the other trailer - the step up - and he followed mum up just fine. His last foot slipped off the rubber bumper and he scrambled a bit, but it didn't bother him.

At the show we brushed the hay dust off them and did a little practice trot. Rory bounced a bit. The first class was the CSH Foal of 2008 with two entries. The other foal's pro handler beat us. I didn't get Rory stood up very well and he didn't want to stand still while the judge was looking at him. The trot wasn't bad, but not as good as he is at home. His breeder told him he was robbed, and I protested that we couldn't start that way and we should tell him that he needs to stand better and trot properly if he's going to win.

Because we were second in the Foal, we got invited back for Junior Champion. Before then Rory's breeder gave me some tips and I tried using the grass trick to keep Rory still and occupied. We didn't place in the Junior Champion, but I did get him stood up better and right after they announced the winners the judge took another look at Rory and made a note on her clipboard.

We went back to the trailer for a bit and I wandered around with Rory, jogging here and there (he cantered and bounced too). He slipped once and limped, and held his left hing leg up for a few steps. He was fine a minute later, and bounced again but with a bit more caution.

There were four foals in the Open Foal of 2008 class - including the foal that won the CSH class. Rory won. He stood nicely (kept me busy finding grass and getting his legs set and all) and trotted well. I was glad to see the judge had the confidence to change her previous placings and didn't feel she had to repeat the order. The conformation:movement percentages were slightly different between the two classes, so that may have helped too. The pro handler went to help get another foal to trot and when he came back he almost came to Rory. He was laughing about it and said "I'd take him. I'd take them both."

We got invited back for the Open Junior Champion, so we had to hang around and wait for the Yearling class to go. Rory was tired after all his effort and decided to lie down. He nibbled on the grass he could reach, rolled over and went to sleep. I had to wake him up for the Junior Champion class - which the yearlings won (1,2). He did a very nice trot in that class.

After that we headed for home. Rory hopped on the trailer without the slip this time. Once there I put them in their stall for a bit, hoping he'd lie down for the rest of his nap (and make it easy for me to take his braids out). He did, and I did get them out. I took mum's braids out too, and then put her and Rory out. I tacked the ribbons onto the front of his stall.

I really think he's going to go dark chestnut - maybe as dark as "brown" (think Ward Mclain's Sapphire). He's got quite the raccoon look just now, and his ears are quite dark too. Too cute! The dark hairs are showing through the foal coat in places and giving him a bit of a dirty look on his bum. I hope he stays dark - not that it matters one bit, but I think he'd be really striking with the dark contrast against his whites. Plus I could put red on him without commiting a fashion sin.