Need advice on care of older horses - also in TR

sandi_84

sandi_84

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Right so I've been given the possible opportunity to take on an older stalking pony as a companion for my lad when we move.
I'm very lucky to be given this opportunity and am looking forward to providing a nice retirement home for a pony in it's golden years after many years of faithful service but I've never cared for an older horse before and I know that care of an older horse is going to be different with regards to possible age, joint and insurance related problems etc.

The pony will be in it's 20's, in good health and probably pretty fit since it's a working pony.
I only found out the very basics today (i.e breed, age and that it's a stalking pony), I don't even know if it will be a mare or gelding or if it has ever been broken to ride until I get a chance to have a proper conversation with the OH rather than a few quick txts in my break at work last night. He is going to try and find out more info for me today.

I'm looking for some tips on keeping an older pony ticking along nicely, anybody able to help with a bit of advice please?

If it is broken I would still hack it out lightly and gently but incase of it being unbroken, do any of you have older unbroken companions and what do you do with them to keep their minds active?

Someone on my other thread said I'd have to get it's teeth checked more regularly too, how often to the older horses and ponies need dental checks?

Any other info that I need to know? What's the score on veteran insurance, is it worth getting, am I likely to get it for a pony that wasn't vetted etc?

Trying to think of other questions I can ask and at the moment apart from general care advice the only thing my brain can come up with right now is:

When we travel out to our new field what would be the best thing to do, travel these 2 horses that have never met before together or separately? (instinct tells me seperately)
When we get to the field I will keep them separated for a while but what with one being older I'm worried that "he" might get injured in the almost inevitable face to face meeting excitement so would you extend the normal settling in period and if so for how long?

Any advice is much appreciated :)
 
I use Petplan to insure my older horses as they have good cover for illnesses that other exclude for veterans.
I found that living out as much as possible helps with preventing stiffness, my 22 yr old TB really struggled with stiffness when stabled at night and for part of the day.
Feed wise I like A&P Veteran Vitality as it soaks in 3 mins and I do like feeding warm feeds in winter. Plenty of hay/haylage of course and I try to keep all my horses off feeds containing molasses but D&H Sixteen Plus is a great feed if you need to put condition on an oldie.
As for exercise I guess it depends on what the pony has been doing. I've just posted a thread in TR about bringing my retired oldie back into work. My vet advised not to retire her as she would age quicker but when I no longer felt safe on her I had to retire and yes my vet was correct she did age very quickly. So the more mobile the better with turn out or exercise.

I have their teeth done by the vet annually and get heart and eyes checked too.

I got an unbroken companion pony on loan who is 10 and she loves attention and seemed so bored so have now backed her. It took a lot longer backing an older pony who is rather set in her ways and as she is a Highland she is quite flighty and not the plod cob type people expect. She loves the work, lunging, long reining and ridden and is generally delighted with tons of attention. Just going for walks with the dog is fun for her.

As for introductions I would wait and see how active the new pony is and take it from there. Each introduction is different so don't worry too much about it being older just so long as it is sound.

Good luck and enjoy your new pony.
 
I would travel them together. The only reason not to is if you are worried about disease, and in which case you need to isolate for two weeks anyway,
Keep them separate for a bit if you want, but what we did when "pairing up" horses was to give them a bit of ACP introduce them, "nose to nose", and once they seemed to accept each other we turned them out, still a bit dopey.
Re teeth, unless you have a good horse vet use an EDT, the first time may be a shock to a horse which has not had it done before, so again a bit of sedative will help, and if he is a gelding, do the man bits at the same time.
 
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Thanks to you both :)
I'm not so much worried about disease in regards to traveling them both more about one or the other attempting to bite or kick the other :/
 
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