August 27, 2011 - Test run

Rory was a little bouncy on the longe today.  He actually bucked a few times until I realized that the dressage whip I'd tucked up under the left saddle flap was tickling his flank.  I pulled it out and Rory settled to his usual cooperative self.

Walked and trotted around the sand ring for a few minutes.  Rory was pretty good and had a nice forward walk and a rhythmical trot.  His head carriage was a little erratic and he experimented with different responses to the rein aids.  He's giving me some really nice moments of relaxation and a balanced self carriage.  I asked another boarder to video a practice dressage test for me.

In the arena we trotted around and did a circle or two before going into the test.  Rory had trouble with the turn onto the centreline, overshooting by a good bit the first time.  The first time through I was too quick to correct Rory's wobbles and he got a little tense as he wasn't sure what I wanted him to do.  We got through it, but it wasn't pretty.  I realized I was trying too hard and the next time through I focused more on keeping Rory trotting forward in a consistent rhythm.  The test pattern went much better this time.

We went for a walk around the grass field to cool out.

August 24, 2011 - Testing the tune-up

Last night the BO picked up an outdoor wood furnace and left it in the yard.  Rory was very concerned about the foreign object and slid over behind me, then peeked out at it and moved his head up and down to try and get a better look at it without going any closer.  I led him over one step at a time, and eventually we got right up to it and he sniffed it and touched it on all four sides.  He was still suspicious and kept a wary eye on it as we went into the barn.

While I groomed and tacked up, he was a little more interested in getting carrots than usual today.  I reminded him that he doesn't get carrots every time I go past his nose.  I groomed him and tacked up and we went out to the arena to pick up the longe whip.  I thought Rory might be concerned about the jump fillers that had been used for serpentine markers, but he really didn't do more than glance at them as he went past the first time.

I longed each way for a couple of minutes just w/t, then hopped on.  I used the big 3 step mounting block in the corner of the ring today - first time and Rory was just fine about getting into position next to it.  We did walk/trot for a bit with circles, serpentines and changes of rein.  Then I asked him for canter.  we got the wrong lead the first two times, then got it right every time afterwards.  The transitions were quite easy and smooth and he had no trouble with the left lead at all.  We went all the way around the ring on each lead.

I dismounted, opened the gate, remounted and went for a tour around the property.  When we got back to the ring I asked him to walk across the mud edge of the puddle we'd gone through on Monday.  He didn't want to but did cross the mud.  I worked him over to the water and he balked.  He stepped sideways.  He swung his bum sideways.  He backed up.  He dug his toes in.  And with some patience and persistence (and carrots when he stepped forward) he eventually rushed across at the narrowest point.  We went across a few more times with progressively less thinking each time.  The last time he walked across and then broke into a trot on the other side.

The wood furnace was still rather suspicious looking.  I untacked him, gave him a quick brush, fed him a snack and then took him out to graze for a few minutes before he went back to his paddock.  He was a good boy today.  No pics or video today as my camera batteries needed to be charged.

August 22, 2011 - The bottomless puddle

 I rode inside today, because the sand ring was soup after the rain.  We had a quick walk/trot on the longe.   Rory was a little distracted by the wind rattles and looked out the doors but was very good.
I mounted up and walked him round a bit.  I felt the saddle was a bit far forward and his elbows were thumping over the girth.  I rode the figures from his dressage test and ran through the whole test once.  He was good.  We won't be setting any high score records, but since I just want Rory to get the show experience I'm not concerned about marks.  We just walked and trotted today so I don't know if the chiropractic adjustment fixed his canter problems.

"But I'll get my feet wet..." Rory checking the puddle.

 I'd set the camera on the big mounting block just outside the big front door and as he approached it on the left rein he often gave it the hairy eyeball.  I figured out it was the blinding whiteness of the white paint in the bright sunlight - when the clouds covered the sun he was okay.

We finished the day's ride on the grass, and practiced point to point riding in straight lines.  He wobbled at first but got much better. 


and over he goes

 After I dismounted I spent a while working to get him to go through the puddle outside the ring.  He was determined not to get his feet wet and I was determined he was, soaking my boots in the process.  Rory really didn't want to walk through the puddle, but eventually he rushed across.  We went round and through a couple more times, then I turned him once he had his feet in the water and walked along the puddle.  Rory tried to get out to one side and then the other, but he followed me along.  By the end he was walking through the puddle, then picking up a trot on the other side and my feet and boots were soaked through.

August 20, 2011 - A visit from the vet



Sparkly clean socks!

 I found Rory's flymask on the ground with the long nose partially torn off.  It wasn't outside the shelter where I usually find it.  Rory's face was covered in flies when he came to me so I cut the long nose off and both ears (so Totyo couldn't use them as teeth holds to pull the mask off).  He stood nicely while the vet poked around his neck to get the blood sample, and drew his markings on the papers.  I asked about the flu vaccination and we gave him the first one today.  If I wait until I know he's going to the Royal Winter Fair it will be too late for the vaccinations to do him any good.

I had talked to the vet on Monday about Rory's excess liquid in his bowels, and we had discussed some possible causes.  I washed his legs yesterday so she could see how bad it was, but much to my surprise there were only a few little drops on his fetlocks today.  The only thing that has changed this week is his feed.  We found out last Saturday the three year olds feed will be unavailable until late September due to quality issues and had to do a very quick assessment and feed change because we were almost out of the old feed.  There must have been something in the old feed that changed this year that was causing Rory's problem.

August 19, 2011 - What happened in the "sit"

Feeling good!

  We went out to the grass field for today's session.  Started with the usual longe session and Rory had a little bouncing episode, but settled into the work routine very quickly.

The new bridle was of no concern.

  I took him over to the sand ring to use the mounting block, then returned to the grass.  He was quite good today and gave me some very nice moments of balanced and rounded trot.  At times he got a bit sticky about steering, but the grass field gives me a little extra incentive to convince him to respond as it has some dips and rough patches that I'd prefer to avoid.  We cantered a bit and he did get the left lead and kept it all the way round.  The left lead was tough to get and we had several false starts.

 The chiropractor was out in the afternoon.  It turns out that Rory had knocked his hip out of alignment when he sat down on the longe last week.  I'm hoping that's the cause of his sudden difficulty with the left lead canter.