breaking in an older horse

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curlytop

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is it possible to break in an older horse. i have a stallion who is 15. hes been here a year and was unhandled since a 2 yr old.
we have bonded really well. he is very good to handle and is not dominant in anyway.

is it possible to break a pony in at this age?
i know mares can be difficult after a certain age, and was wondering what anyone thought with this one?

look forward to reading the replies,
thanks
 
Anything is possible. I broke a 14 year old. He was a nightmare to start with, even going in the school he used to rear and try and kick me in the head but after a while we bonded and he realised that I wasn't trying to hurt him. You couldn't even lead him properly when I first met him! He took a while at the beginning as he was so scared of everything but he soon came sweet. Was totally worth it as he is a lovely horse now.
 
Anything is possible. :) I haven't done one that old but I did do a mare and her 'foal' who were 12 and nine! The bigger problem there was they'd never been apart and the younger one had never met any other horses!!

Start as you mean to go on. There is no reason theoretically he can't become a riding horse although you will have to remember there are lots of things he'll need to learn and may be more set on his ways than a younger horse.
 
i decided to pop a soft roller on him v loosely tonight. being a native, he has never worn a rug before. to cut a long story short, he leapt a mile and fell over and cut his face poor thing. a complete shock for him. but we finished with him wearing the roller undone from both sides. he was chewing which i find a good sign.
theres not a bad bone in his body so i think he might do it for me.
would being a stallion make it any harder than breaking a broodmare?
 
On the basis of that story, I'd say go slower!! And a bit more systematically. I'm not making mountains out of molehills but he's now had a negative initial experience with a roller. Obviously you did right to back up and it seems to have gone fine but generally you want to avoid too many more of those situations!

I presume he's fine to be brushed, led, longed etc? (I know not everyone longes and there are lots of nice horse made that way but in this case it probably makes sense to do EVERYTHING you can think of to build his skills.) Can you put a towel over him? How about something crinkly like a piece of plastic? Can you throw the lead rope over his back and pull it up under his belly? These are the sorts of things people do with very young horses long before they're backed so perhaps they don't even think about it when the time comes to do more, but he, of course, will have missed out on all that "playing around".

Don't just rely on him trusting you or "doing it for you". Yes, trust is an important tool but only in that it allows the trainer to give the horse good experiences. If he's confident in his skills then it doesn't have to be about "you", at least eventually.
 
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Our CBxTB mare wasn't backed until she was 7, this has seemed to cause her so many problems, still ongoing at 12 yr old, she is an opiniated tart, dangerous to handle if she is stressed, she broke my OH's ribs barging out of her box, dragged him on his belly through a forest while long reining, we had to tie her to a tree, once she had stopped bolting, she was dangerous, rearing, charging, tying herself up in the long reins.
She is now happily doped up on Klop, with my daughter in the New Forest.
My daughter is as stubborn as the mare
God love them both
 
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