June 1, 2009 – Joining the big herd

On Saturday I attempted to introduce him to ponying off my QH. My QH wasn't keen on the idea at all and made faces and sidled away from Rory. Rory just stood very still watching the big horse's antics with wide eyes, not daring to move. I gave up and put Rory back out, then took my QH for a refresher ride, after which I borrowed someone else's horse to pony for a few minutes. I think he's just feeling old and grumpy and doesn't want to deal with ill-mannered little babies bumping him. It has been nine years since he had to allow the brat to pony along. Too bad for him ponying babies is one of his jobs.

Later on the turnout groups got shuffled and Rory and TOW went out in the front field (the brat's herd, though he's still on solo turnout). Naturally it was the biggest horse (17.3? 18?) who went over to see them. The almost yearlings saw him coming and ran. They have talked to him through the fence before, but it's a little different when there's no fence in the way. In the end Rory's mum ended up in a different field. Rory whinnied when he saw her go and ran up to the gate. Then he turned around and went a few steps away before turning back to the gate and cantered. He dropped his head and sized it up... and decided not to jump.

The almost yearlings are stuck together, at times with TOW's mum but mostly on their own. They move when any other horse looks at them, and go and find an unoccupied haybale. I did see them sharing a bale with the two year old and a three year old. There's some grass to nibble and space for them to run.

May 25, 2009 – Polishing

I decided that I want to tidy up Rory's shaggy mane so I took him out yesterday and braided his mane over to one side (I picked the right side) as a first step. It's not braided all the way down, just a few crossings then an elastic to hold it all on one side with the rest left loose. He was pretty good about it and I let him nibble on the grass while I started at his withers. He did have an "OMG what is that!" moment when he spotted the neighbour tossing mulch around. We went over to see that he was harmless and chat for a minute. Then I took him back by his paddock and tied him so I could do the last few braids up behind his ears.

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and I scritched him and examined his summer coat peeping through the holes in his coat, and looked at his chest and his ears. There are a lot of darker red highlights gleaming in the sun now. He looks like he might be bright chestnut again. I did get a couple of pictures. Many of the pictures seem to be Rory walking towards me because he wants to see what I'm up to. I enticed him out of the shelter yesterday by turning my back on him and combing TOW's mane and tail. TOW enjoyed it and actually stood without trying to nibble on me or my stuff. I did look at Rory's tail, but he's got the same spiral hairs as his half sister so I didn't bother combing it out. His tail hairs are a mix of bright red chestnut and dark brown apart from the pale bits of baby hair.

May 19, 2009 – The swan emerging

I took Rory out to the arena for a little schooling on Sunday. He was very good and we only had one Rory meet wall event during the trot in hand practice (I've got to RUN to keep up with him though). We walked over poles and around objects. I got him to walk around the mounting block alone and come back to me. It's coming. Before I took him back to his field two people brought their mares into the arena. We went to say hello to one of them who promptly told Rory where to go - and he did the baby mouthing thing! So I guess it's just geldings that he doesn't worry about.

I had to put his leather halter's chin strap out to the last hole. He's almost outgrown it. I'll have to start using the one he wears at night.

I wanted to take photos yesterday but ran out of time after I'd looked after brat's stuff. Rory's shedding in patches and looks motheaten with his sleek summer coat peeping through the gaps in his winter shag. His head is almost clean - just a bit of fuzz left on his cheeks. He's cute in a scruffy-bum kind of way.

April 30, 2009 – A little full of himself

It's a definite - Rory's losing his warts!

He's lost quite a bit more hair in the last few days too. I still can't really tell what his colour is going to be like. There's some graduation in shade up his face and up his legs - darker over his eyes and at his hocks and knees. The rest of him is too fuzzy still to see more. TOW has shed out much more than Rory has at this point. I was getting a little concerned, but Rory's coat is starting to really go now.

We went for a little work in the arena last night. Rory wasn't quite as good as the last time we were out, but he was not bad - more distracted. We did manage a respectable in-hand trot for almost the full length of the arena, but only one. He was a little pushy too, trying to bull past me several times. We hopped a few tiny jumps and he had his first knockdown when he forgot about his hind legs at one. But he was willing to hop over it again when I put it back up. He hopped over the flowers filler too.

Another horse came in and answered when Rory whinnied so we went to say hello. Rory did not once do the baby mouthing thing. He's a little full of himself. We made it back to the paddock without incident and I let him go with a scritch.

April 27, 2009 – Remember who I am

I was busy helping prep and video Rory's half sister yesterday so I didn't get him out for his Sunday walk. I did go and visit him for scritchies and carrots. His mum and TOW came over too. I scritched all of them and after a bit TOW started horsing around with Rory. I was standing by mum watching when TOW got his teeth into Rory's bum as he was turning around. Rory snaked his head out and bit my wrist (evidently not paying attention to who he was biting, but just reacting to TOW's teeth). I saw him coming and got my arm mostly out of the way so I just felt his top teeth as he caught my sweater sleeve. Unintentional or not, that is forbidden behaviour so I reprimanded him. He scooted away, as did TOW, then turned around and sort of came back, stopping about six feet away. I kept an eye on him and let him calm down for a minute, then went and scritched him again.

I am sure Rory's warts are getting smaller and/or falling off at last. He's really starting to shed out and some short summer hairs are showing on his face around his nose and eyes. So far they are still quite light so he may not go that charcoal brown he was last fall. We've got extremely warm weather forecast for several days this week - I'll have to take the curry to him and see what develops.