August 3, 2011 - Not quite right but still willing

Two poles four and a half feet apart

 Today I set up two ground rails four and a half feet apart (the standard distance for trot poles) and one pole beside them.  Rory was good for longeing, but he didn't seem quite himself.  There wasn't anything really obvious, but he wasn't as happy and he kept dropping his carrot chunks, sometimes a minute after I gave it to him.  He took the carrots from me without hesitation and seemed to be chewing them.  The only other obvious sign was more saliva production than usual - to the point of dropping gobs of clear saliva when he opened his mouth.


Left lead canter

  The ride went all right and Rory quickly figured out the trot poles.  He would trot straight towards them without needing course corrections and then try to drift to one side or the other a couple of strides in front of the first pole so our path wasn't always straight over the poles.  We cantered on both leads, and over the single pole.  Rory was a good boy despite whatever was not right.


Cantering over a pole again - easy!

 I remembered a horse I knew years ago who we nicknamed Slimer because of the great gobs of saliva he always dropped on people.  It turned out that he was eating burrs and had some stickers stuck in the cheeks and gums of his mouth.  Rory had been fine when I fed him in the early morning, but he had nibbled the top off a weed that the horses normally don't touch.  I wondered if that was causing his gobbery mouth so I flushed his mouth with salt water in case there was something stuck in his cheeks or tongue. I had some trouble flushing as he swallowed the salt water several times!  The salt water seemed to help as he was back to normal by the time he got dinner in the evening.

July 28, 2011 - Ground rails

Totyo and the old guy were up in the shelter when I brought Rory out to the sand ring today.  He was looking for them a little, but still listening to me as we did the quick longe exercises.  The other two horses appeared as Rory was trotting round on the second rein and he got a little forward.  I had to bring the circle smaller to remind Rory to keep his attention on me and after that he was very good.









I mounted from his right today, doing a quick on and off to check the stand still training.  We headed off around the ring and walked three circles that were quite recognizably circles.  I had set up two ground rails nine feet apart and offset so that we could go over either pole, or both depending on the line of travel and I walked him over them before moving to trot.  Having the ground poles out showed me that Rory is still a little wobbly on his line of travel.  The first time we headed for a pole Rory was busy watching Totyo at the water trough.  He didn't hit the pole, but he realized it was there at the last moment and wobbled even more.  The next time went better.  We trotted over the other pole before trying to go over both.



Trot over two rails even if not quite straight

  Rory managed to drift off to the left just far enough to barely miss the first pole the first time, but made it over both the second.  The rhythm of his trot got a bit uneven as he tried to work out where his feet needed to be.  I've had him trot poles on the longe so it wasn't too hard once he started paying attention.  After a little canter I changed rein and asked one of my friends to push one of the poles over so they were lined up evenly.  That made our approach a bit easier as I didn't have to worry about missing poles through last moment wobbles. Rory was very relaxed as he trotted over the poles even the first times when he was trying to figure things out.


At the end of the ride I asked my friend to push one pole right over by the fence so we could try cantering over it.  Rory was great!  The pole didn't bother him at all as he tried to figure out how to handle it.  The first time he almost got over the pole in the suspension phase of the canter, but caught a hind toe on the pole and had to put it down a little earlier than he'd planned, but didn't get concerned about it.  The next time he arrived at the right place and just stretched his stride a bit to get over the pole.  When I watched the video clip I was astonished at just how far he steps under himself.

Red arrow shows just how far Rory steps up under himself

July 26, 2011 - Here comes trouble!

Today I felt like the real work was beginning.  Rory's circles were round and he maintained a nice regular trot through the figures.  His canter transitions were easier as he's understanding what I want.  Everything was going really well and I was enjoying the ride when Trouble dropped in to add a little excitement.





Here comes Trouble!

  During our first canter we were cantering along the fence at the same time as Totyo was cantering towards us on the other side.  When they met Rory turned away from the fence, put his head down and bounce bucked - not to dump me, but to express himself in play with Totyo.  Bounced a few times as I brought him to a halt and then I explained to him that he was playing with me and he needed to ignore Totyo right now.  He could play with Totyo all he wanted later.


...and closing fast on the outside is Totyo!


 Rory wasn't entirely convinced and we did some transitions and figures to remind him.  As usual it didn't take long for Rory to settle back to his cooperative self and we finished the ride.  Near the end of the ride we were trotting along the fence and Totyo came cantering up from behind on the other side.  Rory flicked his ear back to track Totyo's progress, but calmly continued trotting along even as Totyo cantered past.  I was really pleased!

The farrier came later in the afternoon and Totyo and their buddy were on the list.  I brought them both in so they'd be ready, leaving Rory all by himself.  He whinnied and paced around the gate area a little bit, but wasn't too upset.  I wanted to take some pics while waiting for farrier to arrive and went into the neighbouring paddock.  Rory kept coming over to where I was standing by the fence and getting too close for pictures.  I hid in the shelter that is shared by the two paddocks - he went round to his side, and I ducked out before he got around, and he came back to see where I'd gone.  He wasn't worrying about the other two while I was near him which should make it easier when we go away to shows.

What'cha doing over there?

July 23, 2011 - Minor distractions

At the beginning of the ride Rory had a little extra energy and tried to tell me where we were going and how fast.  I mostly ignored him and just concentrated on getting him to walk where I wanted to go.  After a halt to remind him to listen he was fine.  We trotted a bit then stopped to answer a question from the barn owner.  Afterwards we went back to trot and Rory dropped back to the walk when he got to where Totyo was standing on the other side of the fence.  I got him back into trot and Totyo jogged along just behind us to the corner.  Rory kept an eye on Totyo but trotted on round the end of the ring without slowing down.  On the left rein he tended to fall to the as we came down the long side towards the barn.  The other long side was the one against Totyo's fence and he didn't drift away from it.

We managed to canter on both leads today.  Rory was a little sticky to first get into the canter, but once he'd made the first transition the next ones were easier.  On the first left lead canter he almost broke to trot in the first corner, but I put my leg on and pushed him on and he kept the canter.  The second time he really fell to the inside as he stepped into the left canter so I turned it into a big circle before continuing down the long side (he drifted in again).  The right lead canter was very short at the end of our time, but he got it.

We did some more trot and changed reins, and at the end I discovered he responded well to the voice command "trot up!" that I use when I longe.  This will help me teach him to trot more forward off my leg and reminds me to use more vocal commands as he's learning.  In thinking about the ride later I also thought that I should avoid interuptions from other people.  Since I'm only riding for fifteen minutes, stopping for two or three minutes to talk to someone really cuts into Rory's training time.

July 18, 2011 - The mane event



Scraggly mane before tidying up.

  Rory has such a thick mane that I have to pull it on a schedule.  Normally I don't do much pulling of manes, but Rory's is so thick that I'd never be able to braid it in small hunter style yarn braids if I didn't thin it out.  Last year I shortened it all in the spring and discovered that all the hair grew back at roughly the same time and I ended up with a 2" long bush growing through the longer hairs by the end of the summer.  Fortunately I didn't have to braid his mane last year.

I decided the best way to manage this mop would be to do a partial pull on a regular basis so the hairs would be different lengths as they grew back.  I planned on pulling it an inch or so shorter every month, but somehow it ended up being six weeks the first time and I've stuck with that ever since.  It seems to be working fairly well.  If Rory's ridden work has progressed far enough we will be going to a local breed show in about six weeks and he will need to be braided.  It's been about six weeks since the last time I pulled his mane, so I brought him in to look after it today.  Rory is completely indifferent to having his mane pulled (good thing for both of us - I'd choose to do something else if he objected) and stood nicely as I worked.  At the end of the session his mane was my preferred braiding length for the first time this year.  I started the six week cycle at the end of February.  It won't take much work to get back to this length the next time it's due for pulling.  He looked pretty cute with a short mane.  The middle section still stick straight up when it doesn't have the longer hair to weight it down, but it should braid up nicely.


Afterwards somewhat less scraggly looking