Rory's fast approaching his fourth birthday, and I'm riding
again so I thought I'd share some recent pics.
Finally riding again after he bruised my tailbone. He's starting to look like a grown up horse!
Head to wall leg yield (bad rider raising hands so high!)
Back outside again - I probably should have walked a bit
longer first, but he settled down quickly after this.
A nice canter
His group moved to a new (bigger) paddock last week and he
and Totyo enjoyed having the space to run.
They ran a bit, found the grass, ran a bit more, stopped for
more grass... Rory was too interested in
looking around to keep his face in the grass for long.
A little trot.
I rode later. He
wasn't his usual happy self but he tried and I didn't ask for a lot. I think he needs a visit from the chiro.
Rory's paddock was split in two today. A new fence was put up down the middle. Rory, Totyo and their older buddy kept a close eye on things until they got bored. They had to check out the contents of the pickup truck at one point. Rory found a bag of insulators (for electric fence) and picked it up. The noise spooked them all, but Rory didn't actually drop the bag until after he'd spun towards the other two horses and rattled it in their direction.
Totyo, buddy and Rory inspecting the truck contents
Rory inspecting one of the new fence posts
The three of them won't be in the reduced paddock for very long. The barn owner is going to put in another fence to make a new paddock for Rory's bunch.
I rode Rory again this evening. Not for long, a little under 15 minutes. We were in the sand ring again and he was very good. I was quite pleased with how he relaxed and started to lift his back a little bit.
I got on Rory today for the first time since he bucked me off. It will be nine weeks on Monday. My tailbone is still not 100% but is much better and I really felt I needed to get on him again. I was a bit nervous, especially when he put his head down, but he didn't get into tossing his head up and down like the day he bucked me off. I was ready to catch him if he did dive. We actually got outside in the sand ring and trotted a little bit each way. I rode for less than ten minutes but he was good - he even knocked the block over as he walked off and didn't mind at all.
I rode brat today as well - before Rory this time.
Took Rory out to the arena for a little longe and in hand work. He was feeling a bit lazy and I was pushing him for more trot... then I looked at his feet and realized that even in his draggy, lazy ass trot he's over tracking*...
*A horse is said to be "tracking up" when his hind feet land in the hoofprints of his front feet. Tracking up is pretty much the minimum required in Training level dressage. Under tracking, or the hind feet landing behind the front hoofprint, indicates a horse that is not pushing with his hindquarters - the basis of all dressage work. Over tracking happens when the hind hoof lands further forward than the front hoofprint and is highly desirable in a dressage horse's natural gaits.
So my little man is now officially my taller horse. I sticked Rory yesterday and he measured 15.3 1/2 (actually 3/4 but he needs a trim so I'm knocking 1/4" off ). Brat is 15.3h when fit. So he will be over 16h. Now I have to hope he doesn't get as wide as my QH...
At 16.1h and over 1300lbs in competition weight I found my QH was a little too wide to be really comfortable for me. Brat is the perfect size. Hopefully Rory ends up closer to Brat's width.
Today I longed Rory before doing some in-hand work with him. He was full of beans again, but once he'd had a little work on the longe he was able to settle and concentrate on the in hand work. We did a little leg yielding and he was very good from the left. From the right he wasn't as sure about what I wanted, and there were some noises from outside that distracted him, but he tried.
If you're wondering, yes, I'm wearing my helmet and no, I didn't ride or have any intention of riding. I decided to wear it just in case Rory was spooked and bumped into me. He doesn't tend to invade my space, but I really don't need another bump to my brain after getting knocked out just over three weeks ago.
Rory needs some good luck. He had the biopsy of his hind gut done today to be sent off for examination. I really hope it shows something that we can resolve fairly easily to fix his poop juice issues. I had the vet pull some blood too.
The process was quite simple. The vet had brought a sterilized metal bottle cap (yes, a beer bottle cap - it had a beaver and a maple leaf on it) which she used to pinch off a sample of his gut wall. Rory was really good about the biopsy though he did keep trying to twist around to see what she was doing. I was holding his head and his tail at the same time and remembering when I could put one arm round his chest and the other round his bum at the same time. I was stretching to hold his tail today.
Rory Was full of beans today and went straight to canter with jumps and bucks on the longe. He settled and did some easy trot and longer trot on the right after I reeled him in to get him to walk a few times. I free jumped him after longeing. He wasn't very good at it and banged his toes and knocked the jump down several times.
I set up the chute and run the horse through it without any jumps the first few times just so they know what they're expected to do. Rory went through twice and the second time stepped on a ground rail, knocking it out of position. I went to put it back and he ran round, came up outside the chute... and jumped in! So I set up a jump in the chute, which he knocked down while I was picking up the pole he'd knocked down jumping into the chute. He did manage a few respectable trips through at the end and seemed quite pleased with himself afterwards.
Okay, I'm finally itching to ride. My tailbone still hurts though. I worked the boys on the ground on Thursday and they were both good. It was really windy and the arena was creaking and banging which made Rory jump (and play buck) a few times, but he quickly settled down. It makes me wonder if the bucks that got me off were sparked by an ice slide and he's just forgotten that he doesn't need to worry about such noises since he hasn't been in there much this winter. Anyway, I've decided they need to do something so my goal is to get them out working a few times a week while I'm grounded.
This was Rory's reaction to his first Barny's horse treat. He came back for the rest of it.
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.
I rode Rory today after a quick longe. I did have to remind him about standing still for mounting. He fussed at the mounting block, not wanting to stand still and swinging his bum away then backing up. He was okay the second time.
I rode for almost fifteen minutes. Started with walking and asking him to give me a nice yield to the rein as we turned. He was better on the left rein. Walked over the poles a couple of times. His trot was a bit lazy at first, and he was shaking his head when I pushed him more forward. He did settle, but seemed not quite right. Not lame, just not his usual self. I asked him to do a few steps of leg yield which he did willingly enough. By this point he was yielding to the rein better as we turned.
I hopped off and moved the video camera down to sit on the mounting block so I could tape him walking and trotting away from and towards the camera. I didn't see anything off in the video, but there was something wrong today.
Rory's leg is about back to normal and I took him out yesterday to get him thinking about working again. I worked him in hand looking for him to focus on me and show good manners. We trotted in-hand, then trotted over poles in-hand, and got him backing up, and moving his body as directed.
I set up my rein hold for an in hand leg yield. Rory got distracted by noises from outside at first, got quite snorty and even did a bit of trot leg yield along the wall because he was worried. I turned on the radio to cover the outside noises and he heard something that set him off and he broke away. He trotted around the far end once then came back to me when I walked out into the middle of the arena.
We went back to walk, halt, turn, and back on the lead. After some quiet walking with lots of turns and direction changes, Rory started to settle a bit. We went over the poles again. I finished with a little leg yield in hand, but he wasn't really focused enough to work in hand on the reins.
Today we did some more in hand work before I let him loose for some free play.
In an effort to reduce hay waste and test out the benefits of slow feeder the barn owner was investigating the round bale hay nets. They were pretty pricey for something with an uncertain value so for about half the price (or less) we got some hockey nets and made up some giant net "bags" to put on the round bales of hay. We ended up with nets from Canadian Tire ($25), Pro Hockey Life ($35), and Walmart ($20). We'll see how long they last.
Rory munching on his hockey netted hay
The horses all had an initial reaction of "what is that THING you dumped in my hay feeder?" but very quickly figured it out. I watched them eat and the action mimics that of grazing more than just eating a pile of hay does. They can only tease out a few stalks at a time through the small holes, but seem to be quite happy doing it. They still try to eat the middle of the bale first, but the net stops those so inclined from eating a head sized hole and burying their heads deep in the bales. They ended up eating a large shallow bowl shape in order to get the middle of the bale out first.
I felt like I spent the whole month focused on what was going on under Rory's tail. The swollen fetlock took a while to go down, and I didn't do a lot of riding. This poop juice thing is stealing my energy and worrying me more than ever. Everything we try seems to help a little bit, but doesn't get anywhere near resolving the problem and it takes weeks to figure out how much of a difference anything made.
The Equi-Shure didn't work as hoped, but the three week cycle has been disrupted. He had a dirty bum for three weeks straight in December. His tail bag is disgusting, and his poor bum coated most of the time, and it's too cold to clean him up properly. I'm sure there must be some pain or internal discomfort for him too.
Rory checking out the barn kitten
Right before Christmas the vet came out for another check up and discussion of options. We eventually decided to try him on 5 Prednisone tablets per day and see if it would relieve any inflammation in his hindgut and give his body a chance to heal properly. But we also agreed that if he failed to show significant improvement the biopsy would be our next step.
Rory's left hind fetlock was quite swollen today. Why he keeps banging up that leg is beyond me. It was a bit warmer than his right hind fetlock. I opted not to ride and just took him out to the arena to see if he was sore. He was quite happy to tear around. It took some persuading to convince him to trot long enough for me to study his gait. He looked sound and managed a nice controlled free longe to the right, but kept getting distracted to the left so I put him on the line and he behaved.
Group sleepfest
His bum was nasty again today - I washed off the worst of it.
The rest of November was pretty much status quo. He was a good boy under saddle and we continued to look for better in everything. He's getting a better understanding of what I want with the leg yield from the left leg, and is finding it easier which allows me to improve his form without confusing him. We started working on the leg yield from the right leg as well.
His bum was off and on dirty. I braided his tail up, hoping to keep it from getting so nasty on his dirty days.
Not every ride is exciting or holds some great leap forward. Some days I just work on better. Perfection doesn't exist in riding - even in dressage the top mark of ten means "excellent" rather than perfect. When training a horse (or any animal) you can't expect to get the desired result performed correctly the first time round. We have to shape the response we want and start with rewarding any try in the correct direction. The pitfall is to accept that partial response as correct for too long, which leads to confusing the animal when we start to ask for better responses. Better can mean a quicker response, or one with greater energy, or a more specific response - whatever it is we are looking for. Rory's leg yield work is a good example. In the beginning all I wanted was for him to cross his inside hind foot in front of the outside hind foot, but this is only part of the leg yield. He also has to cross the front foot, maintain a straight line of travel, steady rhythm, consistent stride, and relaxed contact with the bit. All of which is far too much to explain at once.
Today was a looking for better day. I looked for better transitions, steadier rhythm, a little more reach to the bit, a little softer yield to the turning rein, a few more steps of leg yield, and so on. These sorts of rides make up the bulk of training a horse and have their own little rewards for the ride when the horse gives that little bit better response.
Rory tended to fall to the inside between E and K as we came down the long side in trot. To correct this I brought him back to the walk and leg yielded back out towards the wall before picking up the trot again. Each time we came down that long side I used the leg yield aids at the trot to keep him out, and if he didn't respond I repeated the transition to walk, leg yield out, and back to trot. After a couple of repetitions he began to stay out for longer before falling to the inside, as he started responding to the leg yield aids at the trot. I wasn't leg yielding at the trot, but the same aids can be used to stop a horse from falling in.
We didn't just go around the arena to work on the falling in issue, it was just something I paid attention to each time we went through that corner. I also used circles, serpentines and changes of rein to practice getting Rory going exactly where I wanted him to go. At the end we had a little canter. Rory was a little slow in the transition, but gave me a nice canter once we got there. Afterwards I rode him around on the grass outside to cool out. He likes to get out of the arena so the walk is a little bit of a reward on it's own.
After the usual quick longe, Rory gave me a very nice ride today. We worked at the walk and the trot looking for him to take a quiet contact on the bit and follow the turning rein without resistance. I used large circles and simple changes of rein to help keep the rhythm steady and avoid challenging his balance too much. We worked a little bit on the leg yield under saddle again today, and this time I managed to catch it on video.
Today we managed a more normal ride after the quick longe. Rory was very good though he does still tend to drift away from the wall. We trotted a fair bit today too. I set up the camera to record our first attempt at a leg yield under saddle, but I discovered afterwards there wasn't enough memory on the card. I was a bit mad at myself for that, but I was happier about how well Rory responded. He managed several steps at a time of a reasonable leg yield. Of course he still doesn't understand that the sideways movement is what I really want so he's experimenting a bit with forward and backwards and moving just his hindquarters. We went down the long side a couple of times. I asked him for a few steps at a time, and after he did a couple correctly I gave him a carrot and then rode a little circle away from the wall, setting up for the next leg yield as we returned.
