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.

March 8, 2011 - Another photo op

The weather was just right last night to settle the moisture in the air on everything in sight.  The sun coming up over the frosted landscape inspired me to take more pictures.

March 1, 2011 - Suckered by that cute face

I hadn't planned to do anything with Rory today.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I wandered around taking some photos.  Rory always has an eye on whatever is going on around the property, and I was no exception.  The fact that I often have carrots in my pocket doesn't have anything to do with his attention I'm sure.  I was back by the barn, about ready to head off home when Rory spotted me and wandered down to the paddock gate.  It was such a nice picture I couldn't resist taking it.

Rory stood there and looked at me as I took the picture.  And stayed there as I told him to go back to his hay, or chase Totyo around.  He's got such a cute face that I just gave in, went and got his halter and brought him in for a grooming session.  And carrots of course.  Suckered again!

February 24, 2011 - A cautious bravery

Last week I longed Rory a bit without messing with the rope side reins.  Rory was his usual pretty good self.  I had set the camera up to take photos, but somehow the exposure got set wrong and everything was a blur of white.  I tired to take photos again today, but the angle was wrong and I got a load of pics of Rory's legs.  Oh well, at least with digital it doesn't cost anything to find out the pics failed.

Today I didn't bother with the saddle.  I took Rory out to the arena and let him run for a few minutes.  We haven't had a great winter this year - too many warm days and not enough snow has made for poor footing outside.  The boys don't run as much when it's icy so Rory is happy to get the chance to stretch his legs inside.

After his run we had a quick longe refresher, and then I started with bit pressure again.  Today I snapped a lead rope to the bit on the left side and applied a little pressure out and back - a leading rein aid. When Rory turned his head, even a little bit I dropped the pressure and gave him a bit of carrot and a rub on his neck.  He was listening to the noises outside the arena again, but they weren't as distracting as the last time we tried this exercise.  As Rory got quicker and turning in response to the bit pressure I asked him to turn a little further before releasing and rewarding.  A couple of times he moved his feet instead of his head, but I just walked with him as he swung his body around and waited until I got the response I wanted.  He was definitely getting the idea today.

Food!

The weather was fairly warm, and we hadn't spent much time in the arena so I decided to walk Rory back to the barn by the long way around.  At the beginning of the week we'd gotten a giant square bale of hay to feed to a few of the outside horses.  The bale was sitting outside the paddock, covered by a bright blue tarp, which was naturally flapping in the breeze.  When we walked around the end of the arena Rory jumped, and then stopped and stared at the monster suspiciously.  He's curious, and brave enough - if cautious about new things.  I didn't have to encourage him too much to walk over to the monster.  The last few steps were a little harder for him to take, but once he realized there was food involved he just about stuck his head underneath the end of the tarp to reach the hay.  To complete the tour of interesting objects we visited the Christmas horse before going back to the barn.

Christmas horse and Rory nose to nose

February 11, 2011 - Introducing side reins

Clips from today's video

I still haven't gotten around to digging out my side reins and taking them out to the barn, but I did feel it was time to introduce the concept to Rory so I used a matched pair of lead ropes today.  They were quite long and I clipped them to his halter.  In his one bouncing fit of the day he barely hit the end of the ropes when he flung his head right up.  Rory was pretty good for the most part today, but he was just distracted enough that whoa was not getting through to him.  I actually had to use the walls a couple of times to stop him.  Rory wasn't running or anything, he just kept walking when I asked him to whoa.  I don't like to ask for something too many times without getting a response as that is training the non-response.  Overall it was a good basic session today.  Rory was very good standing on the crossties for the grooming and tacking up.  He does tend to want to stick his nose on everything in sight when I take the cross ties off so I can put the bridle on.