January 24, 2012 - Off with a bang... maybe that should be "Out with a bang"

Well Rory finally bucked me off yesterday. I'd expected to come off him a whole lot sooner, but he's been good. I don't know what got up his butt yesterday - he hadn't even kicked his heels up on the longe line.  He was a little fussy when I first got on, tossing his head non-stop for the first half circle.  Then he settled, I turned him onto a circle to the right and off he went.  It took him five bucks and a deke sideways on the last to unload me. Head down, bronco bucks (people do this for fun??) too.  He was going in a straight line and I was landing right back in the saddle each time, so on the fourth buck I tried to pull his head up but just succeeded in pulling myself out of position.  That made him go sideways on the fifth buck.

I got knocked out - a first for me. It was weird. At least I know I was out for about four minutes because I had the video camera on, and he dumped me in full view. Rory was a little freaked out by the whole thing, and didn't go anywhere near me while I was down, but he came back quickly once I started to get up.  He was a bit panicked by being in the arena all alone, and didn't recognize me as me until I was walking again.  When I patted him he heaved a sigh of relief and completely relaxed.

Totyo and Rory

I am mostly okay. Sprained (probably) wrist, bruised (hopefully) tailbone (from him smacking the saddle into my butt), and a couple of other stretched or bruised spots. Head is okay if I don't move it too fast - and yes I got a nurse to check me out right afterwards.  Probably minor concussion.

Aaand now I need another new helmet.  I should have ridden the brat first... I won't be riding anything for a few days at least.

I don't remember the "oh crap, I'm off" moment from yesterday - you know that moment your brain recognizes that you're coming off and you can't do anything about it. I don't remember the first hop, only the three bucks in between. And those bucks only came back after I'd gotten up and was walking Rory back to the door.  No, I'm not going to post the video of my fall - that's something my mother definitely does not need to see.

July 5, 2011 - In which Rory sends me to the tack shop

I need a new helmet.  Due to Rory,  but not quite in the way I expected.  The day started off okay. I brought Rory in and gave him a good grooming.  There were a lot of mosquito bite bumps on his left shoulder, but didn't seem to be itchy.  He was very well behaved on the cross ties, except for the irresistable lure of the cross tie.  I caught him with one in his mouth when I came back with the saddle.

Rory started bucking and didn't stop

I tacked up, put his boots on, and then his bridle.  We started inside with a bit of longeing.  Rory was very energetic and trotted off with a nice forward stride.  The first time I asked him to walk he didn't want to slow down and I had to reel him in to a smaller circle to convince him I was serious.  After that he listened even on the larger circle.  It was a different story when we changed direction.  Rory put his head down, humped his back and bronced around the circle.  I pushed him forward and he bounced even harder.  Not even a sharp "Get up!" Convinced him to stop.  If we hadn't already had some good work on the left rein I would have wondered if the saddle pad had a wrinkle or if the girth was pinching him.  As he bronced the back of the saddle was lifting progressively higher off his back, and it looked like it was sliding forward.  I got him to halt without too much trouble and asked my friend to hold Rory for a minute while I checked the saddle.  I'm using a folded towel over Rory's withers to widen his shoulders enough to make the saddle fit well enough to use.  I refolded the towel to make it a bit thicker, resettled the saddle and did up the girth.  Once I got him going on the longe again Rory was his usual willing self, even cantering a bit.

Rory spotted Toyto and bolted

We went out to the sand ring and I longed a bit more.  Rory tended to fall in on one part of the circle and I had to push him out a little harder than I do inside.  He was looking for his buddies who were out of sight in the shelter, but quickly settled and was listening to me nicely.  I changed direction and all was well until Rory suddenly leaped into canter, pulling me forward.  I tried to run to keep up with him but he went too fast and pulled me off balance.  I let go of the longeline and went ass over teakettle ending up with the back of my head crashing into the ground.  Fortunately I was wearing my helmet, something I don't always do for the longeing when it's hot. I'm glad I put it on today.  Modern helmets are designed with padding that crushes without springing back to slow the head as it comes to the ground, reducing the amount of bounce back, which reduces or eliminates the impact of the brain against the inside of the skull.  I had a stiff neck, shoulders and arms for a couple of days afterwards, but thanks to my helmet no headache.

Me going heels over head as Rory bolts towards Totyo

I rolled up onto my feet fairly quickly, before Rory reached the corner of the ring closest to Totyo.  I suspect that Rory saw Totyo walking out from behind the shelter and took off to go and see his friend.  Totyo squealed and bolted along the fence with Rory a split second behind when I had gotten partway over.  I ran towards the fence, raising my arms and holding the longe whip right up in front of his face.  There was a moment I thought Rory was going to run past me anyway, but he slammed the brakes on and spun away before running back to the corner.  Totyo turned back a moment later as well. When I got close Rory backed out of the gap and turned away from Totyo.   I was close enough to pick up the end of the longeline and bring Rory back to me. 

Back to work as if nothing had happened.

Joey watches as Rory walks around the ring.

My head was aching a bit, but not badly so I took Rory back out into the middle of the ring and longed him again starting on a much smaller circle.  Rory settled quickly and I pushed him out onto a larger circle.  He kept an eye on Totyo, but listened to me.  Totyo and their older buddy wandered over to the hay and started munching.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep enough of Rory's attention to ride safely, but decided to take it one step at a time and start with some mounting exercises. 

Rory stood still as I mounted and dismounted several times, so I picked up the reins and asked him to walk.  At first I kept a close eye on Totyo, but as Rory showed he was paying more attention to me I shifted more of my focus to him.  Totyo came partway over to the fence a couple of times, but found the process boring and went back to snooze beside his old buddy.  With Rory listening well I dared to ask for a little trot, and when Totyo showed little interest dared to trot for longer.  Rory was very good and when I made sure to separate the turning aid from the forward aid he steered really well.  I asked him to trot with a little more energy and he responded nicely and maintained the trot for several trips around the ring.

 After all the longeing and trotting in the sand Rory got tired before our fifteen minutes were up.  He tried to stop a couple of times, and I did have to push a little to get him to trot again.  I got him to trot most of the way around and asked him to walk before he tried to stop again, then called it quits for the day.



A very nice, calm trot.



March 15, 2011 - Bucking bronco

I was sick all last week and didn't do anything with Rory.  Today was the first time in a while I had him out.  It was late afternoon and there were other people around making noises outside the arena.  Rory's not used to it and found them a little distracting at times.  He was also full of beans since the footing isn't great outside.  I saddled up and we went out to the arena.  I finally remembered to take my side reins out to the barn and I put them on Rory today.  We started without the side reins just to get the longe refresher.  Rory walked and trotted on command, then something got his back up and he started to buck.  The first couple were pretty decent jumps up into the air that probably would have unseated me had I been riding, but as he lost forward momemtum he ended up just bouncing up and down on one spot.  I sent him forward again at the trot and he settled down.  He tried to start bucking again a minute later, but I was quicker to pull him in and send him forward again so he only got a couple of bucks in.  Once he was paying attention, mostly, I halted him and attached the side reins to his halter.



Rory took a couple of steps of walk, then slowed down as he poked his nose forward and felt the restriction of the side reins.  I encouraged him to walk forward and he found that his normal head carriage didn't pull on his nose.  The trot went okay as well, and I found it was easier to keep him on the circle when he got a bit quick.  I think the outside rein helped.  A couple of times Rory really lifted his back and arched his neck for a few strides, but he didn't hold it for long.  There's always another noise to distract him.  I found it a little frustrating, but on reflection it's coming at a good stage of training for him to learn that he does have to listen to me first even when there are distractions.

August 11, 2008 – Born to run!

Friday was pretty uneventful. I did night chores again and gave Rory a good scritching.

Saturday we put them out in the new field for half an hour, with the two pregnant broodmares. They were very interested in the foals and came over to see them. Both mums were protective and there was a good bit of milling around. They did some running around too (and I got some good shots of Rory and his mum).

The bay preggie mare attached herself to Rory and his mum and at one point Rory went to her, ignoring her "P*** off!" and mouthing. She took a swing at him with one hind leg (thank gods she missed). I don't know if he thought she was mum or what. He was pretty persistent and his mum wasn't upset. Anyway, I went and brought him away from that mare and back to his mum. Then just hung out with him for a bit, scratching him and scrubbing mosquitoes off him. He pooped while I was standing with him - it's still very runny, but the liquid jet is absent.

We took the two mares out a bit later and left the two foals (and mums) to see how they'd do. It was hilarious to watch.

Rory started bouncing. Rearing, bucking, leaping into the air - you name it, he did it. Then he started running in big circles, very fast. He went to try and get the other foal to play without any luck. The other foal hid behind his mum. So Rory tried running past them very fast to try and entice the other foal away. After a bit he took a break and nibbled a bit before bouncing again. The other foal got a little daring and cantered away from his mum. Rory spotted him and ZOOMed over at high speed, scaring the other foal back to his mum. Rory did the drive by gallops a couple more times. The other foal moved away from his mum again a bit later, towards Rory this time. Rory cantered slowly towards him and then started bouncing with each stride, flinging his forelegs up and forward as an invitation to play. The other foal's eyes popped and he ran back to mum yet again. We felt sorry for both of them. Rory wanted to play so badly, and the other foal was scared of his antics. We didn't leave them out for very long - the alfalfa is knee high.


Rory has discovered that he can whinny. He's been a very quiet foal, but on Sunday he was whinnying a fair bit. We put the two mares and foals out in the new field again on Sunday. There was a lot less activity this time. Rory did some bucking and playing and running very fast for the first ten minutes or so, without really trying to engage the other foal today. After the BO chased his mum away from the in-progress shelter, they had a lovely trot across the field to near the other mare and foal and the two foals were showing some interest in each other at about the time we had to bring them in. The other foal's mum is getting used to Rory and not objecting when he comes up close now. It's progress and I'm sure they'll be tearing around together in a week or so.

I gave him a bum wash again last night. He was good. He wasn't sure about the zinc, but once I started rubbing it on he liked it. I picked up all four feet without needing to have the halter on him. He's getting good at that. Good thing - he's going to have to get his feet done soon.

One more note. Rory has the typical baby scrapes/wear marks on his hocks and the hair is growing back in black (or extremely dark brown). His mane has the dark growth at the base, and on the backs of his ears the new hair is also a very dark greyish, blackish, maybe brown colour. The area around his eyes looks quite dark as well, though I can see chestnut hairs very close to his eyes. I can hardly wait to see what colour he turns out. Perhaps he will be a very dark chestnut - that would be (he could wear red!) or perhaps he will do what last year's (unrelated) foal did go darker after the foal coat, and then lighten up again in the spring or perhaps he has the sooty gene to darken his chestnut colour.