June 6, 2011 - Growing up!

Rory got to go out on the grass with my other horse for a bit today.  At one point they were grazing right beside each other and I was really struck by just how big Rory's grown - he's almost as big as my other horse.

Rory in front.

June 5, 2011 - Outside ride

I decided to work with Rory outside in the sand ring today.  He was a little distracted by the sights, and pulled out on the circles, at times quite hard.  I stopped him and snapped the longeline to both the halter ring and the inside bit ring to get a little extra attention.  Afterwards Rory was much better and he cantered a few times too.  I ended up longeing a little longer than usual, so I cut my ride a bit shorter.

Rory was good.  He trotted a bit, but was a little reluctant to trot for very long.  I thought maybe the extra longeing tired him out a bit.  He did listen to my aids and went forward when asked.  I got lucky and Rory's buddies stayed in the shelter while I was riding.  The tractor was at work, but Rory was completely unconcerned as it went back and forth.

June 4, 2011 - Grass!!

Totyo and Rory

 It's been a very wet spring, but after some dry days and the strong wind the barn owner decided it was dry enough to set up the temporary grass paddock.  Rory's group got to go out for half an hour this morning.  I love pictures of horses against the green and took a bunch.

 Rory was keen to graze, but he was also curious about the new view.  He grabbed a mouthful of grass, looked around as he chewed, then went for another mouthful.

Before the vet arrived I managed to give Rory a good grooming and pull his mane.  I thought it was a bit too thin when I was finished, but a quick test braid showed it was about right.  I'm just not used to his mane being so thin.  The new washrack was almost done, and Rory got to be the first horse to use it.  I had to scrub his heel where he'd caught himself on something.  He wiggled a bit while I was getting the hose, but stood nicely while I scrubbed and rinsed.  There was also a touch of mud fever on his white heels and I scrubbed those scabs clean and put some zinc ointment on them.

June 2, 2011 - To boldly go...

We had a couple of very hot days this week and then a really windy system blew in to clear out the humidity.  Today wasn't quite as windy as yesterday, but it was still blowing very strongly today.  I wasn't sure if I'd get any decent work out of Rory, much less if I'd be able to ride, but I decided to take it one step at a time.

Looking out the door

I groomed, tacked up and went out to the arena to longe.  The big back door was open again, adding yet another distraction.  The wind was strong, but fairly steady and the arena wasn't too noisy.  Rory was a bit distracted at first, and a couple of times was so intent on looking out the big door that his feet almost followed his nose out the door.  He was listening to me well, and responded to my cues to go forward and come back in the trot.  I noticed today that Rory tracks up without any effort on his part, and when I ask him to go forward his hind foot easily lands more than two hoof lengths in front of the front hoof's print.  After ten minutes I decided that Rory was attentive enough for me to try riding.  I skipped the canter today since he had enough trouble going past the doors at trot.

A relaxed trot

I mounted from the right today and Rory was a little less steady.  He seemed eager to get on with the ridden work.  I'm glad he's comfortable enough with the mounting to be a little bored, but I took the extra time to dismount and remount to reinforce the concept that he must stand still for mounting.  Once we got going Rory was good.  Again he was a little distracted by what he could see through the big doors, but we managed to trot and turn reasonably well.  Rory was quite calm and I dared to take him outside.

And out we go into the wide world

We went out the big back door then stopped and Rory had a look around.  I didn't rush him and he wasn't nervous, just wanted to look at everything.  When he was ready we walked along to the corner and stopped for a look at the new sights that had been hidden by the arena.  The horses in the ring looked at him and I waited until they'd come as close as they wanted to and lost interest in Rory.  I didn't want to risk them watching him walk halfway along the arena and then running over to see him - I thought that might be a bit much to ask Rory to accept on his first day outside.  We walked down the side of the arena, halted again, then went into the arena again through the other big door.  Rory wanted to trot as if he intended to go straight through and out the back door again, but I just had him do a half circle and come back out again.  We walked back to the barn and Rory was very relaxed and comfortable.  He did tend to drift towards my friend (who took photos and kept an eye on us today) when she was ahead of him, but responded easily to my corrections.  I was really proud of him and how good he was on his first walk outside.

Looking around with interest

Then off we go...

... back to the barn.

May 28, 2011 - A very little attitude

Today's ride was significantly less succesful in some ways. Good in others.  The longeing went all right.  He did get distracted a few times by the activity outside the arena.  One of the other boarders returned from a hack, another was hand grazing, and the BO's son had a couple of friends over.  Rory put his head down, shook it and bounced a couple of times, but I sent him forward and he settled quickly.  I had put a plank down for him to trot over and he had a little trouble with it because it wasn't up against the wall where I usually put poles.  I ended up pushing it over to the wall.

I did some mounting practice on his right side to start.  From a training point of view it's good to work all exercises from both sides of the horse so he is comfortable with activity on both sides, but also it's better for the horse if we regularly mount from both sides.  Years ago I read that always mounting from the left pulls the horse's spine and withers out of alignment.  Switching back and forth helps to keep the horse more comfortable, as does mounting from a block.  I started alternating sides when mounting and don't feel quite so uncoordinated on the right any more - at least not when I mount from a block.

When I first got him to trot Rory put his head down and shook it back and forth and humped his back.  I brought him back to walk and continued. Another time he went forward, and faster and faster so I again brought him back to walk. Then he didn't want to trot and only managed very short jogs.  One time he got his back up and head down and I did a very small serpentine to defuse him. It was too many different aids too close together and he got worried and even more uptight so I quickly abandoned the serpentine and asked for a halt instead. In fairness there were a lot of distractions today and he did do what I asked.  We had a number of halts for him to look and think which left less time for riding exercises. The little shots of attitude were probably also a good thing because he still had to do what I wanted.   I was disappointed that we didn't get to build on his good trot work from our last ride, but a ride like that does serve as a reminder that he is just a baby and has a lot to learn.

I always have a good think after a not-so-good ride to try and figure out what went wrong and what I could have done differently, and then I make a plan for the next ride from there. It's just part of my MO. With Rory it's important to do because he is just learning, and I'm riding for such a very short period of time. His little attitude moments made me laugh more than anything else.  I could think of half a dozen things that I could have done better, and a couple of things that I might have been doing unconciously that I shouldn't have been doing.  But now I really want to get back on him and fix my mistakes. And I've got to wait until Tuesday at the earliest!!!