At what age do you consider a horse a veteran/oldie?

T_K

T_K

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Seeing something on another thread make me think.....to me a horse isn't old until they are in their 20s...my shettie is 18 and I don't consider her old, but then she should live longer than a larger breed....it does disappoint me however, when a 15 yo horse wins the veteran champs against a 30 yo(Olympia last year)
 
Ted is veteran in his body.. A baby in his head.

I consider him to be an older horse. Even though he is only 17. This is more to do with the miles on his clock than anything else.

Usually i consider over 20s to be veterans.

It also annoys me when a 15 year old wins a veteran class.. Its silly.

Lou x
 
With a horse I'd say over 18, pony I'd say over 20
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Once again depends on the breed but I would consider a veteran 20 years or older. I have known ponies still going well into their 30’s.

Gem (our ID mare) is 16 going on 17 and I don't think she is an oldie.
 
Not a veteran until 20 IMO! Although I think they start to get "old" at about 15/16 (no reasoning behind that... it's just my rule of thumb!)
Although my horse is 13 next year and I have started to worry about her getting old... how stupid am I?!
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This is something that worries me constantly - my pony is 16 - ive had him 16 months and only reaaly now starting to get confident on him (well up and down really!) He is not 16 in his head though and doesnt have any soundness/health problems. I am hoping that he will go on for at least another 6/7 years at the same level. hacking/schooling/low level dressage. Am i hoping in vain??????????????
 
Insurance policies still count veterans as 15+, 50 years ago this may have been true but horses/ponies are living so much longer now its hard to tell.

The Mag is 20 this year and he's been showing his age the last year or two but he's a big chap (3/4 shire) who's quite high milage as someone put it. As much as I'd hate to think about it i'd be surprised if he got past his mid 20's.

I think vetern class ages should be raised to at least 17-18 when most larger horses start to show.
 
it depend on how harder life they had when they are younger 16tb gelding i would consider old/veteran (and yes he came 2nd in a veteran class as a 15yr old :P) he was raced very hard until he was 10,
 
Yes Gwen but was it olympia? lol

Ted is 17 on Jan 1st (so really 16) and he raced until May 06 when he was 14.. bloody harder.. So I know where your coming from Gwen.

Lou x
 
I'm looking at it from the perspective of how I'd feel if I were buying a horse.

If it was over 15 years of age, I consider it to be an oldie. Simply for the reasons that getting decent insurance cover would be difficult, and if I were to keep it for a couple of years before selling it on, I'd inevitably experience difficulty due to its age. There might be absolutely nothing wrong with the horse, but you just know people are going to be reluctant to purchase a horse into its late teens - for fear of it becoming unsuitable for work and them being lumbered with the expense/inconvenience of a retirement horse. Such a sad situation for all the older horses out there who've worked hard and been gems all their life, but then end up being off loaded and unwanted.
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20+ these days I think. At the beginning of the last century the average age of a horse was 9 years (OK the poor sods had to go to war and stuff). Now I believe the average age is 19. My grade A is 20 next year and still acts like a five year old. We lost our old mare two years ago at the ripe old age of 37, I really did think she was going to make it to 40!
 
Our pony was 20 when we lost him to cancer. He was no wat old!!
We had him 17yrs and he was ridden 5/7 up until the day we pts.
retired from pc eventing at age 16 because he started to stop!
Dressage novice/elementary till age 18.
To my mind we lost him 15yrs too soon!!!!
 
my horse is going to be 20 this year. she really doesn't look her age. in actual fact after a recent flawtwork lesson, i asked how she was doing for an older horse not quite used to the whole dressage thing and he looked shocked and thought she was 11. she doesn't have many miles on the clock, so i'm hoping we can do prelim dressage, showing and hacking for a few years yet, what do you reckon?
 
My girl is 22 and still jumps out of her field every day to bring herself in when she's had enough grass (gate plus tape above, about 4ft 8!)
She gets ridden 4 to 5 days out of 7 as is happy as larry. I consider her an oldie and prob have since she was 19 when I scaled her work down and stopped affiliated comps with her.
 
20s, but it depends on the horse or pony. Our old 13.2 was eventing at PC Area level at 26 and I lightly hunt our 14.2 who is the same age. Old JA show jumping ponies often go on competing into their 30s. If they are sound enough to work, they are better being kept doing what they know and enjoy. Our Welsh D and Arab/Welsh 'youngsters' are 17 and 18 and both look and act 10 years younger. I agree 15 is stupidly young for veteran classes.
 
I was given a 15 yr old gelding (14.3 native type) who I had for 19 years.

He was 25 when I decided he wasn't quite up to the competing I wanted to do (dressage, showing and a bit of xc) so that's when I bought a young mare.

The gelding was more or less retired at 30, last ridden at 32 and pts at 34.

Obviously it does depend on the breed and the individual horse, but I think the minimum age on veteran classes should be raised to 20. My 11 yr old mare is only just beginning her showing/dressage career and I hope to have a good 14-15 years out of her before buying my next 5 yr old when she's around 26!!!
 
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