By Sonja McDanel
This article received an honorable mention in the 2023 GMO Newsletter Award for a first person experience article for GMOs with less than 75 members. It originally appeared in Direct Rein, the newsletter for the Columbia Dressage and Combined Training Association, March 2023.
If you have been fortunate enough to have an old horse, you have been fortunate indeed. Here is a story about my old man. Grandlee Thunder Rolls is his formal name but of course we call him Thunder. If you are a Garth Brooks fan, you can already guess the age of my boy. Thunder is officially 32 but when they are very young or very old, months start to count, in which case he will be 32 in June. Thunder is a gelding that was raised on my Mom’s farm. He is out of my home raised Park mare, Grandlee What A Show and my In-Hand Stallion, SFF Southforks JR. I might be taking a few liberties referring to Show as being my mare. I mean, I was a kid and my parents bred and raised her but, I did get to compete with her in the Jr Exhibitor and Youth Park classes and we did well enough.
Thunder’s big adventures have gone by the way side but the joy he brings is still shining bright. Thunder recently spent several days at my sister’s barn because of the family doing some travel. When we returned, I walked to her place to get Thunder and bring him back home. Now you need to understand that this is in southern Missouri where the hills can be frequent and steep and the long half mile walk to her barn is quite tiring. I walked straight into her barn and Thunder stuck his head out of the stall to see what was going on. He hung out at the front of the stall until I had his halter and walked in the stall. Apparently, at just that moment, there was something much more interesting at the end of his paddock than me. Now it wasn’t that he was hard to catch, just a bit ornery and walking zig zags to the far end then stood patiently, like, “Oh, you wanted to catch me. I understand now.” Silly horse.
I was planning a leisurely walk back home, since I had already made the trip once. Thunder was not of the same mindset. He was very excited to be heading home and started jig jogging. Yes, knee action and that little pause at the top of each stride, Kachunk, Kachunk. This has him moving faster than his office working human. I end up cheating and holding on to his withers to be drug along with him. It seemed like it could be a good solution. Since I was not providing any indication of where exactly we were to be walking, other than the general direction of down the road towards home, he kept moving further and further left putting me on the edge of the ditch. I would occasionally try to scold him and remind him to have some manners, walk rather than jig jog, and give me some space. My efforts were pretty much in vain though. He was on his way home and a slow poke human was not interfering with his plans.
I’m wheezing at this point because of the speed and vertical changes in topography but he didn’t care, he wanted to get home. Occasionally I would manage to scold Thunder and push him over to give me better footing. If I would have had any breath to spare, I would have shared the thought with Thunder that he would have gotten home much faster if I had hopped on his back rather than trudging beside him. Now, I’m not sure if I would have gotten home as quickly as he would have since I suspect that he would have been tempted to canter down the steep hills. When we finally got into the driveway at home, I was done. There was nothing left and still a long walk down to the barn. I flipped the lead rope over his back, pointed towards the barn and said, “Alright Thunder, go to the barn. I will catch up soon.” He took off cantering towards the barn. His knee action was fully level as he tossed his mane and covered ground straight to the barn and the feed bin.
I can only hope that you are lucky enough to have an old horse and the luxury of allowing them to fully express their huge personality. Their personalities get bigger and more entertaining as they age and the memories and stories will stay with you for the rest of your life.
