for those with horses aged 18 and over

[flower08]

my mare is 18, iv owned her 12 years, over the years iv hunted, sj, xc, done a little dressage, beach ride etc, shes a fab mare although sharp and spooky but def a horse of a life time

so my question is what do you do with your older horses?
at the moment im just hacking with a little bit of schooling, i would like to do a bit of sj but i worry about her being older, although to be fair to her she is really well and still thinks shes 7!!

 

[Rainbow01]

I think it depends on the horse, my boy is 18 and we still hack out for hours, do a bit of schooling and general plodding about, he still loves to go for a good blast across a field though!

My old mare was 36 when I lost her, 2 days before she was put to sleep I was still riding her, she loved being ridden and I think sometimes keeping them in consistant work keeps them going, I dont think she would have lasted as long if I retired her any earlier!

 

[temple_jessica]

my mare is rising 22 years old, to look at her she doesnt look her age at all apart from her face is going slightly grey

i hack, school and will be affiliating her sj (she has done affiliated a few years back)


she never comes out stiff, very agile. Strong to ride, leaps, bounces, canters down road sideways on hacks.....in fact apart from the age on her passport you would never really say she was old!

it depends on horse, go with what you feel

 

[Ladylina83]

I know what you mean - I worry too but may mare has come back from having a couple of years off to have foal and is now in the best shape she has been in years ! If anything i think she could go out more its just my riding isnt up to scratch !!

I think every weekend might be a bit much but getting out and about once a month can't hurt

I noticed you are quite new, Welcome - If you go into go into the picture gallery there is a thread in there re veterans - you see some ace older horses that are showing little sign of slowing down

 

[smirnoff_ice07]

I hunted Sj'd and XC'd my old lad until the age of 23 when I retired him. His last ever cross country he still pulled my arms out of their sockets and tanked the whole way round but I had made the decision to quit while we were ahead. He had a lovely 4 years retirement teaching my youngster some manners and basically doing as he pleased, he was in disgustingly good health until January this year when he stopped eating and was PTS.
He knew it was his time, believe me they tell you when they've had enough.

 

[HuntingB]

The best pony I've ever sat on is still hunting every week at 20! She keeps up with the best of them still!

 

[measles]

Our rising 22yo JA pony will do some PC, unaff and possible small BS with 8yo son next year. She's never stiff and raring to go!

 

[flower08]

thanks for all the replys, i feel much better about her now,
and thanks for the welcome i will go and have a look at that thread now.

when i worked for the hunt we always had older horses but i suppose because shes mine i worry more

its great to read that others are still competing etc

 

[Brandy]

I got my old horse when he was 18, and he was my main riding horse for the next 9 or 10 years! He is now 30 and pretty much retired though still goes for the occasional short hack. At 18 he was being ridden 4 - 6 times a week, including long hacks and schooling - didn;t really jump as he is an ex polo pony and is rubbish at it! But had he been better at it I'm sure we would have done a bit, but nothing too big.

My native mare is 24 and has decided that she does not wish to be ridden every day, but is more than happy to do 3 times a week and is still very lively indeed, doing 5 hours of pulling when we did a beach ride in the summer.

 

[FanyDuChamp]

Captain is nearly 18, in May, and he is semi retired. But he was a CDE pro horse and a carriage horse so has had a hard working life.He is not stiff yet *touches wood* but does seem to be having some joint changes. He is exercised 2 or 3 times a week. Still as sharp and sensitive as ever though.
FDC

 

[ladyt25]

Well, mine is 20 now and I've had him 16 years. He's BSJA'd since the age of 4 although did have a break when i went to uni and then worked abroad. However, he's always jumped and done XC/ODEs etc and his BSJA membership expired this year - although in all honesty we'd sort of lost out jumping 'mojo' as far as showjumping on its own was concerned but he was loving doing XC and ODEs and, at 18 we went to the RC Horse Trials Championships down in Warwickshire. He loved it and you certainly wouldn't have thought he was 18!

I do think you know your horse best. I still intend to do some events on mine next year if he's willing - he did very well in his last ODE back in the summer, still wanted to go. I only do sort of 90/95cms max as that's what we're both comfortable at. As you have had yours such a long time too you will be more aware of whether he wants to slow down a bit. My attitude with mine is I will keep him going as long as he wants to although i ake more timenow to get him fit and warm him up etc etc.

 

[MrSpam]

It depends on the horse. If you know your horse just carry on 'til they tell you otherwise.

My old chap had a morning out hunting when he was 29. He hunted every year, but only about 5 times a season, till his mid twenties. I only stopped because I didn't have enough time to get him properly fit. It's one thing taking a young horse, but an older one doesn't recover quite so well if they're not really fit.
He was finally retired at 32, having been ridden almost daily and PTS this year at 34.

On the other hand I have a 18 yr old, hunted all his life, who I can't keep sound enough to do anything. He could be a gentle hack, but he's sharp and won't considerate it. Now a companion.

 

[luce1]

My Horse is 18 next year and gearing up for another season of BE100 Eventing... he still loves it and would pop around a Novice/Intermediate easily still!! He will tell me when he has had enough and I wont push him...
My sisters horse is 25 and still out doing unaffliated SJ, only 2'6ft but still loves it!!!

 

[Bertolie]

My cob is 18 and still enjoys hacking and we do a little bit of jumping for fun. He hasn't had a hard life and still has plenty of years left in him (I hope!). He loves to go for a blast and usually leaves the younger ones standing!

My friends 26 year old is still out doing, and winning usually, hunter trials and has shown no signs of slowing down. At his last hunter trial people didn't believe how old he was, he flew round the course!

You know your horse best, and he/she will tell you when the time is right to slow down.

 

[squirtlysmum]

I hunted Sj'd and XC'd my old lad until the age of 23 when I retired him. His last ever cross country he still pulled my arms out of their sockets and tanked the whole way round but I had made the decision to quit while we were ahead. He had a lovely 4 years retirement teaching my youngster some manners and basically doing as he pleased, he was in disgustingly good health until January this year when he stopped eating and was PTS.
He knew it was his time, believe me they tell you when they've had enough.

Definitely agree they let you know, my old girl was 21 when I lost her but months prior to that she enjoyed a fairly easy time with hacking and doing some small show classes although she had clearly decided that she'd behaved amazingly all her life and old age was a time to turn into a fire eating monster.
I now have her son and another horse who is 18 next year, I try to hack although he's fairly awful and compete affiliated dressage, nobody has told him his age. He's the orange person in my siggie.

 

[topclass]

I was still doing CC with my Tb at the age of 30 and being an ex racer he absolutely loved it it took me all my time to get himt o slow down sometimes. Started to wind him down about 32 and just do bit of jumping and schooling but he was still being ridden at 35 years old so I can only say that no one know your horse better than you and you will know when it's time to slow them down. I sadly lost him at 36 but I dont regret a minute of the 21 years I had him not one bit.

 

[JessPickle]

My boy is 19, we do a bit of unaffiliated SJ/Dressage and plenty of hacking, he still loves to gallop and certainly isn't slowing down! This was him last week haha, if anything he's on top form.

 

[OWLIE185]

My 27 year old has just been retired because she stumbled. 24 year old is still regularly gently hacked out for up to 3 hours at a time.

 

[superted1989]

Mine will be 20 next year, is fit as a fiddle, came 2nd in a novice cross country mid October and had his first day's hunting a few weeks ago.
His previous owners had him for 13 years (I got him in May this year) and he's always had the best of everything. He'd been out of work for a year and only done very light hacking for 3 years previous. He's now very fit and thoroughly enjoys his work.

 

[JFTDWS]

My lad is somewhere over 18 and while I claim he is semi-retired, he repeatedly disagrees with me. I bought the first highland so I could ease off J, which I have competitively, but he's still up for just about anything - he was unaff. hunter trialling in spring, TREC-ing in summer and is now playing horseball (which he is extremely enthusiastic about

My friends similar aged Clydie is arthritic and unwilling to do more than quiet hacking - it depends on the horse, but I'm sure yours will let you know how much he's up for. I don't make mine do anything he's unwilling to do now (or rather, I won't push him round an xc course at speed or anything and if he's reluctant, we take a break from that discipline for a while till he feels up for it again).

 

[flower08]

i cant get over how many people have older horses its lovely reading about them all.
my mare feels really good and loves being ridden, well she still takes the bit out of my hand as though it were a polo so im guessing shes happy, and yes i think she would tel me if she didnt want to be ridden anymore, we have a very good bond and i just worship her

 

[Daisy2]

Oh if only I knew how old he really is... Passport says twelve, dentist says over 25 one vet said around 18 and another around 12. Anyhow he is big and lazy so its difficult to know sometimes if he;s just lazy or trying to tell me he's had enough. Our activity is hacking and mostly quietly but can be long at times.

 

[blood_magik]

Don't tell Jerry how old he really is - he swears he's still 10

We jump and are going to attempt some BD and some XC

 

[martlin]

Mine is 18 and fully retired, she eats, poos and looks pretty. She is retired as she is a bit of an all or nothing horse, is hacking sound but not really possible to keep sane in light work and not sound enough for hard work. She'll have a foal next year.

 

[Wundahorse]

My Arab mare is approaching 27 and still going strong.We hack out mainly,now at weekends due to the winter.She still wants to be up front and takes up the challenge of staying there,no matter how young her companions may be.She is 100% sound,no stiffness or age related signs at all.If we have a gallop she hardly puffs,and again shows more stamina than much younger horses.Not bad,aye.

 

[HorseandGroom]

My Arab mare is approaching 27 and still going strong..

Our Arab mare is 34 soon to be 35 and she hacks out at least twice a week often with horses a third her age, granted she now takes our 11 year old daughter but she has taken her to shows both riddeen and inhand veteran. Shes lives out all year. One things for sure we will miss her when we don't have her!
The comments that horses live longer if active and used are so true I have seen it time and time again.

Best wishes

Ian

 

[JenHunt]

Both our boys will be 18 this coming year. Ron still hunts twice a week, hacks out for hours, events a little, HT SJ etc... Tom however is a bit arthritic and so he's in light work, hacking out, light schooling on good days, and a little jumping for fun.

it really depends on the horse!

ETA - Ron doesn't believe me when I tell him he's a 17/18yo IDx not a 3yo TB racehorse, and Tom doesn't care as long as he's the centre of attention!

 

[ATrueClassAct]

22 and in full work. Slowed down a bit with jumping just cus she's an ex comp pony so wanna vary it. Best of luck with yours!

 

[icyfreya]

Mickey is just 18, he is in light work atm, hacking for an hour or 2 once/twice a week, schooling for an hour twice a week and lunging once a week, but only because its winter and i don't have time to ride more! In spring/summer we will be doing some prelim & novice dressage, veteran showing classes and small sj/xc and ode's as well as more hacking. He is never stiff and still enjoys a good canter/gallop He doesn't really look his age at all, and feels like a 10 year old (sometimes a 4 year old if he's having one of those days ) If/when the time does come that he needs to become a happy field ornament that's fine by me, i adore him and tbh wouldn't mind if I couldn't ride him anymore..

 

[YorksG]

I rode the Old Appy mare until she was 30, and she only retired then as she refused to slow down at all The last time I rode her, we ended up half passing across the common as I wanted her to walk on the path and she wanted to walk on the grass, we compromised, front hooves on the path, back ones on the grass . We got the Current Appy while the old lady was still with us and they hoolied round the field like a pair of two year olds, taking the mickey out of the then Big Girl. we kept her for 3 years in retirement. Our 30 year old cob retired 5 years ago after a week long bout of colic that the vet thought was blood supply related. She continues to enjoy life and bosses everyone around