April 2-3, 2011 - Back inside for now

I took Rory out for a bit of work today.  I tacked him up and we went into the arena.  Totyo was calling for his buddy, but he was standing still while he did so.  Totyo seems to be fine after his misadventure on Thursday.  One leg swelled up a bit, but he seems sound and the swelling was smaller by the end of the weekend.

I ran through a quick check of the longeing commands on a fairly short line first, then hooked up the side reins.  I had set my camera up to record the session, but the batteries died just as I was snapping the side reins onto Rory's bit.  I was disappointed about that because Rory really lifted his back and arched his neck and carried the saddle for a few steps several times.  I worked specifically on his halts today as he kept swinging his bum out and facing me as soon as his front feet stopped moving.  The left rein is still worse than the right, but both improved with a little reminding.  I shortened the line and went out to him quickly as soon as he halted.  If he swung his bum I put it back, patted him and then asked him to walk on again.  When he stayed straight I gave him a bit of carrot and a pat.

After the longeing I snapped the leadrope to the left bit ring and reminded him about steering.  He was really good.  I changed the lead to the right bit ring and we started on that side.  There was a bit of resistance at first, but then he'd resisted when I first started on the left side too.  I got a couple of good responses from him at the end and stopped there.  I'd say he was just as good turning to the right off the bit pressure as he'd been the first time I worked on the left.

The weather was beautiful this weekend.  We had lots of sun, and warmer temperatures (compared to the last couple of weeks) with no precipitation in the forecast until late Sunday night.  It was windy, but not too cold and I decided to let Rory go without his blanket for the weekend.  On Sunday afternoon I brought him in and gave him a good grooming before putting his blanket back on.

Spring sun at last!

I forgot one little event that happened on Thursday before all the excitement.  Rory was lying down when I went out to get him.  He looked at me but didn't get up.  I perched on his back, sort of sitting on him but bearing most of my weight on my legs, and leaned over his neck so he could see me above and behind him.  It didn't bother him a bit and I rubbed his neck and talked to him.  He was lying down again on Friday and I hoped to repeat the exercise, but got up when he saw me come into the paddock.  It was a non-event, but kind of exciting for me anyway.

March 31, 2011 - The great outdoors

Spring is coming, finally.  The frost is coming out of the ground and there is enough thawed sand over the still frozen layer to provide some give in the outdoor sand ring.  I rode my other horse in the ring first, then I decided to take Rory out for a very basic longeing session.  I wasn't expecting him to be anywhere near as good as he usually is because there were so many distractions and things to look at.  Add to that the fact that his paddock shares a fence with the sand ring and Totyo would be hanging over the fence whinnying and I really didn't expect much.  I was hoping for a very basic "even with distractions you still need to listen to me" lesson.

It started off well.  Rory walked out on the circle (small) when I asked.  He was gawking around at anything he could see outside of the ring, but he listened when I asked for a halt.  The halt wasn't terribly stable, but I really wasn't expecting much. Another circle and halt and then we changed direction.  This time he stood still while I settled the longeline he stood still and just looked around.  On the right rein he looked around and then checked out the sand.  His nose was so low I thought he was considering having a roll, but I kept him moving.  Rory was doing well, so I dared to ask for trot.

The first trot lasted about a third of the circle before he broke into a canter and leaped into the air, bouncing towards his paddock.  I let some of the line slip out, and brought him back on the circle.  It took another circle or two to bring him to a halt so I could reorganize.  Although Rory jogged a bit, he was pretty good on the circles and ovals for a few rounds before he leaped into the air and bounced away across the ring.  I didn't let him have as much line this time and got him back on the circle fairly easily.  The whole time, Totyo was trotting up and down the fence, occasionally going for a canter.  The garbage truck stopping to pick up at the end of the driveway sparked a bounce and some very suspicious looks.

Rory was pretty well behaved for a bit again.  He had a few head shakes and transitions to trot when Totyo ran by, and he was still gawking around.  Totyo started whinnying and cantering back and forth just before I changed direction again, and Rory tried to bolt as soon as I let him move off on the new rein.  I stopped him quickly and did a bit of yielding to get his attention off Totyo.  The next two circle attempts weren't any better.  The next time Rory managed to walk a whole circle before he reared and leaped into the air.  He did three or four leaps sideways and a bit backwards until he got close to the corner of the ring where I managed to stop him.  Totyo was still running and Rory reared once when I wouldn't let him bolt. 

Then Totyo misjudged his turn, lost his footing and slid into the paddock gate.  He thrashed, banged and I could see his feet had gone between the bars of the gate.  Oh no!  What do I do now? I had my hands full keeping Rory calm (or at least in one place) while his buddy panicked.  It felt like forever before Totyo finally got the gate off it's hinges and was free of it, but it was really less than a minute.  Now I had a new problem.  Both Totyo and their older buddy were standing in the corner of the paddock near the gap where the gate had been.  I didn't know how much of a mess the gate was, and was trying to figure out how to get that gap blocked before anyone escaped.  I couldn't let Rory go as the sand ring currently doesn't have a gate, and I didn't want to take him back to the barn because that would lead Totyo down to the missing gate.    Fortunately Totyo ran down inside the fence to get closer to us, and their older buddy just stood and watched.  I ended up stuffing Rory into the arena while I went and tied the gate up before anyone escaped.

I had to get help to get the gate back onto the hinges, then I retrieved Rory (who'd worked himself into a sweat) and took him into the barn.  I brought Totyo in as well to make sure he hadn't hurt himself too badly.  I discovered that I'd had the gate on the wrong side of the post and it now opened out instead of in (we fixed that later).  Totyo had a bit of missing skin, and a bruised leg - nothing serious - but I'll bet he's stiff tomorrow.  After Rory cooled off I put them both back out.

All things considered Rory handled everything fairly well, even if we did have rather more exciting distractions than I'd expected.

March 28, 2011 - Busy barn

I didn't do much with Rory today.  I brought him into the barn for a quick grooming session.  The barn was busy and we had to use a different set of crossties that Rory hasn't been on before.  He was very good with all the activity of people taking hay and feed to the stalls, and dragging the water hose around, and tack into the tackroom.  I went into the tack room for a minute and he started swinging his bum towards the mare on the next set of ties (they're at right angles to each other).  I was just about to open the door and tell him to be careful the mare didn't bite his bum when she lunged at him.  Rory was out of her reach, but he got the message and straightened up quickly.  I was quite pleased with how calm he was with all of the activity around him.

March 23, 2011 Side reins and steering

Rory started off fairly well today, then decided that he didn't want to walk, or halt, or actually stand still once I managed to get a halt.  He was a little distracted, and I think a little full of energy as the footing outside is varying between frozen ruts and greasy mud on a daily basis.  He didn't even offer to buck once today.  After about five minutes he was listening reasonably well and I halted him and snapped the side reins onto his bit.  They were really long so he'd have to reach out to find the limitation - and find it he did.  Even though he had to stretch his neck to get to the limit of the reins, Rory chomped and pulled for a few circles before realizing that he could just relax and the reins wouldn't be pulling on his mouth.  I allowed him to trot for several circles without any transitions while he figured that out.  We did a few transitions and then changed directions.  Rory did get a bit distracted again when he heard someone walking outside the arena, but he continued to trot around me and did come back to walk when I asked.

After the longeing I snapped my lead rope to the left bit ring and introduced the idea of steering.  I had Rory walk forward while I walked beside him just in front of his hip, and then I put a little pressure on the bit.  At first he pulled back, but almost immediately he turned his head.  His front feet tended to stop after three or four steps while his hind feet kept going until he was facing me.  I gave him a carrot and a pat for that.  When he got good at turning towards the bit pressure I started releasing the pressure after he'd started the turn and asking him to keep walking forward.  This confused him a little bit the first time, but within four or five times he was continuing to walk in the new direction as he realized that was what I wanted.  I was quick to stop him and give him a carrot after he'd taken a few more walk steps so he would still get his reward.  It still amazes me just how fast Rory will pick up on something new when I get the carrots involved.

Time flies and I forget just how big Rory has grown until I see a picture of me standing beside him.  It seems like only last year he was a tiny little fellow, and yet I expect to be getting on his back in another six weeks or so.

March 17, 2011 - The good, the bad and the ugly



Spring must be coming - everything's turning to mud

I took Rory out for another longe session with side reins tonight.  Once again it was later in the day than usual and there was a fair amount of activity outside the arena to distract him.  When we first went into the arena his older paddock buddy was already there walking with his owner.  Totyo's whinnies got their buddy a little up, and his owner took him back to the barn.  That's the first time Rory's had to watch another horse leave while he was working.  Naturally he was a bit distracted and whinnied a couple of times, but he still walked and trotted when I asked.  I had set up four trot poles on one side of the arena and made sure we didn't start over them until after refreshing the longe commands.  Rory bolted, or tried to, several times tonight, once managing to pull the longeline right out of my hand.  He only bucked once, and walked out of a couple of halts without being asked.  But Rory did give me some very good work tonight as well.  He walked and trotted over the poles, and stayed in a steady trot as I jogged with him along the long sides of the oval.
The barn was busier than usual as well, but Rory stood still on the cross ties while I untacked him, put things away, and got his blanket.  It's frustrating when the youngsters get distracted and seem to forget all they've learned, but it's just as important that they learn to deal with distractions.  I just have to keep that in mind.