Does anyone have an uncomplicated horse?!!

We've had a highland pony for 12yrs:) he's now 28, never once been lame, had a significant injury, dropped his weight, had any thing wrong with his teeth or feet, he's a doddle of pony and and absolute gent! He's our one in a million💕 He hasn't so much as had a bout of mud fever! Doesn't had cushings of other age related conditions! He's my best boy and a dream to be honest!
Only recently he's started to show signs of mild arthritis if he's stabled too long!
 
Yes, all nine of them are completely uncomplicated - including the Lusitano stallion who is sort of middle of the herd firmly led by the section D. Must be something to do with the paddock paradise :D
 
Nope! I did have my prev pony for just under 10 yrs and ridden and handling-wise he was a dream (well apart from the few times he nearly killed us both... once jumping in a ditch spooking at a tractor then leaping up again in front of a car and the second when I came off at gallop into a tree and he kept going and would have ended up on the road if not for the gate on the bridlepath! Oh and then there were his catching issues...) but his health issues and the mammoth task of loaning him whilst at uni caused A LOT of stress.

Current ones nicknames include "Gollum", he's cost me at least 3 times his purchase price in vets bills and even more than that in specialist feeds and supplements, fixing him has required sending him to the other side of the country and back and we're on new saddle no 2 at the moment and yard no 4 (soon to be 5... although we've been there before so maybe it doesn't count as a move?) and we're currently embarking on another veterinary related adventure...

I'm rather good at picking the "special" ones...
 
Several...
Rising 10 year old Arab X. Easy baby, easy to break in, easy to ride (my 75 year old father and my 11 year old daughter can both ride him) consistent steady performer, guided a friend around her first 100 mile ride this year. No lameness or sickness to report.
11 year old "mutt" who had a huge abscess in the first month after we got her home due to changing from irrigated sandplain country to rocks and gravel. No issues since in 4 years.
21 year old Connemara mare. Had her eye removed last year but prior to that no issues in her entire life.
Standardbred gelding, now 15. One episode of lameness in 10 years (bruised sole). Now on free loan teaching a beginner.
As someone else said,if they are complex we don't keep them.
 
I've only ever had one completely uncomplicated horse who has given me no vet bills in seventeen years. He stands about fourteen hands, will carry sixteen stone all day, hasn't lost his beautiful grey dapples as he has aged, and is so clean in the stable that he is allowed in the house. He also has rockers :)
 
Yes - 21 year old stallion. Totally straightforward and uncomplicated (honest!), I could do with his clone, but we have kept a daughter this year, so that's as close as we will get :-)
 
My old boy (also a D) was. I had him 14 years. Other than routine vet visits, he saw the vet 3 times in that time - all in the last 3 years of his life, the first was for a kidney infection - 5 days of antibiotics later he was back to normal, the second was when his knee arthritis was diagnosed after he refused a jump for the first time ever (at 25) and was semi-retired and the third was the day he was pts with colic, at 27.

In that time he had taken me from being a nervous 13 year old to jumping anything in sight and supervising the young kids on the pony club beach ride. All the way through GCSEs, A Levels all the teenage heartbreak, went out on loan while I went to uni and then came back to me. I wouldn't have changed him for the world.

My share horse (known him 15 years) is the most uncomplicated in the world to ride and handle. Nobody has ever fallen off him, just fallen over with him! He has however had 2 significant lameness issues in the last 4 years (so two in 15 years, not bad in total). The first was an injury we knew would heal so wasn't too stressful, but due his to age and therefore no insurance to cover investigations we weren't sure whether the last one - a hock problem this summer - was age related wear and tear or an injury so was very worrying for us. Luckily he's better than he's been for a long time now.
 
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I did have one. A 3/4 TB mare who i got when she was 7yrs. She died at 35 from a heart attack in the field. During that time she was only ever lame once when she got her foot caught in wire and nearly ripped it clean off! The most fantastic all rounder who also produced me a foal.
Naturally since then I've had pretty much disaster after disaster!
 
He's uncomplicated now *toucheswood* from a manitenance/handling perspective but can still be a total tit under saddle when the mood takes him.

If uncomplicated = perfect then I'm not sure such horses exist!

What was that old saying? 'Be to his virtures ever kind and to his faults alittle blind'
 
I don't want to tempt fate, but credit where it's due - one of my polo ponies ( and now broodmare) Noodle, is the most uncomplicated horse I've ever known.

She's never had a day off sick, never been lame, she has doubled in every game she's ever played for us, she loads like a dream, travels well, easy to catch, clip, shoe...everything. When we bought her, her previous owner said she was perfect in every way but just too slow for his level of polo. Well, I didn't believe him, and I waited and waited for her to show some kind of vice...but she never has. If I had to find fault with her, she's a bit greedy! But that's it, she's a saint of a pony and if I could clone her I'd have a string in her mould, scars, big ears and all!

I figure we were sent her to make up for the long list of nightmares we've had, because the others are all accident prone and tricky!
 
My mare. Not marish, polite to handle, bombproof to ride but at the same time forwards, point and shoot to jump. Never sick, never lame too (touch wood). She doesn't qualify as she's only rising 7. I think the key to her personality is she lived out 24/7 with youngsters and a nanny mare from weaning, but also had (almost) daily handling. I've owned her since she was 18 months old.
 
Wow I am really surprised! I thought the complicated ones would not be the norm.

I had 2 for 15+ years, both never had the vet out until it was near the end, hack out alone in heavy traffic, successfully compete regularly etc. The chestnut mare did buck.. So I guess that might count for disqualification :p

I had one in the middle who was very complicated, behaviour, health the lot!

And now my Friesian, who cant qualify as he is too young :p but in the time I have owned him he has been an absolute pleasure. Forward and flashy, but sensible & caring. Just jags a teeth so far! ( touch wood!)
 
Yep my old mare. Had her about 15 years and only ever had the vet out for vacs and once for mud fever. She was pretty much bombproof, could put your granny on her or a better rider and she would step up. Lots of character but just the nicest horse to be round, everyone that met her fell in love with her. Jumped BS with me, would do xc but didn't like water (i wasn't keen on xc so not an issue) could pull out a stonking dressage test (with someone else riding, I would get so nervous it was pointless me doing it!) was awesome at trek type things. Only small issue was that she was a field hopper in the winter but would quite happily be kept stabled for a few weeks without really changing. She was a think it and its done kind of ride which caught people out, they thought she was an easy do it for you ride but she would make you think, a true schoolmaster in the end.
I lost her at about 6 years ago aged 20ish to strangles, the only illness she ever had in all those years. She was a 14.3hh ex riding school Irish bog cob with a back a bit too long and legs a bit too short, worked hard in her early life with people far to heavy to ride her and bashed about out hacking with saddles that didn't fit. If ever a horse was to have issues she should have but she was solid, unlike the accident prone, neurotic (but ultimately safe, talented and generally lovely) boy I had after.
I don't think they make them like that any more....
 
I was going to say that my boys are uncomplicated but honestly, when you think about it even they cause me problems! Both are very prone to lami, one has sweet itch and is an escape artist. I wouldn't say mine were overly complicated at all, but they do have their individual stresses.
 
what a lovely saying! I'd also add, if there's something you can change for the better, put the work in and change it, if it's the "wrong horse" for whatever reason, try to move it to someone who will think it's the "right horse".
Stockers said:
If uncomplicated = perfect then I'm not sure such horses exist!

What was that old saying? 'Be to his virtures ever kind and to his faults alittle blind'
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AdorableAlice said:
I think the forum would implode if he was a TB !, he was a Welsh D (E) a big one at 16h.
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Weeeel...my old 16.3 TB is now 28, I've had her since birth, and apart from being a ginger bitch with other people, she has been amazing fun, done everything from PC rallies and camps to hunting and BE eventing, and only an arthritic hip and slightly arthritic fetlocks are slowing her down now.
 
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