Bringing an older horse back into work

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BigRed

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I have been offered an 11 year old horse, he was once a decent competition horse, but has not been ridden properly for 3 years. He is cheap and the attractive thing, is that I can have him on loan for a while before buying him. When I tried him, he was sensible, but calling to his friends. The owner who is known to me, is honest and says he is fine to ride alone. The horse seems to have forgotten a lot of his schooling and was very lazy and ignorant of the aids.

Anyone have experience of bringing a horse like this back into work ? I appreciate I need to be careful to not ask too much too fast.
 
I have just bought my horse back into work.

She is 16. Used to event until doing a tendon 4 years ago. Her owner decided that she had had enough time off and shouldnt be a field ornament anymore so gave her to me to bring back into work after i had to put my loopy horse out on loan.
She hadnt been ridden for 4 years. So her owner sat on her and rode her down the lane and back. She was fine, i took her on from there. She has been absolutely fine coming back into work to the point where it was like she hadnt been out of work. her schooling is a tiny bit rusty but thats just because the muscles need time to adapt and get used to work again.
Take it really slowly. Short hacks increasing by 5 mins per day in walk. Then introduce trot slowly after about 3 or so weeks. Starting by a few strides and i then built it up by 10 strides a day.
(i am absolutely no expert.....this is just what i did!)
Why has the horse not been ridden?
At 11 years old, having been out of work for 3 years....if its not injury related, i would be cautious. If it wasnt injury related, why doesnt the owner get him fit and sell him for more??
if it is injury related....what would you do if the horse breaks down again. Thats what i asked myself. Luckily if my horse injures herself again *touch wood and pray she doesnt* then she will have her back and retire her with another horse.

good luck
 
The owner is in his early 70's. He bought the horse when it was 5, hunted it himself, loaned it to the huntsman, who retired, had it shown professionally then ran out of money. He clearly loves the horse, you can see through the mud and hair that it is a quality animal, he has just been hanging onto it, trying to find someone to loan it from him, without success. It is a BIG horse.
 
Cant offer advice but hope it works out for you and the horse, I imagine at that age it wont take too long.

Would be nice for the owner to see him ridden again , good luck!
 
Ah i c!

well, providing you have got patience and understanding then i dont see why not. 11 is no age at all for a horse so you could get many many happy years from the horse yet.
I have found bringing my mare back into work really rewarding. She is a real sweetheart, but it has been great seeing her build up muscle and to see her really enjoying herself. I think they find being a field ornament a bit dull if im honest and its lovely to see them enjoying what they do and getting fitter and stronger week by week.
Mine has been back in work since august last year. Hacking for the first 3 months (she took longer on harder ground due to her old tendon injury so i wanted to make sure that she was fully ready to start on a surface. 7 months on we are schooling in walk, trot and canter on a surface, long hacks, jumping and going for gallops in the field!
Just remember......slowly, slowly catchy monkey. Its worth it in the end.
Have fun!
 
PollyP99 said:
Would be nice for the owner to see him ridden again
Click to expand...

Ditto this....i think my mares owner is enjoying seeing her ridden again. Although she will never event to any level again the mare is capable of all i want to do and im really enjoying her, the horse is enjoying herself and i think that her owner is enjoying seeing us form a good team and having fun.
 
i am part loaning a 20year old 14.1hh mare. i have had to get her fit again. i started her off with a hack only at a snails pace, just to see what she was like. i have now been riding her for around 7 months and she has got quite fit (i only ride twice a week, sat and sun) she still needs some more hill work to let us go further and getting her used to hacking out on her own again. if you are loaning at first then you could get it fit then, if he proves too much to handle then, or istn what you would be looking for then you can nicely back away. i say go with your gut instinct :D
 
I'm bringing my mare back into work now and she is 19 and really enjoying her work again!

We are just pottering about but she's coming into a shape done some really good school work and popped a small round of jumps (well the jumps were small but she was a long way off touching them lol) and some hacking

re his calling that will settle you just need to do work that keeps his attention

This sounds like a really good chance for you ! Have fun
 
I got my horse pretty much identically to the situation you describe!! The only thing that jumped out at me reading your post is that the gentleman is letting you have it on loan before you buy it (which is obviously great if you decide you don't get on with it!!). You said you knew him, and this comment depends on how well really I guess.... but I'd be carefull about this situation just becuase once the horse is back in work after your hard work and effort, you don't want him to suddenly decide the horse is worth more now and thus price it a lot higher than it was originally worth even though its you that increased the value, or even sell it on to someone else before you purchase it.

Obviously I don't know your situation with the owner, or any contractual/financial agreement you have in place so I'm sorry if this comment is unneccessary, but I wouldn't like to think you'd put in a lot of work for nothing.

In terms of being older, at 11 the horse should have many more years ahead, and hopefully the time off will mean it has "less miles on the clock" so to speak.

I hope it goes well for you, sounds like you could have a lovely horse there.
 
i rode an 18 years mare last week that has'nt been ridden for three years, went for a hack round, it was as if she had'nt had a day off! and she's a bonkers tb!
 
I'm bringing my 20yr old back into work after the best part of 18 months off with an occasional hack in the first 6 months.

I rode for 10 minutes the first few days. Then 15 mins for a few days. 10 days on an hours hack, all in walk. I actually got off and walked for the last 10-15 minutes of the hours hack. I will gradually introduce trot over the next couple of weeks.
He seems to enjoy 'doing' something again.

Jane
 
I brought a 16year old back into work after 3 years off..
2years out on loan (badly cared for) the 3rd year dealing with his abscess..

Started lunging him lightly 2-3 times a week walking and trotting, rode him out on the roads up and down small hills to gain the fitness.. a month later trotting abit on the road.. 5months down the line we were schooling like he'd never had time off :)

just had to get my brush out, and sweep his memory clean!

good luck! :D xx
 
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