May 25, 2011 - Posting to two beats



Totally comfortable with me on his back.


Today I asked Rory to canter a few times each way on the longe line.  He did leap into the canter and toss a buck in once, but most of the transitions were pretty quiet.  He still finds the arena a little small to keep his balance at the canter so I don't ask him to go all the way around a circle.  We should have been outside in the big ring (half again as wide as the arena) but it's been a very wet spring here and the dry ring days haven't been the same as my Rory riding days.

When it was time to ride I cut the mounting exercises down to just three or four times up and down before walking on.  We walked a bit to start and I went to the point to point exercise almost immediatly.  He's getting better at going straight to somewhere.  The first couple of times he trotted Rory was a little hesitant and did a short little trot step.  I asked him to trot the long side, walk the corners and short side, then trot across the diagonal, walk the next corners and short side, and then trot up the other long side.  As he trotted more times Rory went forward with a little more confidence and longer step, and went round the corner in trot.  My observer today even mentioned how he was going into a better trot each time.  He was trotting more forward, but I could feel that he was still far from a reasonable working trot.  It's exciting to think about what his gaits will be like when he develops more strength and confidence. 

No I don't have a real contact on the reins yet - yielding his jaw
and bending through his neck was part of the steering training.

When he first trotted I went into a sort of half seat to just stay out of his way while he worked out his balance.  Later I started to post the trot, and though he did turn his ears back to me Rory didn't mind.  My other horse stopped dead with a "what are you doing up there?" reaction the first time I posted his trot.  I asked Rory for a bit more forward in his trot, and to go a bit further before walking, and by the end he managed to trot about one and a half times around the arena.  After that trot I halted him and gave him some carrot and lots of pats.  Rory had swung his hindquarters way over to the right when he stopped so we did a few more walk and halt transitions as I paid attention to keeping him straight in the halt.  By the second halt he was straight without effort. 

I really didn't want to quit at the end of our fifteen minutes, but I behaved and dismounted.    I had it in my mind to ride Rory around outside for a few minutes today, but as it turned out I was enjoying the trot, and Rory was really getting better at trotting with a rider and we ran out of time.

Rory and Totyo enjoying some hand pulled grass.

May 18, 2011 Doing the two step!

Today was the fifth day I got on Rory.  There was a little wind again, but not as much as on Sunday and Rory was less concerned about going down to the far end of the arena.  He looked a couple of times, once when the sun got far enough over to light the canvas door, and the other time when the canvas bulged in the breeze.  I asked him to canter on the longe a couple of times on the right rein, and he did quite well, managing about two thirds of a circle the second time.

When it came time to mount up I shortened the pre-mounting exercises.  I only leaned over him once before swinging my leg over.  I had decided to use the stirrups today and took the spare leather that tied the irons together under his belly off before starting with the mounting routine.  Rory considered walking off the first time I mounted up, but stayed still.  The first time I picked up the off side stirrups I thought he might take the wiggling around as a go forward aid, but he waited.

Rory was a little slow in his walk again today, but went forward when I asked.  After a few turns and halts I asked him to walk forward more actively.  He was a little uncertain, but then walked with more activity.  I decided to see if he would trot and tried with a little leg and voice.  Twice he almost made it to trot, but wasn't sure I meant it so I asked my friend who was keeping an eye on us to stand in the middle with the longe whip.  With a little encouragement Rory made it to trot.  He got a little quick and I asked him to walk after a few steps.  We ended up stopping in the corner as coming back to a walk took too much concentration for him to manage to turn the corner.  The camera shut off due to low battery power just as he came to a stop in the corner after that first trot so I didn't get the other trots on video.  We walked round the arena and then tried for the trot again as we headed back towards the far end. It took a bit more encouragement to get him to trot again, but he managed it. The next time he made the transition more easily but fell back to walk after only a few steps.  I praised the transition to trot and we tried again.  We trotted four times, and the last one he was much more comfortable making the transition up with very little help from my friend.  I quit after that trot, hopped off, gave him a bunch of carrot chunks and lots of pats.

My friend said she'd be around tomorrow if I wanted to ride Rory again.  I explained that I'd love to, but he's still growing and I don't want to stress his body too much so I'm going to try and ride every third day, but no closer together than every second day for now.  By spreading the rides out, if he's a little sore or strained anywhere his body has time to recover and heal.  Mild stresses with time to recover prompt the body to build strength where it's needed.  Adding stress before the body has time to recover can increase the stress to the point of damage, and the horse can start to move incorrectly in order to protect himself.  Given a few weeks of riding for ten to fifteen minutes twice a week Rory will develop the body strength to handle more work.  We have time.  I don't need to rush things with Rory.

January 6, 2009 – Watching that trot

Had them out last night again. I went out and brought them up to the arena at dinner time. They thought they were going in for dinner until I walked right past the barn. TOF tried to turn around and go back to the barn when I was opening the arena door.

They were more energetic and needed less encouragement to run. Rory was leading the way this time.

I don't know if it's the pale fringe or what, but Rory's tail already does a nice little wave thing in rhythm with his canter. TOF's tail doesn't - or maybe it's just not showing up (black tail, bay coat). Rory's mane is split neatly and very evenly lies on both sides of his neck. It's quite a lot lighter than his body, but isn't bright red chestnut.

He's so cute. Goes tearing down the arena at top speed, and then floats back on that Rotspon trot, looking at me from that white face.

We've got a good snowfall forecast for tomorrow so hopefully the footing will be good afterwards and they can do some tearing around outside. That would be a photo opportunity!