Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Non-traditional horse alert! Shiwon Green and Gosh

How did I miss this interesting story of the New Zealand rider Shiwon Green and her Grand Prix "blended horse," Gosh? Green describes Gosh: "He's a crossbred, by a thoroughbred out of [a] trotting/clydesdale/arab crossbred mongrel mare that you wouldn't try to breed a horse out of." (Waikato Times). If he was not bred for dressage, you wouldn't know it from this footage.  Love this horse. To see how his Grand Prix work has progressed in just one year, watch both videos. I thought the difference was most striking in the half passes and canter pirouette...

2010
  
 
 
A year later, 2011 
 
And for fun, here is their freestyle.. 
He's reportedly a difficult ride. She bought Gosh to be a lower level dressage and event horse. Green herself is pretty impressive, a part-time nurse and mom who also happens to train horses to Grand Prix and compete at a high level and oh, yeah, she supports THINK, a helmet-promoting organization in her home country. I hear her story and hang my head. She shows us how much we can accomplish if we try...


6 comments:

  1. Cut-N-JumpNovember 6, 2012 at 2:40 PM

    Wow! Yes we really can do a lot when we put a bit of effort into it. I like the horse's name. She may have bought him for a lower level horse, but apparently the horse has other plans. lol

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  2. FriesianwelshxNovember 6, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    I love this story. I really do. When I bought my Friesian/Welsh sec D cross, the trainer told me he probably wouldn't be much of a jumper. Was she ever wrong!!! Not only is he excellent at lateral work in dressage, he can JUMP ... and he LOVES it!! His heart is in jumping, though he tolerates dressage because he just likes to excel at everything and he likes to win (I swear he knows when he is competing). I once had a friend point him at a 3'6" oxer, and he got on his butt and went straight for it. Sailed over it with ease for a long-backed guy. You never really know about a horse until you really KNOW the horse ... and breeding is not always everything. It seems this horse, Gosh, got that same memo. :)

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  3. AnonymousNovember 7, 2012 at 7:11 AM

    Oh Stacey don't hang your head! I admire how you keep up the good blog work besides riding Riley and a day job. You go girl!!!

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  4. JessicaNovember 7, 2012 at 11:09 PM

    Being both a sci fi nut and horse junkie, this is like total indulgence and joy for me to watch their freestyle while I eat my bowl of dark chocolate ice cream!

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  5. AnonymousNovember 8, 2012 at 12:48 PM

    Horses have a tendency at times to amaze us and outperform what we expect of them. Many times when you switch jobs, trainers or focus they show us that they can outperform conformation.

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  6. Adventures of the Super PoniesNovember 14, 2012 at 2:35 AM

    I love him!! As a non-traditional dressage horse owner it makes me exciting. I am riding a Clyde cross currently and will be bringing my appy cross on next year. I can't waitt to see where these ponies go.

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