August 18, 2011 - New bridle

New bridle, old reins

I went to Greenhawk's four day sale this morning.  Their Connemara line of strap goods was on sale for half price today only.  It was a great deal and I wondered how they could afford to sell at that price, even for one day.  When I went looking for the bridles all became clear - sale prices on in stock merchandise only, with almost nothing in stock.  There were two bridles on my possibles list and only 3-4 of each. Fortunately I found a cob sized one among them. 

When I went out to the barn in the evening I couldn't resist bringing Rory in to try on his new bridle.  The bridle fits quite nicely and the leather is decent quality.  I'm not a fan of the white stitching, but for $30 I'm not complaining.  His training bridle is definitely not in good enough condition to use at a show, and I don't want to make his custom bridle until next year because I'm sure his head will grow a bit more.

October 2, 2010 - Introducing longeing

Rory learns to walk in a circle around me without coming
closer to me as he goes around

Today I brought Rory in, put him on the crossties and treated him like I would the brat.  I went to get his grooming kit, then later to get his bridle, the saddle blanket and surcingle, and then again  to get his boots.  I groomed him, picked out his feet and pulled the crossties out of his mouth.  He was a little suspicious of the saddle blanket (it’s been a while since I put it on him) so I did the rub all over with folded up blanket, repeating with less folded blanket until he was okay with it.  After that the surcingle was no big deal.  He didn’t mind me doing up the surcingle’s girth around his belly either.  I put his boots on, then his bridle and nylon halter over top.  The halter seemed tight and I had to let the crown out a hole.

I had in mind to teach him about turning with “rein” pressure (on the halter, not bit) today, but when we went out to the arena it had stuff for tonight’s barn party in a couple of corners.  The big back door and one side door were open too which was a little distracting.  I started just with “touch” going up to the piles of picnic tables, then to the flatbed trailer that does duty as a band stand.  He was quick to touch the tables, and a little slower to touch the trailer, but he did it and got his carrot chunk.

We did some review of walking and halting, backing, turning and such before I went and got a short longe whip out of the corner.  I’d wanted a dressage whip, but there wasn’t one there, and I thought the longe whip would suffice if I wrapped the lash around the stick.  Then we started to introduce the idea of longeing.  He only got about 3-4’ of lead rope away from me, and I walked a smaller circle inside his.  He got the idea of going forward without being led, and going out on the circle rather than cutting in towards me.  Carrot chunks helped him figure out when he was doing the right thing.  We did a little bit both ways, then I put the whip back and picked up his piles after the BO came in with the tractor.   A friend popped in and I got her to take some photos while Rory showed off his longe lesson and some trotting in hand. 



Trotting in hand



We did a bit of walking around, visiting people, and finished with a walk round the track before going back to the barn.  Rory was pretty good going around the track except for one attempt at breaking away back for the barn.  He kicked out in my direction again when he spun away, but fortunately was far enough away that it wasn’t even close to hitting me.  I was focused on stopping him and not in any position to reprimand it specifically.  He did stop, and got a little back up, turn, move your bum away work before we continued on.  We stopped for a minute to see three horses that came up to the fence, and after that he stopped trying to trot and was more willing to just walk actively.

June 4, 2010 – First bridle

Red letter day for my little man! Rory wore a bridle for the very first time. He opened his mouth easily when I stuck my thumb in and took the bit like a pro! Then he mouthed and wiggled his tongue for a moment to try and spit it out, but after that it was really no big deal for him.

He keeps demonstrating an essentially cool nature. Earlier this week he was eating his breakfast in a stall with one of those metal gates (with the V for them to put their heads out) and he got a little agitated about a dog barking a little way off outside the barn. Now I say agitated, but there was no screaming or pulling or pooping type activity. He wanted out and considered going over the stall gate. Rory stuck his head over first, tucked his bum under and gently lifted his front feet off the ground as he pushed his head forward. I tie him because he's more comfortable that way, so he couldn't get his head very far over the gate. He tried twice, but never thrashed or banged the gate or anything more forceful than the push forward against the halter. I was watching him to see how he'd take it since his momma tended to have meltdowns if she was taken into the barn alone (she improved with work, but I was worried Rory might have inherited that tendency). He swung his bum round a couple of times as he tried to turn around in the stall I think to find the source of the noise, but he stopped and stood still (on alert, but still) for a minute. That's when I went in and took him back out to his field. A couple of days later the dog was at it again when Rory was eating and this time he just kept eating.

Rory always comes over when he sees me in the field, and is mostly coming when I call - he'll look around and comes when he sees me.

I ordered red & black splint boots for him but haven't tried putting them on yet. I think I want the video running for that one, though he may not be any more concerned about them than he was about the bit.
And I pulled some of his mane the other day. Much to my surprise he didn't mind it at all (good thing with the thickness he's got).

It's been nasty hot here for a bit so I haven't done too much in the way of walking Rory around. The horseflies are likely to carry us away! We did have a trot down and up the driveway the other night. He's getting really good about stopping when I do, and slowing his trot when I give a little tug on the lead, and going faster when I run faster.