Somehow, impossibly, Jammer is seventeen.

He has always been an old soul, and now his body is catching up. His spine dips. His joints warm slowly. His mane has thinned.

This is the horse who carried me 100 miles in a day, on more than one occasion. He cleaned up for several seasons on the endurance trail. We won things. He won me.

And then, the headshaking. Strange symptoms finally coalesced into a diagnosis. I retired him early. Sadly. A piece of me retired with him.

In the years since, I’ve ridden him from time to time. We even top-tenned at one, last 50-miler in 2020. It was the best thing that happened, that Covid year. The worst thing happened, too, when he colicked a couple months later.

He pulled through, but I retired him from endurance. And he has aged. Perhaps it’s being without a job, or just without enough movement.

He is sound and sane, as kind a gentleman as ever. 

But the headshaking is insidious. Though managed, it causes stress. All those vertical flicks have hollowed his topline, so lovely in his prime.

I don’t know how long we’ll have. Probably many years, but fewer than we would, if not for that chronic syndrome.

So, I have decided. I’m going to ride Jammer regularly again. Get his body moving. And his mind. And mine.

Like many endurance horses, Jammer is tremendously experienced, but he is also perpetually green. We always focused on conditioning, not training. I hadn’t yet committed to more advanced work under saddle. 

It’s never too late. To give us purpose and direction, I’m going to take Jammer right through all the basics. Soften him up laterally, then vertically. Practice some sidepasses and patterns. Perhaps he’s up for flying changes.

To keep things interesting, I’m going to do it bareback.

Well, why not? We’ll keep rides short. I’m not going to ask his high-mileage hocks for anything crazy. We’ll use a nice bareback pad and a plain, old snaffle.

Besides, I could use the practice.

It’ll be like learning ballroom dance with my spouse in our seventies. We’ll improve our balance and strength. Exercise our hearts. While we’re both still here.

Together.