THIS is 17?

As we know, Goose turned 17 in March. I've had so many ups and downs with this horse over the years from a mental and physical standpoint, but somewhere along the way things clicked into place and he's become a really fantastic, trustworthy dude and an absolute delight to ride. He's not everyone's cup of tea, though truly doesn't everyone love to ride a slow-motion freight train who weaponizes his massive shoulder? 

Buckle up, let's dive in for a full look at 17-year-old Goose. 

Goose came out of the winter looking fantastic weight-wise. Let's revisit this picture from late March when I threw him on long lines. We'd had a lot of rain so not a ton of opportunity to ride yet, but I was so pleased he was not a total hippo. He was fairly under-muscled but I was neither surprised nor concerned considering he was basically a feral yak all winter. 

As I always do, I checked in with Kendra, my PA/NJ trainer/friend of KClarke Equine. She knows Goose extremely well and was pleased with his weight but suggested adding some soybean meal to his diet to aid in muscle building. I picked some up and added in a ton of hill work to his workout regime. We don't have huge hills, but we do have some rolling small ones that are fabulous to flat on. 

Pretty much every ride this spring has started with 10-15 minutes of walking. We start with one big lap around the field on the buckle, then I start picking up my reins, changing directions, up and down hills, and more recently, adding in leg yields (I use this term loosely - general laterals would be more accurate) along with very basic haunches in and shoulder in. I'm not striving for perfection, just want to get the shoulder and hind end moving independently on this freight train before we set off at the trot then canter. Typically we work for 30-45 minutes with about half of that time spent walking. 

When we pick up the trot, he's felt forward and happy, not shuffley and slow which is amazing for this horse. I've spent nearly NINE YEARS getting on and having to push him out of the draft shuffle. This winter and spring he's felt fabulous, and while most of you wouldn't consider his starting trot "forward", I promise you it is for this horse and I love it. I've been trying to pinpoint what's changed, and I think there are a few things: 

1. I'm riding better. I spent 2020 really working on my diet and exercise and have lost a lot of weight and gained a lot of fitness. I'm a long way from where I want to be, but I feel more athletic and able to help him, not hinder him. 
2. See point 1, and I raise you that I've lost a lot of fear that I'd developed the past few years. I think as a bigger person I really was terrified of falling off, of hurting him, the list goes on. A literal and figurative weight has been lifted and I'm actively riding, not just reacting and clutching. 
3. Dare I say he's finally grown up? Don't get me wrong, the past five or so years this horse has been a Good Boy. But he has his triggers and eccentricities and a lot of those have settled recently and he's become even more fun. 

Another great thing about this year is that I've been able to take him off property to trail ride, and there is nothing better for his fitness that doing a few miles on trail where he's happy and naturally forward. We went again last Sunday, and though we had to keep it to a walk that day, he felt forward and swingy the entire five miles we were out. 

Don't ever tell me we're too old for a Saddle Club style photo

Wearing our Sparkle Bitch bonnet because obviously it's always a good reminder

After Sunday, it rained Monday and Tuesday so last night I grabbed the chance to head out to the farm for a ride. The ground was perfect after the rain - it's been so dry here the past six weeks and our clay turns into concrete. Though I don't love to jump him after two days off, I wanted to use the opportunity to ride on good ground and catch a few jumps. Bonus: a few barn friends were there and staying on the ground that night so I had my own personal videographers! 

I warmed him up as usual, just with a condensed version. When I'm planning to jump, I don't warm up quite as slowly or flat as much since he runs out of steam pretty quickly. I gave him about five minutes to walk on a loose rein, picked him up, went into a few laterals and made sure we could move all the parts with a few shoulder ins/haunches in and off we went at the trot. After we trotted a few minutes I asked my friend to start videoing. 

While not super impressive, I'm happy with it. He's not fully in the contact but we're getting there. He gets a little evasive at times and leans or pulls the reins out of my hands but as a warmup it was fine. In these video stills you can see his more evasive moments, but he recovered fairly quickly and I tried not to make a big deal out of it which helps us both just move on and get it together. 

Bracing but not fully a giraffe. This is a normal warmup dance for us, up and down until we relax down more and get to work 

In the screenshots from the video, I notice a few things. In the first two you can see him twisting his shoulder to the inside and bracing against my hand and leg with his head and neck. This is the WORST feeling and he does it a lot. It's his way of whining, "I don't wannaaaaa" like the child he still is. What I like about these stills is that they validate what I'm feeling in my hand, and I'm happy with the way I was reacting - aka not reacting. I'm actually not super pulling on his face, I just have really long reins which I try hard to address but that's not the point. I'm holding contact without reacting, something which is really hard for me. He historically likes to pick fights, and frankly I enable that by giving in and fighting with him. He's a hard headed dude and softness is not always the answer with him, but I love that sometimes it can be these days. The other thing that you may not notice in the videos but that I feel is that he really is reacting to my leg. Again, not on the level of a "normal" horse, but for Goose this is huge. 

In that last photo we're about to turn and go uphill. At this point, I'm putting my leg on and asking him to keep forward, and I love how his hind leg is starting to reach a little more and he's way more in the contact, and correctly bent. While I feel like his hind end is a little to the inside here, that's something I can work on but the bottom photo is a vast improvement from the above two. 

Next we move on to his left lead canter. The first photo below is a still from his first canter stride.  

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THAT INSIDE LEG REACH?! 

Oh I'm sorry Spanish riding school, Goose is booked out this year. Try again next.

GOOD. BOY. 

Goose's canter has felt truly fantastic lately, and oh my goodness do the above stills really back up what I've been feeling. Much like his trot, his canter has often felt super shuffley and it's hard to get him into a really forward, balanced canter. That being said, his canter is 100% his best gait and when you get him there he has always been lovely. 

In the first still, this was the moment he stepped into canter. I mean, can we talk about that hind leg?! Yes, he's bracing and his neck and head are stiff and up. This is pretty standard for him in a trot-canter transition, and something we are always striving to improve with fitness and balance and time. For his current fitness level I don't hate it because guess what? When I asked him to canter, he did. So basic but for us that is a huge win. 

In the second photo, I'm extremely pleased with how his wither is coming up in that canter stride. He's still bracing a bit, please note we're also going uphill in these photos even though it doesn't look like it, but he's got a fantastic jump in his canter and I love feeling that wither come up and his hind end step underneath. There is room for improvement with both of us, but I'm really pleased. The last photo I think he looks lovely. I'd like to see him braced a little less and more through his back, but again for his level of fitness this is totally appropriate and I love seeing the photos because I can see what I'm already feeling we need to work on. 

Changing directions, here's the next video. 

We cantered before we changed directions, and his trot always improves after we canter. Let's analyze. 

Note in both photos we're going downhill. Goose is naturally built uphill, but still can feel a bit down in the dumps at times. He actually felt pretty great in this direction and right is typically his favorite way of going, so makes sense this was an improvement over going left. In the top photo I love his listening ears and forward motion. He's tracking up great and reaching forward through his shoulder which is not always easy to achieve. In the lower photo, too, he's reaching under himself with his hind leg and forward with that shoulder. Next steps are to get his back up a bit more at the trot but this is such a fabulous place to start! 

And then we canter. 

In the top photo, while it's a weird angle I love how he's lifting up through his wither. This is the moment I turned left to counter canter, which has helped us so much lately. Leg on, outside rein and leg to turn left, and he jumped up instead of falling forward. Super pleased with this. 

The next two photos were taken one after the other, and I have to apologize for the light pole in the second photo but LOOK AT THAT LEAPING CANTER. He was lovely and together, already lifting through his wither and then as I turn right to go uphill I put leg on and look how he responded! I'm absolutely delighted with how he's using his hind end here, didn't come too far over the bit, and did indeed go forward uphill. The last canter photo I'm just tickled at his inside hind. He's a long backed horse with a weak hind end and these pictures are proof that everything I've been doing with hills to strengthen him this spring is working. 

We did some jumps too at the end, and he was wonderful. I couldn't pick a distance to save my life but everything was small and he saves my butt every time. I'll get more jumping videos next time (I have some but for sake of length I'm leaving them off this post) but here's a video still for fun. He was forward and felt strong, not pulling on me just strong in his body. For the first time in a long time I thought that we can totally put a few jumps up a bit higher this summer and do more, and it's just so exciting to feel that way again. 

Homework: 

• Shorten my dang reins
• Sit up taller, shoulders back 
• Work on lifting his back more at trot and canter
• Shoulder in, haunches in, more counter canter
• Add in poles at walk, trot, and canter
• Transitions within the gaits, more collection and extension
• Keep up with those hills for the booty work! 

It's taken a lot of willpower to not tear apart my own riding in these videos, and I can't post this blog without at least saying something about it. Comparing these photos last night to videos and photos of me riding in years past, there is a huge difference in my balance but mostly in my horse, which means I'm riding more effectively. I have always struggled with rein length on this horse, he needs hand-holding contact and my happy place is with lap-hands. When I shorten them, I need to balance differently, but that's something I want and need to work on. I think that will be the ticket too with helping him lift his back a little more. I sometimes feel like my leg slides back but for the most part I think it's really underneath me, keeping in mind these are jumping-length stirrups for me and typically I ride one hole longer to flat. I do need to sit taller. I'd like to spend some more flat rides with longer stirrups - I miss having a dressage saddle but I can totally make due with my jump. 

For 17 years young, I'm so, so pleased with this horse. We're coming up on nine years together in July and I can't believe it. Looking forward to a summer of adventures and hopefully more media! I'd love to get a Pivo, but we ride in the fields that our horses live in so I just don't think it would focus enough on me with other beasties walking around within shot. But that's what barn friends are for, right? We all agreed last night that we need more videos!