At what age!? ...... Musing......

[NZJenny]

When you get older, suddenly you are very aware of time passing and all the things you still want to do!

I'm 51 and am having fun with my 4 year old and even though I no longer start my own under saddle, I think she will be the last young horse I have. However she should (all going well) last me until I'[m pushing 70 - that's the plan anyway. If I still want to ride at that age, I'll worry about the next horse then.

If I don't want to ride, then the plan is to have a natty little pony and go scurry driving. Looks like fun!

 

[oldie48]

Make sure he's forward going and really off the leg, though. Nothing worse when we get older than having to work too hard to get a horse going. It's the reason I sold my last one and got something with a bit more oomph!QUOTE=Sukistokes2;13160582]Thank you all so much, I see I've still got a way to go before I have to worry!
So much so I am in the process of buying a new horse....a rock solid Shire X , slow (ish) and steady, going to have to get my Dad to build me a loading platform so I can get on and off!!!
I really enjoyed reading all your stories.[/QUOTE]

 

[spacefaer]

When I was a teenager, I worked for a lady called Lorna Johnstone, who had been to the Olympics as a 70 yr old. She was 83 when o started working for her and bought herself a 4 yr old the following year.

She had lessons from Herr Franz Rochowansky who I understand was a similar generation- they worked at one end of the indoor school as if she went down the far end, she couldn't hear him and he couldn't see her

 

[Sukistokes2]

Make sure he's forward going and really off the leg, though. Nothing worse when we get older than having to work too hard to get a horse going. It's the reason I sold my last one and got something with a bit more oomph!

I think he is going to be great, very off the leg, a little harder to stop but thats just him being unbalanced and on the forehand so he kind of runs away with himself. some schooling will sort that out.
little miss scardy pants not only walked and trotted I cantered and rode him up the road. My friend couldnt believe it, usually takes me a while to trust a horse.

 

[madlady]

I'm hoping to carry on for as long as I can still clamber into a saddle

I'll be 50 soon and OH is 60 - funny he had a day off this weekend - I told him to stay home and I'd go and do them - he was bored at home and didn't sleep very well as he hadn't been out in the fresh air all day

 

[SallyBatty]

I'm 60 now and still riding. My cob mare is 15.2hh and will be 26 years old in May. We enjoy going for fast hacks with my 25 year old daughter on her 16 year old sports horse mare where on occasion other people haven't been able to keep up with us. We do mainly schooling during the week as I work full time in London so I don't manage to get down to the yard until about 8pm on weeknights, and we do occasional jumping and dressage at local unaffiliated level. Yesterday we ended up messing about bareback in walk and trot and then attempting to demonstrate 'round the world' and 'thread the needle' to a young girl on the yard - not very successfully on my part though as I managed to slide off both times - should have tried it with a saddle on instead as it wouldn't have been so slippy. I definitely intend to go on as long as I possibly can though as I feel so much better out in the fresh air (even when it is raining) than I do when I'm stuck inside all day.

 

[teapot]

There's a lady riding at the yard bog hoss is at who's 92...

 

[pansymouse]

I'm 53 and my mare's rising 22 but very fit and sharp. I will keep her for the rest of her life and will get a similar horse when she goes. My YO is in her 80s and now drives instead of riding, it's certainly an option I would consider when riding becomes too physically challenging.

 

[Annagain]

I have a friend who is in her mid 70s and she and her 10 yr old granddaughter share a 14hh pony. She rides most weekdays and her granddaughter at weekends. P had a nasty accident about 5 years ago where she had to be airlifted off a beach when her old boy went up and over with her. He was temperamental at the best of times but was found after that to be going blind so he was retired. We thought she would retire at this point too but she's kept going. She does prefer a smaller one these days though, as much for the tacking up as the getting on and off. Until her granddaughter moved up from the 11.2 to the 14hh pony she was riding a friend's 17hh TB but was struggling with lifting the saddle and rugs onto him.