Experiences with slightly older horses who have done nothing?

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

Just curious.
Has anyone got positive experiences of taking on an older horse who was either broken very late or had a period of time off? By older I mean 9/10 years old but with the education of a 4/5 year old.
How trainable are they by this age? How easy is it to educate a horse that has seen nothing in their lives other than the field and their mates?
Any stories - successful and non successful gratefully received.
Ta!

 

[smellsofhorse]

A friend of mine has a 14 year old horse, who is at about the same level as my 7 year old.

He was backed late but she has had him a couple of years now and he has come on well, he is competing at about 90 but bigger at home, flatwork needs inproving but the bascis are there.
At 14 he is in no way past in and has plenty of years left so this isnt really and issue.

 

[Tonty Tont]

I backed Tont myself as a 14 year old, and before that he was a rescue and then used as a field ornament
He was quite easy to break, and it's lovely sometimes that he is older, as he has seen it all and isn't bothered by anything (tractors ect)
The only downside is that if he doesn't want to do something, he was all very calm about it but would just turn around, on a hack, and march home :rollseyes: I think this was because he wanted the field ornament life again, but with schooling and a stronger bit he got over it

 

[Javabb94]

I got my horse at 12,

he had only hacked for the past two years and just ridden at home before (i think)
he had never competed so was very green in that respect

he had done the basics like jumping small and had good flatwork so wasnt too bad,

he has taken to everything really well, when i went to my first show he was very cally and had a little rear when he couldnt see his friend any more but in the ring i couldnt have asked for any better he was extremely good and jumped everything

he has never done xc and i am aiming for my first BE80(t) in april so have all winter to get him going in that respect

he has jumped most fillers first time,

i also had the privilege D) of taking him for the first time in an indoor school which again he didnt bat an eyelid at.

the school is absolutely huge apparently one of largest indoors and it has all the different countries flags on the walls and all the sponsor boards and he was perfect

only thing i have struggled with is that he hasnt been socialised, he has always been kept at home with maybe one or two other horses, so hasnt experienced seeing horses coming and going all the time like at a livery and he gets excited when he sees others!

 

[Fransurrey]

I'm just backing my 10yr old exmoor mare. She'd had some bad experiences and also was exceedingly nervous when I got her. I've had her two years, now. My farrier was only saying the other day what a lovely pony she turned out to be. If anything, the bugger is too confident, now, as she's got her nose in everything. Upside is that when I sat on her two weeks ago, she just shifted her weight and sniffed my foot.

I think the old adage 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' is complete sloblock. You might have to do it differently (I wouldn't know - she's my first!!), but so far, she's been a gem to back (thank God!).

 

[Flicker]

Girl at our yard bought a 7 year old late gelded warmblood, who had been used to breed in his early life. He was at the equivalent of 3 or 4 year old schooling wise when she bought him. She's had him around 3 or 4 years so he's 10 or 11 now.
They are eventing at 90cm currently, absolutely flying. He's a lovely horse with a great outlook and full of fun. I think his later start has stood him in good stead - certainly had no adverse effects on their career together.

 

[ThePony]

I got my mare at 9 and her flatwork was worse than a just backed 4 year old! Terrible walk, no trot or canter (it's ok - she was fab in other ways, I'm not totally off my block!). She had hacked out in walk for the prev few years before I got her so she was just wonderful in traffic, but no flatwork or schooling to speak of. She had got over a few small jumps in her time too, but that really was it! She showed no personality either and had no reaction to your presence or voice. She was a funny old thing!

We are doing dressage now and hope to be moving up to Novice this winter. I have had her for 2 years (with prob 8 months off in that time due to one thing and another - nothing related to her lack of education). Initially I just rode her hacking, although she would take you past anything traffic wise, that was pretty much where it ended too! Things like getting her to carry herself, move forwards etc ('basics' even for the slowest of happy hackers) have taken time as you need to get through her 'I've always worked this way, b****r off' attitude and also her lack of muscle to allow her to work in this way.

Attitude has been a bit of a stumbling block as she has alot of it! Because she was never schooled and brought on with a structured education, she never developed a work ethic or the idea that she needs to do as she is asked when schooling - each tiny ask from the rider is not the start of a lengthy discussion/argument!! We have had weekly lessons for the last 9 months now to try to get to grips with our schooling blocks and she is a different horse!

I think a more experienced rider could have brought her on more quickly, but she is a quirky sort so time spent learning to hack comfortably and basically do as she is asked was time really well spent. She is now schooling elem movements and is an absolute joy to hack. We still have our quirky moments, but generally she has a legendary disposition and can be relied upon to lead our more sensitive mare past anything, add to that the now developing idea that when asked it is reasnoble to obey straight away - and the schooling is coming along very nicely too.

I wouldn't swap her for the world as she is now my best friend and the amount she has taught me is immense. But (quite a big but!) I have been in tears of frustration more than once and had total confidence crashes. It took an awful long time before she would lead to the field, not barge out of her stable, was pleasant to hack even for 30 mins in walk, and even longer before she could get around a 20 x 40 for an intro test.

In terms of bringing on my learning and riding she has been the best you could ever imagine (with understanding experienced help for the schooling blocks!), but in terms of something ready made to get out with she would have been a super bad buy! Totally depends what you are after, what you are prepared (and able) to do - whether with or without help. I needed more of a rider education and that is truly what I have got (and still getting!) so she was ideal. But if that wasn't what I was up for then I would have had a rotten couple of years!

 

[Lanky Loll]

I'm currently in the process of educating Mags to the saddle. She's 8, a standardbred pacer and although she has been ridden she's never been schooled as her job for the last 4 years had been harness racing. Her only ridden work has been the odd hack up the road and as company for the tb's on the gallops during their early fittening work as she can pace under saddle as fast as they can gallop

So she's finished racing 3 weeks ago and she's being let down slowly, with short sessions in the arena learning walk/trot transitions - normally she paces just about every where although she's happy to trot or gallop in a straight line. She's never worked on a circle with tack on before (although she has been lunged occasionally) so her method of going round the bends is "interesting". She doesn't really do anything wrong but when she doesn't understand a command she just starts to pace, complicated by up to now her being worked almost solely by voice commands from the cart (think flat out to halt in 3 strides on saying woah and she still does this when being ridden which resulted in me ending up round her ears when I took her for a blast round the fields ) and her having zero understanding of leg aids. I think it's going to be a slow learning process for her as she's been so conditioned to her job, but she picks things up really quickly I just have to try and keep it as stress free as possible as she panics a bit if she doesn't understand.