A news item to make us all smile (& perhaps give some of us hope!)

Gosh not riding from 13 to 70! You presume the people still doing it at such ages have done so forever, maybe having the break helped!

Snowflake was a smart pony.
 
Actually l find these articles and the comments that follow very depressing. As a still riding and competing 70 year old it’s always been part of my life to a greater or lesser degree. Maybe l take the content the wrong way but why shouldn’t we carry on doing the things we’ve always done? Some people stop riding for various reasons and wish they hadn’t, others carry on regardless. I’m increasingly irritated by the ‘when are you giving up’ brigade, as well as the ‘you’re amazing still riding at 70+’.
Maybe it’s the way we were brought up in a more risk averse society that enables us to keep going without the need for personal trainers, gym membership and Pilates?
 
gallopingby said:
Some people stop riding for various reasons and wish they hadn’t, others carry on regardless.
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But I think there are (sadly) a LOT of people who fall into the former category. Articles like this are normalising the idea that age is no reason to stop enjoying your hobbies / lifestyle. (Although frankly this lady is a statistical anomaly still being alive at 100, let alone fit and well enough to ride. 100 is quite different to 70).

I would be interested to know how many H&H members who are 70+ have come under some kind of pressure, whether that's societal or from family, GP etc, to stop riding? I completely agree that modern society is very risk averse.
 
Skib said:
High risk at the moment for us over 80s is falling off and ending up in A&E, exposed to flu and Covid infection. I am not riding again till March.
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I did think that when Mum was on the floor of the care home waiting for an ambulance for 4.5 hrs and then in an ambulance sat outside A&E for a further 6. And that was a good day for our poor A&E service!

As a high priority due to suspected fracture (and as it turned out internal haemorrage on her hip) which was treated with a blood transfusion I thought about what it would be like sustaining serious damage from a horse fall trying out a horse at a viewing.

A friend went to view one, asked the rider to get on it first, she had no sooner put her foot in the stirrup and it went over backwards knocking her out. This was years ago. Poor woman said she'd never have got on it if she'd have known what would happen and friend agreed with her. My poor friend was left trying to work out with 999 her location.
 
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