Has anyone had years of enjoyment from one horse?

[Lexi 123]

Yes my first horse is extremely healthy and only needed a vet 2 times for eye infection and colic. She only 13 years old it could change as she gets older hopefully she will stay healthy as she ages. Sorry for your bad luck

 

[oldie48]

I feel I've generally been quite lucky with horses, had my little ginger TB from 11 - 28 and apart from developing cushings in his later years which was controlled with prascend, he was pretty much trouble free and a complete delight to ride (usually!) My last two have been more problematic, I lost Mr B to colic but he'd been fine up to then and Rose is retired with a hock injury sustained in the field. There's a lot of luck involved with horses but all of my daughter's ponies/horses stayed sound and healthy despite being really hard working and doing just about every discipline.

 

[Annagain]

Yes. I'm on horse number 6 in 35 years of riding. I outgrew the first (Blue, a share pony) within a year. He was always a bit small for me but it was a case of right place, right time. I wasn't looking for a pony but was offered a chance to ride him so snapped him up. I then moved on to his owner's Section D, Ebony. I had him from 13 to 27 (both of us), first as a share, then a loan, then I bought him for £5.

When I lost him 17 years ago, I bought Archie - he's now 28ish. He wasn't quite up to what I wanted to do physically due to dodgy feet but I love him to bits so there was never a question of him going anywhere. I was very lucky that my best friend was having babies when Archie's problems started so I started sharing Monty and got a sharer who just wanted to hack for Archie. This meant for 15 years I had an amazing horse to compete while still managing to keep and ride Archie. They're chalk and cheese but I love them both dearly. They're both retired now (but going great guns in the field at 26 and 28).

There has been luck involved (Monty being available when Archie's problem's started and Eb staying sound for so long) and there have inevitably been ups and downs (M had a few spells of box rest for random injuries) but I've always found a way to make it work. Ultimately I do it because I love the horses so have adapted my plans and expectations to suit them when I've had to.

Two years ago I bought Charlie and he's the only one things didn't really work out with. He's lovely but we just weren't suited. I never ever planned on selling a horse so it was really hard but now I have Wiggy I'm so glad I did. He seems too good to be true. I'm still waiting for it all to go wrong! Charlie is much happier too. I had photos of him going on hound exercise (and clearly LOVING it) last week. I'd never have done that with him.

The one thing I realised going from Charlie to Wiggy is I had to learn from the experience with Charlie and do/look for something different or I was going to get the same result. Charlie was 6 when I bought him and while he was quiet he was quite green and I underestimated my self-belief, if not ability, in being able to bring him on (not to mention how much he'd grow!) . With Wiggy, I deliberately looked for something older, that was already doing what I wanted to do. He is slightly older (at 14) than I'd like in an ideal world (I was looking for 8-12) but that's the only compromise. When he was vetted, I told the vet I wasn't expecting a 14 yr old to be perfect but she couldn't find anything wrong with him. She said he's the soundest 14yr old she's seen in a long time and she'd have been very pleased to see a 6 year old in the condition he was in. Knowing he's stood up to the level of work I want to do so far is a huge plus. I also had access to his (very good) vet records.

If you do carry on, the best advice I can give is to get something that is ALREADY doing what you would want to do and has a few years under its belt to prove it can do it without any problems.There is no guarantee with horses but I think that's the best chance you have of minimising issues, both in terms of temperament and soundness.

 

[Archangel]

Yes, two bought straight from breeder as youngsters. One failed the vet on a silly technicality and the other was not vetted. Both lived their long lives with me tough, sound, problem free. Old age caught them at 29 and rising 37.

The horse that passed the vet with flying colours ended up being diagnosed with KS shortly afterwards. He was retired young and is now 29.

 

[TotalMadgeness]

Pony #1 - ironically this little fellow turned out to be the best I would ever have - totally bombproof, very trainable, possessed a lovely set of paces which were good enough for a very decent dressage test, never sick or sorry - but he wouldn't load and was a tad too small for me at 14.1hh so I gave him up. Duh.
Horse #2 - stunning Dales/TB cross who looked the part but turned out to have shivers. I sold him on at a third of the price I bought him for.
Horse #3 - turned out to have bone spavin after a number of years of me wondering why I could never get him to canter properly - forced to sell him (cheap) after a divorce but would have kept him if I could as he was fabulous to hack.
Horse #4 - lovely warmblood bought again for dressage but he was scared of his own shadow & kept injuring himself jumping out of fields. I lost confidence so part exchanged him for Horse #5. Sadly #4 had to be PTS last year - after jumping out of a field.
Horse #5 - still got this one despite bone spavin (took a while to figure it out) and now broken back pastern axis in his fronts (recent discovery). He's a true gent of a horse and can move well if ridden well, but take him into a dressage test (even intro) and he slams on the brakes.
Pony #6 - this one looked the real deal in his advert (and in the flesh) and I had really high hopes except he turned out to have malformed stifles (along with sarcoids and melanomas) - still got him as he is gorgeous through and through but he is never going to be the superstar dressage pony I initially thought he could be.

Anyway I'm now too old, stiff and skint (never ending vets bills, physio bills and remedial farrier bills) to realise my dressage diva dream, so I just enjoy my horses out hacking and occasionally take a pop at local low level tests as well as dabble in a bit of trec for fun.

 

[Fransurrey]

I had my pony for 20 years and he was only ever lame twice. Have no doubt he'd have been fantastic in competitions, as he had stamina, grace and could jump. Shame the owner couldn't...

 

[dorsetladette]

Yes. I had my old boy for 23yrs.

He arrived at my parent's stud as a terrified yearling colt. He never had alot dont with him as it was time consuming (apart from the basics) as he was nervous. But when the stud dispersed he was retained. I broke him slowly and finally had a half decent riding pony at 7yrs. He was my sole mate, he had the best out look on life and everything became and exciting adventure. He was pts at 24 after a kick in field broke his shoulder. He had a time out with copd but once we had the management sorted he was back on form. He was still competing at 24 and should have gone to olympia that year. ? Miss him dearly even now 8 years later. Best pony ever!

 

[First Frost]

Yes definitely!
I have owned horses for 50 years and have had several.
- 14.2 owned from my early teens to mid twenties. Rode in all pony club and university teams. After me she retired from riding fit and health and had several beautiful foals.
- 15.2 TB mare that I evented for 10 years, she was sold when I went to work abroad for a couple of years. I know she continued to event for another 5 seasons and retired sound at 22.
- My beautiful connemara boy who I bought as a just sat on 3 year old and is still going strong now at 18. He has competed at and been placed at 8 riding club national champs. He does everything - SJ, eventing, dressage, trec riding holidays, escorting babies. Despite all the lovely horses i have owned he is my horse of a lifetime.

Most of the others i have owned have been sold on because they didn't suit the job I wanted them for, not because they were a problem or had health issues. I have had 2 with injuries that i have rehabbed, one didn't return to full work after shattering her splint bone and the bits damaging the suspensory. She had some lovely foals.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Yes and it was like someone had pulled my heart from my chest when he went. To took a large piece of my soul with him when he went. Best £1500 plus vetting I ever spent.

 

[Smoky 2022]

I am extremely lucky with my first horse she is never lame surprising she is very clumsy . She has never needed the vet. To be honest she is just very hardy as she a Irish draft she is a very good doer.

 

[honetpot]

All but one, and that was because I had small children and realised she needed more time and better facilities. My first horse I got on long term loan because he was LOU for navicular, he had been bought as a YR show jumper. He was better than I could have afforded, he was a wonderful hack, and I managed to take him cub hunting, as I used to hack to the meet and then hack home, he would sometimes do a ten hour day, from the field. He retired when he was about sixteen, and it wasn't really the navicular that caused him to be PTS, just general old age changes.
I sell very little except young stock, and the rest apart from the mare I sold had long ridden lives with us, but I buy things that will do out in a field, with food and little else.

 

[J&S]

My New Forest mare was with me from 4yrs to 28 years and apart from catching strangles in a local epidemic was never ill. My tobiano mare I bought at 3 yrs and she is now 25 yrs old and I can still ride her. She did damage her annular ligament which caused a bad patch but after resting for a few years is still right as rain. I also had the ride on an Irish cob who was competing till he was 27 yrs old. All these had very full working lives, they were no slouches!

 

[fidleyspromise]

I jave a 15 year old who's done virtually nothing and broken herself permanently but I also have a 20 Yr old who I've ridden since she was 5 and she's been in work every year.
We've done a little of everything and the first few years she was ridden 5 days a week (cut down due to my health). Competing I've only done up to 70cm but she still goes and enjoys her parties.

 

[Alibear]

OP - You have my complete sympathy, and I will go slightly against the grain and say it's been rare for me to have a horse with a long-ridden career.
I've had one that I bought as a 7-year-old and rarely had problems we had a very happy decade together. Lost her to a sudden case of cellulitis from a fly bite.
The others have all been challenging, a row of 4 that all lasted 2 years before problems meant retirement from ridden work. My first mare was lovely, and I did keep her for 10 years as well, but she was older when I bought her and colicked frequently, had a colic op, and her ringbone was made worse by the winch. So I think I had 5 years of ridden work with her.
My current riding mare is in year 2 of my ownership, and fingers are firmly crossed, and I daren't type more than that.
I now aim to have a succession plan, so Daisy is now a broodmare (due to field injury), and Aspen was born in June. He'll be 4 when my current riding horse is 10.
I've tried different sports, ages, breeds, ways of care, vetting, not vetting, immediate vet checks, slower, more cautious wait-and-see approach. The outcome has been the same.