Photo from Mary Phelps

When I first began working with The Gray, he hated everything involved in being ridden and made it a practice to dump his riders (including me!) daily.  I would come home from the barn, and my husband would ask how it went, and I would always reply that I pitied the person who bought this horse.  Gray would either tuck his chin on his chest, open his mouth, and gallop off with you, or put his head straight up in the air, grab the bit, and gallop off with you.  Because of my experiences with Raffy, however, I persevered.  I knew that gaining his confidence was essential and that his aggression stemmed from fear.  He was afraid of everything!

Photo by Elizabeth Preznikoff

Gradually we became a team. His dislike for being ridden persisted, however, until his first horse trial in the spring of 1976. We were still in Ireland, and while it was labeled Novice, the cross country course was really much more like our United States Preliminary. I think I walked it six times! While I may have left the box still filled with a bit of anxiety, by the time we had cleared the third obstacle, Gray made it clear that he was eagerly looking for flags, and he never lost this newfound love for the game. He adored running fast and soaring through the air.

We started our careers in Three Day Eventing together. He as a timid six-year-old, and me as a twenty-eight-year-old mother of a two-and-a-half year old daughter, Andrea. The hormones coursing through my body from being that mother made my body question what my heart so much desired, but Gray and I made it through that first event with sheer determination, and we beat our combined fear to come in first! Our trophy was a Waterford Crystal decanter.

Photo by Robert Frankenfeld

The Gray Goose was a very self-aware horse. He loved to thrill his Eventing fans by leaving the ground a stride away from the widest obstacle on the course and landing a full stride on the other side. He could jump a kitchen chair set in the middle of a field, hold a line like nobody’s business, and his ability to get out of trouble was uncanny. Gray was a true master of his sport, being excellent in all three phases and knowing full well the differences in style needed for jumping steeplechase, cross country, and show jumping. He could be compared to Clark Kent when in his stall, as well as while being warmed up on a loose rein. He certainly did not impress anyone with his long back, flat feet, and quiet manner. When those reins were picked up however, he became Superman, and there was absolutely no doubt about what he had been born to do.

Photo by Leslie Vincent

Six weeks before, I’d had a fall in our last show jumping school and broken two transverse processes on the left side of my spine. This left me in a lot of pain, as well as unable to support myself in a stirrup or use any pressure on the rein on that left side. I recovered sufficiently in time to compete, but as we were flying around the cross country fences, my efforts to follow a huge leap over a picnic table combination by Gray tore the bones apart again. I suddenly found myself–halfway through this course that had already severely challenged the best in the world—without any brakes and barely any steering. Worse, I couldn’t help Gray when he needed my leverage of body weight, and as fate would have it the big water complex was the second to last obstacle when he would be experiencing fatigue. A Swiss rider had already died there. This was a full Long Format Three Day Event—a true test of endurance—and in addition, The Gray was carrying over twenty pounds of lead in order for me to meet the weight requirements of those days. He knew exactly what was going on, however. I clung to his mane with both hands, steered him with my eyes, took all the shortcuts, and he carried me safely through to the finish line with only a few time penalties.

The next day, when we had to do show jumping, he cleared every fence to win those medals. Though I was in an extreme amount of pain, my tears that day were solely those of joy and gratitude to my amazing horse.

Photo by Mary Phelps

Photo by Hugo Czerny

Photo by Michael Milne

Gray did his last Advanced Horse Trial in 1987, coming in third at Ship’s Quarters. He was sound and fit, but he showed me clearly that he was bored with the same old courses, and the joy was just not there for him anymore. It was time to retire him. He had a wonderful retirement ceremony in 1988 at Rolex Kentucky, being simultaneously spectacular, spooky, and silly—up to his old antics in front of all his adoring fans

Photo by Peter Gower

The script called for me to “almost” fall off at the water complex, but I knew that if I did the duck down the side of his shoulder too often in our warmup and rehearsals for the camera, Gray would simply slow down and stop to protect me. As a result, we had just one chance to film it and get it right—and we did it in that one take. The water complex at Lexington is always tough—I’m probably the only rider who ever intended to almost fall off there! I was really proud of Gray for handling my strange, off-balance behavior, and for getting us through safely. The next year I had to gallop down to the same complex, and I was really wondering how he would react. Of course he knew the difference and sailed through with no hesitation whatsoever.

I am filled with gratitude at the volume of people who have let me know how much the movie has inspired them.

Photo by Mel Powell

When Gray was twenty-six, I had a severe car accident that precluded my riding for over a year. Until that time, I had ridden him regularly. Unfortunately, during the time off, arthritis took over in his spine, and he made it clear when I began gently riding him again that it was too uncomfortable for him to continue. For the next few years, he ran mostly loose at the boarding facility where I kept both horses. I started Gideon under his watchful eye. Since Gideon has two crosses back to Gray’s sire, I kept him a stallion. Gray would appear every single time I would bring Gideon into the non-fenced arena, and would stand up on the overlooking bank, careful to always keep himself between the four-year-old lusty Gideon and the mare who was turned out there. When I began jumping Gid, Gray would come right down into the arena. If he was in the way of a jump, I would ask him to move to a certain spot, and he would go there. Needless to say, it amazed people that he would do as I verbally requested, but Eventing fans wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest! He did a lot to open people’s minds to interspecies communication. If I needed Gideon to jump differently, I would ask Gray to explain it to him, wait a few minutes while they looked at each other, and when I asked again Gideon’s technique would have changed. It was also quite obvious that Gray wanted to impress Gideon with how just important it was to take care of me, and Gideon has learned that lesson very well.

Gray would also play practical jokes on people. He would manage to sneak up on boarders (how does a 1,000 lb horse sneak up on someone with gravel underfoot?) and then startle the stuffing out of them. I had a hard time believing the stories people were telling me until he did it not only to me, but to Gideon as well! He could walk absolutely silently over gravel and concrete when he wished to. He would also turn on the barn lights at night, and then began to find ways to open the Senior feed can despite it being bungee corded shut. Obviously, after a while he lost his privilege of running loose.

Gray was still squealing with joy at the age of thirty. When a series of strokes came to claim him on June 17th, 2000, he died with dignity and grace, his head in my lap. I was able to have his body cremated, and his ashes were buried in a moving ceremony at the Rolex Three Day Event the following April. The Kentucky Horse Park was always his absolute favorite place to compete, and I know that he watches over every competitor at The Head of the Lake, which is just down the hill from his gravesite. There, I’m sure, his spirit still soars, and he will continue to inspire future generations.

The Gray was honored by The Chronicle of the Horse when they selected him as one of the Top 50 Horses of the Century in 2000, and he was inducted into the US Eventing Association Hall of Fame in 2012.