A Drum Adventure with Bruce the Goose

02/03/2022

The feeling you get from a bed of newly laid and fluffed straw…

Bruce had his final session of shockwave therapy today courtesy of the Ballarat Equine Vets.

He even showed some strong improvement in his trot up, despite jumping out of his yard last week and he even included a small pig root and a canter on three legs 😮. The most energetic he has felt in a long while!!

He’ll have a week of turn out in a small paddock then off to Ballarat again in a couple of weeks for another ultrasound to check in on his ligament healing.

We took the opportunity this morning in our 30 minute walk to bring the bins in again, then back out to the road to wave at the school bus and watch a big grader go past without blinking an eyelid. Not much of the big stuff fazes Bruce!

01/03/2022

What do you do when the horse refuses to play with the jolly horse ball??

21/02/2022

Ummm pretty sure you’re on the wrong side of the fence Bruce!! The hot tape is supposed to keep you in the yard not out!!!! 😮

17/02/2022

Early walks by moonlight ❤️❤️

15/02/2022

Progressing in our rehab we are now up to 20 minutes per day exercise walking in hand. This morning we thought we’d add a bit of excitement and bring in the rubbish bin. Clearly you can see from the facial expression we’re sooo excited 😆 😂

23/01/2022

So it’s been six months or so since posting last and lots has happened in that time. I have recovered somewhat from the herniated disk thank goodness and was able to get back in the saddle. Lots of trail riding and back into the arena work.

Bruce has been learning how to self load and enjoy the float, although this is a bit hit and miss at times but we’re trying to make the float a positive space and keep improving.

Bruce was booked in for ‘boot camp’ with the lovely Victoria at Mt William Estate for some extra miles under the saddle and exposure while I was booked in for a long awaited Holliday with my Mum to Darwin. 2 days out from said Holliday and we hit lockdown. Just 2 days!! Ahhh covid 🤬.
Bruce still went off to boot camp and continued to be his usual ‘bigger than life’, cheeky self. He certainly let Victoria know what he did and didn’t want to do but being the fabulous rider she is Bruce came home with a whole new set of experiences under his belt, and for a big fella he certainly
moves well!!!

After coming home from his boot camp his training continued at home. He tried out his old antics again of not keeping all four feet in the arena and trying to test out the boundaries however we’d worked through that and going well.

Bruce had a short break for a week to rest tired muscles and then we were off again. After all carrying around that big b***y is very exhausting!!

The big black float was organised to be sent off and made into a bespoke Bruce mobile, big enough for that big b***y and high enough that even on his high horse he won’t hit his head. The plan was once the float came back 2022 was going to be our year and we were ready to be out and about taking the world by storm!!

2022 however has already thrown us a curve ball!! 😮

Bruce has some ongoing lameness in his near side hock despite rest and anti-inflammatories so a trip to the equine vets was required, of course Bruce would wait until the Bruce mobile is in pieces to need transporting to a vet🤦🏻‍♀️!! After many messages to find a float big enough, Northern Float hire came to the rescue driving over 3.5 hours to drop off a hire float, what an outstanding service and I can’t thank them enough!!!

We loaded up last week for a trip to the equine vet. Bruce turned on the charm and was fabulous. After a full lameness work up and imaging it turns out he has an injury to the proximal suspensory ligament in his near hind.

It’s now yard rest with incremental increases in exercise, shockwave therapy and review in 8 weeks. There’ll be no chasing down the pesky pony in the paddock for a while now Bruce!!

Please send thoughts as I am not sure I can keep a cheeky monkey well enough entertained to not be too …….. cheeky!!

If anyone has any boredom’s buster suggestions I’d love to hear them!!!

27/06/2021

Waiting for the Vet to come for the pony.... Bruce ALWAYS has to make himself the centre of attention 😂

20/06/2021

It’s been a while since last post, not from lack of wanting but we’ve been a bit quiet on the riding front and I haven’t wanted to bore the pants off everyone with our slow going!!

I have had some ongoing issues with a herniated disc in my back so riding has been on again off again and a bit few and far between, most probably from a combination of a heavy fall from my mare last December, scoliosis and lots of coughing from a cold I had... plus the thing Id least like to admit... getting older... ssshhhh don’t tell anyone!

In the meantime I had sand delivered for my birthday and a new sandpit to play in. It’s so exciting to have a surface that is NOT clay and as slippery as ice when wet, it’s been the best birthday present!! All three of the nags love the new sandpit, I accidentally left the gate open and they snuck in for a sneaky roll and left again, the only evidence was three distinct flat patches and some stirred up hoof prints. Clearly a party was had while my back was turned 😂.

We have also managed to find a float that Bruce will fit in and after some minor adjustments we will do some more float training and be ready to be out and about. It is a step up rather than a ramp which means no lifting of heavy ramps for me... winning!!

Bruce has had his teeth seen to and some body work done, looking for possible reasons why on the left rein we just can’t seem to keep all four feet in the arena. My suspicion is that Bruce’s cheeky personality is behind the shenanigans however just want to be sure there is nothing else untoward going on before pushing through. So far cheeky seems to be the reason, especially when it is ALWAYS in the side of the arena closest to the other ponies!! Saddle fitting yet to go and given my suspicions are right and Bruce really is just being a goose we’ll get to work on keeping straight down the long side and inside the arena!!!

Bruce has been fitted out with a snazzy new pair of scoot boots ready for when we are back on track, believe it or not they do make them big enough for dinner plates!! I am so glad they fit, I do love scoot boots and did not really want to start the hunt for anything else.

Today was too nice a day to waste so loaded with anitinflammatories and panadol (me not Bruce) we headed out to our favourite place for a two hour ride, our first ride for some weeks, lucky Bruce loves being out bush, he didn’t put a foot wrong. We only meandered and it was the perfect day for just the sound of the birds and hooves, there is no sound quite the same as heavy hooves plodding along. I may not be able to move tomorrow but it was sooo worth it.

29/04/2021

These bad boys arrived today, oh my they are HUGE, size 11 😮. So glad they make these big enough, I do love Scoot Boots and would have been devastated if they didn’t fit. We’re so excited to try them out this weekend!!! 😆

Thank-you Lauren @ Martin Godwin Equine for organising these ❤️

22/04/2021

Ahhh the serenity!

Much better viewing than our other attempt at ‘film art’!!

22/04/2021

We’ve been a little quiet over the last couple of weeks, the change in daylight savings and the distinct shortening of daylight already has me dreading the coming months. How anyone doesn’t enjoy that extra hour of daylight at the end of the day that daylight savings brings is beyond me and the cold... ugh don’t get me started!! My distaste of the cold as I get older grows and I am dreading the winter already 🥶!!!!!

I have been limiting Bruce’s rides to be short and sweet as the saddle I had that fitted was a little bit under the weather (let’s just say broken but safe enough still to ride in!!) due to a recent accident with another horse.

I have had a new saddle arrive which is slightly different so we are now ready to march on forwards and upwards. The new saddle seems to fit well to my eyes but we still require a proper fitting. We have had a couple of good rides in it now. It is a little different to our last saddle which had quite a narrow twist, fantastic for my small 165cm stature. The new one is a bit wider in that sense and my muscles are telling me! My poor thigh muscles today are screeching at me to think twice about this new saddle!!! I am sure over time I will get used to it, Bruce seems to move a bit better in it, so whatever is best for the horse..... 😬

I had a great idea that I would go back over the video footage to see how the saddle fits and get a guage on if it suits me better too (despite my thighs!!) as far as position and seat go. Great theory..... I should have remembered a previous attempt at technology when my entire video was a singular photograph of the ground! Well I am pleased to present video success number two titled “saddle fitting fun”. I thought it be fabulous to film the entire ride with the special effects you see below.... 😂

After you have delighted in this magnificent piece of film art, I will post some snippets from our weekend ride instead, much more pleasing to the eye!!!!

07/04/2021

😍

02/04/2021

Progress... we are starting to see some progress with the bending exercises. Bruce has such a high natural head carriage so we have also been working on stretching long and low. Between the both bending and stretching we are starting to get some lovely softness and give, albeit very fleeting!
Such a beautiful feeling when those moment of softness and stretch happen. We are slow in our progress, both him and me, but we are both okay with that.
Our sessions are still only short as concentration certainly isn’t one of Bruce’s strong point and reminding him to pay attention to what’s in the arena instead of out of it is constant. What’s today’s distraction?? A butterfly 🦋 😂
Oh and the sirens from the Good Friday appeal weren’t helpful for either 🚒.

31/03/2021

Sometimes things just don’t go to plan... 🙄

28/03/2021

Trying to get anything done with these two ‘helping’ 🤦🏻‍♀️

27/03/2021

No better view. We even had a ride by visit to the athletics club this morning who had an organised run in the bush. Plenty of people kids and cars... didn’t miss a beat ❤️

Sorry for the dodgy camera work, I need to get a bit better at it!

26/03/2021

Bruce - 1
Pony Rug - 0

The pony rug didn’t stand a chance 😳

24/03/2021

More bits from our outing yesterday...

24/03/2021

22/03/2021

Gosh I love this big goose ❤️

Our Sunday trail ride happened today. An impromptu, unplanned, sneaky before work ride which turned into our first bush ride riding away from home 😍. Well when the situation calls for a bit of spontaneity, who can resist!!

School bus full of waving children?.... no worries. 🚌

Kangaroos galore?.... no problems 🦘

Screaming currawongs?...... no sweat 🦅

Own poo on way home? .... no, just no!! Scariest thing we saw!! 💩

Unfortunately I didn’t get to capture the school bus of waving kids... two hands for safety just in case.

This heffalump has a different range of paces out where he has more room to move, length of trot that goes on for days and sooo much air time in the canter!! Just amazing ❤️

22/03/2021

I have put this post from the weekend twice on this page and twice it has not been posted, third time lucky?? 🤞

Sundays plans were well way layed by the rain, I was hoping to take Bruce out for a short trail ride this morning then some float loading lessons before the rain this afternoon, however the early wet appearance has led to running rivers and procrastination.

I had the mob fed early in the dark in anticipation of our early ride and was all set in my warm joddies and hooded waterproof jacket as the premature precipitation began and steadily got heavier. As Bruce and I are still learning about each other I though it wise to not push it our first time out and about so decided against it. I ventured out into the paddock to retrieve the breakfast dishes in the rain and in true Gyspy cob style Bruce was licking his clean when he decided he needed a hankerchief …… aka my jacket, you know the scenario, one big sneeze from a heffalump and you are covered from head to toe! Then in his snot swiping moves he managed to grab, in his teeth, the corner of my jacket and took great delight in shifting the contents of the rain and snot filled hood from the outside of my jacket to the inside, now there are rivers running down the crevice in my cleavage and the crevice in my crack, not a happy camper. I am super glad I made the decision to put off my ride cause I ain’t sitting in a saddle with that in my pants!!!

I also attempted to clean up my tack room while procrastinating doing house work, such a good day for it after all. Two HUGE spiders came out of nowhere to great me I slowly backed out, dispensed nearly a whole can of spray, gently closed the door and ran for the hills……. Nope, nope, nope. Uh Uh, ain’t doing that either. I might go back later and dispense another can of spray before attempting that again.

So after an eventful mornining of nothingness I am procrastinating further (housework… meh) and facebook stalking ‘Cool Country Cadence’ and have found heaps of photos of Bruce as a cutesy foal.

Instead of posting an exciting video of our amazing trail ride together this morning I have a bit of boring same ol’ stuff from yesterday where we are improving our bending further AND I managed to keep all four hooves IN the arena for the entire lesson (winning!!) plus I get to post a Baby Bruce album from my facebook forage this morning.



Note to future self: either put your hood on in the rain or tuck it inside your jacket!!!!

22/03/2021

Test post as Facebook is not publishing posts to this page..... hmmmm

18/03/2021

So two weeks today we have had Bruce, it feels like he’s just part of the furniture and I’m not sure what the place was like without him already. The Gypsy Cob in him comes out regularly around buckets and feed time!!

Today is a bitter sweet moment for us. We said good bye to the uterus after our adventures picking Bruce up, you can read about it in another post👇🏻. We have had the Crewman Ute for 10 years and it has escorted my kids as they grew into adults. It has seen many football and netball games, camping trips, animals, friends, family, house moves, deb balls, graduations and adventures.
We also said hello to the Isuzu MUX. I now feel like a ‘soccer mum’ without the soccer part now the kids are doing their own thing. It’s a family wagon for one.... it’s going to be fantastic for loading the horse gear and towing Bruce around 😃.

Bruce had a good ride this morning before picking up the new wheels. We worked again on the bending exercises, first in hand then ridden similar to the failed tech attempt as the other day. Setting out some cones and patterns and we discovered he definitely bends better to the left than the right!!!! I know most of us and our horses are one sided and I am not convinced this is solely his issue, my previous mare was the same so maybe it’s me 🤔. I have recently discovered I have scoliosis so this is very likely an our and my issue, one that I need to work just as hard at getting me straight as well.

30 mins of constant moving and bending is certainly enough for Bruce, interrupted by the moments of ducking out of the arena towards his herd mates! Thankfully these moment are a lot fewer than in the beginning, unfortunately I missed them again on my phone. I am sure they would look awful if I actually captured them and cheeky enough to post on sh*teventersunite!!

A very wise person once set me up with the idea of using the cones in the arena for ‘crazy riding’, using them as targets for transitions, turning points, bending aids and patters. I am ever thankful for this idea as there is such a huge variety and the patterns are endless. These can then translate out to the open to encourage listening, reclaim focus and calm the mind (both his and mine!), if you were to map the patterns on equilab it definitely would look like someone was possessed behind the steering end of Bruce!!

Hopefully this weekend we’ll head out on the trails and see what happens 😮 and now that we have the new wheels we’ll start on the float training, if when we picked him up is anything to go by this could be a big learning curve!!

15/03/2021

Started some bending exercises with Bruce today, first on the ground then in the saddle. Wow it’s hard work to bend that big body!! We set some cones to do some patterns which were fabulous at the walk but the trot?... ugh, not so pretty, bent like a banana inside out all the way!!

Never the less I though great, I’ll get some pretty photo’s at the walk from the video to post.

So below you’ll find my ‘pretty’ photo and video that I managed to capture.....

Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow - and I might just get the tech stuff right 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

14/03/2021

Today Bruce managed to stop traffic in its tracks....

We were getting to know the goblins who reside in the letterbox up close and personal this morning on the side of the road and riding up and down the road watching all sorts of traffic pass us by. We had so many waves and smiles and quite a few who stopped just to say hello!! Bruce was so very proud of all the attention and stood quietly to soak it all up, Im sure he thinks he is a celebrity now as it certainly wasn’t me they we’re stopping to say hello to 😂.

I should have got ‘Bruce selfies’ with his admirers, pitty I didn’t think of it at the time!

14/03/2021

So it’s been one week since the adventurous trip home and it’s official... Bruce it is.

He is such a goose he got called Bruce the goose the other night and it has just stuck. Bruce is also so close to Bryce (just missing a tail) and Grandad would have loved him ❤️ 💔

Had our first real ‘try’ in the arena this morning. Lots to improve on starting with steering, going straight and to ‘bend’ around a corner - especially helpful when you are so big!!!

Rhythm and forward of course need work and canter will become much better with fitness and balance.

Even more helpful is staying IN the arena 😂. He is so cheeky that any lapse moment of concentration on my behalf is a moment to duck out too good to refuse!! Unfortunately I didn’t have the phone in the right position to capture the cheekyness. He really is a cheeky pony in disguise!!! We had a 10hh Wilshire years ago that used to duck out under the fence and leave you hanging, thank goodness Bruce is to tall for that otherwise I am sure he would try!🐴

To his credit he is usually out on the trails and this ‘arena stuff’ is all brand new, but he is willing to give it a try, he is also 6 months out of work and only ridden sporadically before that.

Disclaimer: I don’t usually mount from the ground as I am aware it can cause musculoskeletal issues (but for the record... I still can!!)

14/03/2021

Day two

After settling into the mob for a day and learning that the pony still has small man syndrome today was planned as a get to know you pamper and tack fitting session but the weather was so nice I just couldn’t help myself and climbed aboard for a short ride. For a horse that is 6 months unridden he didn’t put a foot wrong!! Just a short walk/trot then up and down the driveway to meet some traffic at the other end. No better way for trialling the tack I have and a way for him to get used to all things new.
He thought there were goblins bouncing in the spokes in the combine wheels at the front gate but managed to be brave and pretend they weren’t really laughing at him long enough to get passed.

We’ll be able to make do with our current tack for the moment (phew!) everything is in the widest, longest, biggest setting 😮 so there is no where else to go except new if anything changes. Thankfully the saddle will be wide enough (just) until we get fitted properly, there is a bit of float training to do before this happens but at least we can make a start.

Couldn’t have asked for a better morning, so in love with this big dufus already😍

14/03/2021

Thursday March 4th - pick up day.

I was up early without sleeping much the night before with visions of galloping hooves and Chariots of Fire playing in the background. I was sooooo excited to start our new adventure together.

I head out to the Ute (affectionately known as the uterus as it’s red and has carried my two kids everywhere) with the float all loaded ready to go, double checking everything as I was going and I notice a suspicious wet patch under the right side of the radiator, now either the uterus had had a fabulous night 😉 or something more sinister had gone on.

Of course miraculously overnight we had sprung a leak and the radiator was bone dry. I topped it up and of course drip, drip, drip....

I head inside make a cuppa and sigh heavily, this was just in a long line of recent breakages and faults around home. I tell Hubby he says to take our sons ute, I’m thinking I’ll go pick up my mum’s ute and he heads off to work. I can’t make a decision what I am going to do, my son needs his for work, mum’s has a small engine and I questioned do I risk blowing hers up (that’s our luck lately!!!) or do I just risk it all and take mine, stopping to top up as I’m going. I was bringing this horse home today no matter who’s ute I was going to break and visions of billowing smoke from the engine all the way home!!!

Hubby, aka knight in shining armour (add super hero music here) sends me a message he’ll meet me there in his and tow the horse. Hallelujah!!

I head off for the hour long trip, the closest trip I’ve had so far with horse hunting, leaving the float at home for hubby and stop on the way to check levels, so far so good. By the way did I mention that the dash board in the uterus hasn’t worked for some time, so there is no temperature gauge to work off either 🥵.

I arrive safe and sound, still dripping, but no smoke thank goodness.

We saddle up and head out on a trail ride and I message hubby to start making his way over. The owner relays how nervous she is as he doesn’t load well, I blow that off and think I’ve got this far unscathed what’s a little float loading lesson, pft no worries!

All goes well and we exchange all the dignitaries, deal is signed, sealed and almost delivered.....

We try to load -no go. Goes in, comes out, goes in, comes out, goes.. out, in... out you get the drift!! 45 mins no luck and he wacks his head in the roof. No more going in.
We try my float, then hers, finally after some time we’re in off and away.... yay!!

Well the horse is anyway... I top my ute up to follow the horse home, won’t start. Seriously... now??? Eventually I get going too and end up leading the way home.
I get home and lock the rest of the home mob in their yards to make the offloading process easier than the loading (hopefully)🤞.

After an interesting start to the day, thankfully the pictures show the outcome, and an easy introduction to the new mob.

Welcome home big fella (phew) we just need to find you a new paddock name.

It’s quite a sight to see the 13h pony with small man syndrome boss around the big 16.2ish drum and the big lump of a horse gently move to the side. I think you’ll fit right in big fella.

Ridden photo’s are of our first rides before our adventurous trips home!!

14/03/2021

A drum adventure with Bruce the Goose (Cool Country Cadence).

Bruce is a Drum Horse (Clydesdale x Gypsy Cob) bred at Cool Country stud on Christmas Eve 2014.

He spent some time with two other lovely owners before being purchased by me at 6 years old and out of work. I didn’t think I was looking for something quite so heavy but the moment I saw Bruce he was always going to be coming home with me. The first ride was atrocious and he’s not great at floating (in fact he’s awful) but it didn’t matter, in my heart the deal was already sealed despite my head arguing and trying to be at least a little rational, meh who needs rational anyway!

He came home as Cadence but his antics and personality have led to being called a goose often and eventually Bruce the goose - now the name has just stuck so Bruce it is!!

He has come to me with little to no work in an arena type setting and mostly trail riding experience which was sporadic prior to having six months off before coming home. Let’s just say straight, bend and staying IN the arena are not high on Bruce’s list of things to do!!!!

I have started this page more for myself to document and reflect on our new journey together and capture all the ups and downs but mostly all laughs along the way!!