Any 28+ year old horses still competing out there??

K

KINDMARE

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 September 2016
Messages
171
Visit site
Please can you help settle an 'argument' between myself and my sister.

She has found the most lovely Sec D to buy, ticks every box, hacks alone, beautifully schooled lovely manners. Has competed most of her life, never any health/lameness issues etc etc. BUT she is 18. My sister is having a wobble about buying her due to her age. she wants to do a bit of dressage (elementatry) and forest rides. but says she would like at least 10 years with her next horse (wouldn't we all!!!)
I have said that there are plenty of 14.2/3hh ponys competing until late 20's. we both know that you can buy a 4 year old only for something to go wrong within a year.
so please, if any of you have 28+ still competing would you post here to help her buy the horse of her dreams.
Thanks
 
I'd wobble too I got my welshie at 12 and that still hasn't felt like long enough :(. He hunted last year and we went on hols to the new forest and has never looked his age but at now 23 he has a couple of issues (annular ligament and liver issue) that has meant he has had to slow down to light hacking now.
 
Sadly no longer with us but I had one here that competed until he was over 30, hunted every season until he was 30, admittedly only very lightly the last few seasons, he was placed in his last ODE aged 30, eventually retiring from ridden work at about 32 due to muscle loss caused by cushings that meant we struggled to keep the weight on him, he was pts aged 36 having had a very active life, we worked out he had been to camp every year for 28 years and had an unbroken vaccination record dating back to when he was a 4 year old.

18 is no age, if she ticks all the boxes and is sound now there is every chance she will be a good buy at the right price.
 
ester said:
I'd wobble too I got my welshie at 12 and that still hasn't felt like long enough :(. He hunted last year and we went on hols to the new forest and has never looked his age but at now 23 he has a couple of issues (annular ligament and liver issue) that has meant he has had to slow down to light hacking now.
Click to expand...



yes it would be too much of a gamble for me too - that's not to say that she shouldn't get the horse if they are a perfect match BUT she can't predict the future, and none of us know how long our horses have left. If she knows she would like a very long term partnership then she needs to look for something younger IMO.

I got my two at 7 (now 20) and 9 (now 12) and I wish I'd had them both as 4 yo! Time slips past so quickly.
 
I can understand a wobble, but I don't think it would put me off if it ticks all the boxes and passing vetting/is sounds now. I'm sure i'm going to think the same as milliepops in a couple of years (I a little bit already do) - my boy turns 16 this year and i've owned him for a year and half. Nothing wrong with him and he is brilliant but I do wish I had as much time as possible with him as I love him to pieces.

When I was looking none of the younger horses fit the bill and I ummed and ahhed about my boy and his age (will I have much more time with him?) but I fell for him and he has been brilliant and I hope we have many more years together. In fact, when I was buying I said I wanted 10 years with mine too.

I would tell your sister if she fits the bill then don't dismiss her because of her age, so long as she's been looked after throughout her years and is fit and healthy now there is no reason she won't carry on until she's 28 (or older!). Obviously she will have to think about insurance, as that might be more expensive, but after buying my first horse a little older I wouldn't hesitate to take the chance again as he has taught me so much and I haven't had to worry about 'ruining' him (like I would a youngster) because he already knows it all!

Of course their bodies can't go on forever, but I've been at my yard around 18 months and more young horses have had problems then older ones. We have a 27 year old still as feisty as any of the others! But an 9 year old that's been on/off lame for 2 years.
 
I think it depends what the mare has done throughout her life. My 2 are 21. They're both fine to do dressage and I suspect / hope will be for quite some time. One hasn't jumped for 9 years due to foot problems - which has probably helped him be ok on the flat for longer. The other has done quite a bit of jumping (although no great height) and is suffering with arthritis in his elbow. He's had it medicated and is now bouncing and doing really well in his flatwork but he'd clearly be better had he not jumped a lot.
 
It wouldn't put me off at all. I ride a 30/31 year old gelding for my landlord. He competes showing and has qualified ssadl 4 years running, took up side saddle age 28/29, hacks and still lives out 24/7 all be it this year with a rug.
This horse came back into work age 24 and was a commercial driving horse for many many years. He is the last of his team still alive.
My friends anglo arab stallion went on till he was 29 as did his mother and father. Father was an ex race and mother ended up in a riding school while he competed bsja.
 
My Section D x TB is rising 24 and is one of the fittest most active horses I know. I bought her at 16 and haven't had a moments regret since. She had a competition career before I had her but was not overstretched or injured so could easily pick it up again if that was what I wanted to do.
 
A girl I know was still competing her section D stallion in hunter trials when he was 32. I saw pictures of him and you would never have thought he was over 20 let alone over 30. There are several horses in their late teens still competing at the highest levels and native breeds have longevity bred into them. An 18 year old pony is a long way different from an 18 year old TB.
 
As a teenager I took on an appaloosa pony who was approximately 26 at the time. I rode him for years doing everything and we went round some decent sized hunter trials and showjumping tracks well into his 30's (the lady that used to take me had a big horse and didn't want to go early for the pony classes so I had to jump in the horse classes on my geriatric 14 hander!!) We won the higher and higher at almost 5ft at a local show when he was 32. We had hacked approximately 5 miles to get there, did about 5 classes and hacked home again. We was super fit and just as willing and was still doing pony rides right up until he died at about 40 years old!
 
My local riding school has several ponies still working in their thirties. A grey welsh gelding there won the winter jumping league for 90cm last year at 32 and looks to be doing It again this year at 33, he's 14 hands and been in the school since he was 12.

My last boy was 27 the last time he jumped in the shownring, and we were planning more shows when I lost him at 31 - the only reason we didn't do more was transport. He'd been on a 7 mile hack with galloping the day before and could still clear a ditch or hedge. He was welsh x.

Go for it!
 
I was given a lovely 16 year old Traditional Welsh Section D which was bred at the Gateway Stud.
She was totally safe and you could put anyone on her and they could take her out by themselves. (in the heaviest of traffic).
She gave us so much fun and she was ridden until the end at 29.
Amazing horse with beautiful manners.
Miss her so much.
If I could find another horse like her I would pay £10,000 for it.
 
I think there will always be some that keep going I know a few and I have to say I assumed mine would be one of them the way he was going last winter learning his half passes hunting, jumping etc. Arguably he could still be 'going' now as the liver situ is sub clinical and the ligament issue never really made him unsound, we scanned because of a 'windgall' that wasn't normal for him and found some essentially old cob damage. He could have had another 5 years on them without issue but I wasn't willing to risk it. He's been a busy boy in his life though had good care throughout and barely had a lame day apart from the feet situation which was easily resolved in the end.In some ways I'm glad that something subtle told me to slow him down rather than something too major.

This is him at 23, June last year on an all day ride to the pub, ogling the donkeys! I didn't think for a minute he'd have to hang up his boots quite so soon after, he was fit well and healthy in every respect
13524331_10157253729380438_3343392782595017146_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
There is a pony next door to me 14h irish sort that is 33 he still does dressage and jumps and does well at it, he belongs to a 10 year old girl who has learnt so much with him.
 
I am on my fourth section d mare mostly bought from their breeders withfull history known. My first mare had to retire at 17 with horrendous sarcoids, my second mare has been in and out of work since she was 8 and is nw 19. My cob of a lifetkme got cushings at 14 and is now retired at 18. My present riding mare is in and out of work at 10 in my experience ds do not have long working lives! Mind you my bad luck is legendary!
 
ester said:
I think there will always be some that keep going I know a few and I have to say I assumed mine would be one of them the way he was going last winter learning his half passes hunting, jumping etc.
Click to expand...

that's the thing isn't it.. there are *some*, equally there will be lots in their late 20s that have been pensioned off, but the OP wasn't asking for a ratio of success - which is what I'd want to consider if looking at a horse in its late teens ;) it's lovely to hear about the ones that are still going, but it is wise to consider the likelihood that the horse will need to slow down at that age.

Lovely pic ester, I thought M would have carried on for yonks too until her chosen lifestyle of doing field-wheelies caught up with her. Perhaps a younger horse with less wear and tear would have recovered better from all the high jinx... perhaps not. I'll never know.
 
Mine was 30 and still winning showing classes when he retired. However my other was 17 when semi retired due to arthritis. The age would put me off. But then again I lost soli at 10 through an accident
 
My (admittedly low mileage and well looked after through his life) D will be doing his first competitions this year at the age of 21 - we're planning a bit of dressage and some jumping, but ultimately aiming for a BE 80 as we're doing the Wobbleberry challenge. I've been assured that he's more than capable :D

I also wish that I'd known him earlier though as he's awesome.
 
Last edited:
Haven't read all the replies... My old mare was still going into her late 20s... 14.2 TB x. Mum was a little grey mare of indeterminate breeding. Whatever I had at the time was off sick, so I took her sj at the age of 27. I had to come out of the warm-up as she went bananas & I couldn't hold her. She won two classes & came 4th in a very, very hotly contested scurry out of 19. Took her xc schooling at 29 as whatever I'd booked to go on had lost a shoe & I didn't want to lose my money. Jumped everything all day. She did a tendon out hacking at 29, but came right with rest & at 34 she was supposed to be accompanying my giddy 4 yo on an xmas day hack as a steady companion. Got onto grass, head between her knees, couple of hard bucks & b*gg*red off at speed with my friend, & then the 4 yo kindly decided to join in.

She was eventually PTS at 40 as she had accumulated a lot of health problems over 6 months.

Nearly forgot - took her hunting at 19 when on hol from uni. OMG she went berserk! Stayed all day, pulled my arms out all day & all the way home. I will never forget the pain in my hands, arms & shoulders...! She did her first dressage test at 19...got hopelessly excited, jumped over the boards & galloped off, and once I'd stopped we had to jump back in & carry on. I also took her gymkhana-ing at 23 (whatever I had was off sick...seeing a pattern here...?) and she got v v excited & came 6th in the chase me charlie, among other things. My grandad paid £200 for her in 1976 when she was 3 and I was 5, and she came from the farm next door to his, & I think that was probably the best £200 anyone had ever spent. Someone actually offered to buy her when she was 29...she was doing a dressage clinic with my friend, filling in for me & a sicknote, & the trainer wanted to buy her, then was astonished by her age...then STILL wanted to buy her...!

T x
 
Had a pony on loan for my daughter, which was too much for my friend's daughter to manage. She did showjumping, xc and pony club games, winning loads and thoroughly enjoying herself. She went back when friend's daughter was up to managing her, and did very well. One day a woman came up to my friend, and asked her if she'd got the pony from...... and if it's name was Fleur. She said yes. Turned out the woman had ridden her more than 20 years before, and she was nearly 40. When she decided she didn't want to be ridden anymore, she was turned away as a companion and eventually died in her 40s. She wasn't an easy ride in her 30s because she was so fast and forward going!
 
I got my old boy at 18, and he was put down at the age of 30. He did his last competition a year before he went to heaven, and he was the greatest horse I will ever have the pleasure of riding.

Age means nothing with the right horse.
 
Mine is 26 now and he's still going. We don't compete but that's more of a mutual choice, he is still capable of dressage and small jumping classes but he doesn't enjoy constant schooling so we don't do it although my life changed round about the same time he got a bit sour, so he's been semi retired for the last few years, I'm bringing him out of retirement now and fattening him up with the intention of some pleasure rides and possibley small things but I'll let him tell me how he feels about it all.

Some do just keep going and some break and are never right. My boy has Cushings as well and I'm bringing him out of retirement more because of that than any need I have to compete.
 
If it was my absolute dream horse I'd consider, but if I wanted 10years at least would get younger. I know nothing is guaranteed with a younger horse either, but with my 24yr old I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world everyday and I know she could break/be gone any minute and it would be a case of 'oh well she was old'. I have had her 15years, but glad to have enjoyed her in her younger years as well as older. She can still hunt, hack, whizz about but she is not the same as 10years ago in management either.
I'm loving these stories of horses living to 30s and beyond, here's hoping my girl sticks around many more years!
 
That is very much how I was dealing with it HD, lets do it while we can, we had an absolute ball the last 3 years when I moved him to wilts with me, and I bought a box in the may on that very basis- we only got to use it once!
I would agree re. management being different, mine needed rugging more, eating more (took a while to get my head round that one!) teeth doing more and getting a bit manky, boswellia for his joints etc.
Really my main reasons that I wouldn't buy something at 18 even though I am all for the oldies would be selfish and not based on the horse but that the chances of them leaving you sooner do become higher and I find that difficult.
 
Our last RDA Group horse was still doing RDA Dressage Regionals aged 30 and pissing off across the Downs the rest of the time.

Having gone back to my old rs and seeing ponies still going that were late teens when I first there 10/15 years ago, I'd say a lot of it comes down to management.
 
My old YO's mare was still team chasing aged 26.

The oldest I've competed was a whizzy little bay Welsh D type (breeding unknown but looked like a D) who was on load to the RS I was working at. He was at least 28 and was loaned to them because he was too strong and fast for his owners. We did some working hunter and low-level SJ, he was great fun to jump if you steered and let him get on with it but objected strongly to any involvement from the rider in decision making re speed, strides etc.
 
I think thats a normal small welsh thing, I have some brilliant videos of my SJer type friends who can see a stride jumping Frank and him just saying nah, going to make a point of not listening to you if you are going to be that prescriptive going to take off from heeeerrreee!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top