Older horses/ponies

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fitzaud2

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This is Pa riding Reefer, a 30 year old pony in the riding school. He's still going strong, and still takes off for a good gallop down the fields. Only the good riders are allowed to ride him in open spaces. Just goes to show that lots of people write off older horses way before their time. He was in the riding school when I learned to ride, and was amazing back then too!!! Not the prettiest, but very fast, great jumper, and knows how to look after the small kids!! What more could you ask for. Still sound and no battle scars!!! I think it's great that, at 30, kids still argue over who rides him every week. anyone got any oldies that are still going strong.
 
fitzaud2 said:
paandreefer.jpg


This is Pa riding Reefer, a 30 year old pony in the riding school. He's still going strong, and still takes off for a good gallop down the fields. Only the good riders are allowed to ride him in open spaces. Just goes to show that lots of people write off older horses way before their time. He was in the riding school when I learned to ride, and was amazing back then too!!! Not the prettiest, but very fast, great jumper, and knows how to look after the small kids!! What more could you ask for. Still sound and no battle scars!!! I think it's great that, at 30, kids still argue over who rides him every week. anyone got any oldies that are still going strong.
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I think horses go on for much longer now than they did years ago, when I was a kid 18 was classed as old, now it is more like late twenties before they start to cut down on work and I know of loads that have gone mid to late thirties before their quality of life started to go downhill - much credit to their owners for getting something right and getting them to such a good age. If Reefer is 30 in that pic then he looks really really well!
 
Can I boast about mine, who we would have owned for 5 years this December? He was sadly PTS aged 27ish having lived a full, active and truly insane life when his joints finally caught up with him. He was truly insane, and gave me some wonderful white-knuckle rides in jump-offs!! I nearly fell off in one class when I looked round to plan my turn and he twigged where I was going and made a rather impressive solo decision to cut rather tightly inside a jump... Did a 3' double hanging round his neck squeaking... We won by nearly 5 seconds!

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And, although he was a saint, we did have our moments...
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I stayed on!

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Because I adore him. In all the bad times when I retired from dressage tests because he was being so naughty, was bolted with out hacking, fell off, lost my confidence and wanted to never get on again I adored him. And I would give anything to have my boy back fit, healthy and being his cheeky old self.
 
Lolo said:
Can I boast about mine, who we would have owned for 5 years this December? He was sadly PTS aged 27ish having lived a full, active and truly insane life when his joints finally caught up with him. He was truly insane, and gave me some wonderful white-knuckle rides in jump-offs!! I nearly fell off in one class when I looked round to plan my turn and he twigged where I was going and made a rather impressive solo decision to cut rather tightly inside a jump... Did a 3' double hanging round his neck squeaking... We won by nearly 5 seconds!

Cheeky109.jpg

Blackwaterpallisade.jpg


And, although he was a saint, we did have our moments...
Stop3.jpg

I stayed on!

IMG_0339.jpg

Because I adore him. In all the bad times when I retired from dressage tests because he was being so naughty, was bolted with out hacking, fell off, lost my confidence and wanted to never get on again I adored him. And I would give anything to have my boy back fit, healthy and being his cheeky old self.
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Wow, he looks fab. What a beautiful boy. Well sat, I've had def fallen off!!! Go on the oldies!!!
 
hch4971 said:
I think horses go on for much longer now than they did years ago, when I was a kid 18 was classed as old, now it is more like late twenties before they start to cut down on work and I know of loads that have gone mid to late thirties before their quality of life started to go downhill - much credit to their owners for getting something right and getting them to such a good age. If Reefer is 30 in that pic then he looks really really well!
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Yeah, he is 30 in that pic, it was taken during the summer, maybe august, i think. He is flying it for his age, he has slowed down a bit, but will still always win x country day at pony camp. he gets the bit between his teeth and off he goes, regardless of whether he's supposed to or not!!
 
Ah, I rode Reefer years ago - sure it must be the same pony if hes in Tipp. Have to say he had no brakes in open space then either!
 
glenruby said:
Ah, I rode Reefer years ago - sure it must be the same pony if hes in Tipp. Have to say he had no brakes in open space then either!
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Yeah, brakes were never his strong point. I hunted him back in the day, and he nearly killed me, bless him, flat out into whatever was in front of him. I only made the mistake once, I like brakes, me!!!!! How long ago was it that you rode him!!!
 
Took him cross country and i think to a PC rally about 10-12yrs ago id say. I do remember him very nearly being passed on about that time as he was being very very difficult.
 
My first pony died aged around 37 (it is thought - she didn't have a passport but as she had been local forever, her age was worked out by how long which people had had her for etc.).

She was fantastic - I hunted her when she was 35, and yes, she wasn't as fast as she had been, but managed to keep up. I remember once I was hacking her over to her owners so that someone else could loan her (I was 10 and had loaned her for 6 years ish) and she turned around and bolted back home, bucking and squealing all the way even though I was miles too big for her by that point :p

They might not be able to do what they did in their youth, but should not be underestimated by any means :)
 
Sounds like reefer alright, he always needed as many hours riding as you could give him, good job he's slowed down a bit. Good job the riding school was really busy when he needed the exercise. were you living in tipp at the time??
 
Yup, kept my ponies at the "other" riding school - if you know what I mean. Spent all my childhood days there but moved away after finishing college last year.
 
My oldest one now is only 18 so hopefully still plenty of years left in him!

I did have a wonderful old pony when I was about 10 though. She was given to me by the family I had my 12.2 from. She was 27 when i had her and I only kept her a year before she had to be PTS due to a brain tumour :( She was a fab pony though, I only did the smaller stuff on her as she had some problems and we didnt want to push her. But she had jumped on England teams in her youth and was one of the top jumping ponies in the UK, even started off a few of our current "celebrity" riders according to her BSJA printout!

So... here's Lady. Still missed all these years on!

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Great topic we have from yearlings upwards 27 year old ex racehorse still in full work lead out one of the borders common ridings last year and attendend others through the summer would have hunted but hasnt due to weather.

We have another 20 year old racer still in work and others natives 20 17 15 down to the young ones with good care and a bit of luck they can go on a long time, its good to see them not just written off you just have to take on board thier needs lovely pics from above posters.:)
 
Lolo said:
Can I boast about mine, who we would have owned for 5 years this December? He was sadly PTS aged 27ish having lived a full, active and truly insane life when his joints finally caught up with him. He was truly insane, and gave me some wonderful white-knuckle rides in jump-offs!! I nearly fell off in one class when I looked round to plan my turn and he twigged where I was going and made a rather impressive solo decision to cut rather tightly inside a jump... Did a 3' double hanging round his neck squeaking... We won by nearly 5 seconds!

Cheeky109.jpg

Blackwaterpallisade.jpg


And, although he was a saint, we did have our moments...
Stop3.jpg

I stayed on!

IMG_0339.jpg

Because I adore him. In all the bad times when I retired from dressage tests because he was being so naughty, was bolted with out hacking, fell off, lost my confidence and wanted to never get on again I adored him. And I would give anything to have my boy back fit, healthy and being his cheeky old self.
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What a beautiful horse! x

On another note - classes etc need to be changed. In my local show you can enter the veteran class aged 16 - which these days is young isn't it??
 
Oh - and no pictures, but I know someone with a 50 year old minature shetland! He's an evil little monkey - he chases you in the field and bites your bum!!
 
Our oldest Pony is Trixie shes 26, still in full work and happily jumping 1mt20.

If we attempt to even slow things down she becomes a nightmare gets really stressy and jumps in and out of the field so while shes happily taking off with her loaner across any field she can (I would never put a novice or nervous rider on this pony outside the school as hacks are lets say interesting) happily and attacking every jump like it was the Derby Bank she will stay in work.

These pictures are from about 6 months ago to present day.

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Showing that she can behave at times
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Sorry for the overload but we are very proud of her and love her to pieces. She goes out to the field like a tb to the point she is prancing along and youve got your elbow wedged in her chest, when you try to catch her in the summer sometimes she turns and bucks in your face (not particularly close), all things that you would be so annoyed with a younger horse for she gets away with. She is a proper cantancorous (sp) old lady and wouldnt have her any other way.
 
hey all can i boast about my old boy!!

I have a 33 ish yr old (he may well be older??!!) X polo pony that came to me about 5 yrs ago. When i first got him i played polo on him for a few years, then i moved jobs etc and now he is just used for happy hacking etc. However he comes on exercise with my other 2 every day (ride 1 lead the other 2 type thing) and he is good as gold! He is an absolute legend and loads of people know him and say how they learnt to play polo n him etc!

He bombs round the field, play fights with my other gelding all the time and is generally very fit and well. I do think some people write them off well before there time! He is a legend and i would be lost without him! Apart from losign a few teeth he is great and enjoys life to the full still, having been a polo pony he hasn't had an easy life to say the least, i am so lucky to have got him! xx
 
I thought I would tell you about our old boy who we sadly had to have PTS in July this year at the grand old age of 31. His name was Monty and he was a 15.3hh TB x Connemara. My mum bought him, aged 24 and had seven lovely years with him. He was a very lively ride and although he was semi-retired and no longer jumped when we bought him, my mum had many fab hacks on him and he taught me a lot about Dressage! He was ridden up until he was 29 and was still loving it, but we decided we wanted to give him some retirement so we retired him, still fit and healthy and he lived his last 2 years completely retired. He had done a lot in his life with past owners, including eventing, hunting and team chasing so he deserved it.

This was him on Christmas Day last year:
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And the day before we lost him:
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He is very sadly missed and I have a lump in my throat writing this. Mum did a fantastic job with him though and he never looked his age, and he was happy and well cared for right until the end. RIP Monty xxx
 
My boy is a spring chicken compared to these amazing old boys and girls, but a few pics anyway- he will be 21 in the new year, these pics were taken August this year. When I get back to work I'll get a snap of our oldest school pony (30 odd and still going strong!). In the meantime, this is Sid (excuse my hands in the picture, I want to chop them off!!).....

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SnowJumping Superstars said:
I thought I would tell you about our old boy who we sadly had to have PTS in July this year at the grand old age of 31. His name was Monty and he was a 15.3hh TB x Connemara. My mum bought him, aged 24 and had seven lovely years with him. He was a very lively ride and although he was semi-retired and no longer jumped when we bought him, my mum had many fab hacks on him and he taught me a lot about Dressage! He was ridden up until he was 29 and was still loving it, but we decided we wanted to give him some retirement so we retired him, still fit and healthy and he lived his last 2 years completely retired. He had done a lot in his life with past owners, including eventing, hunting and team chasing so he deserved it.

This was him on Christmas Day last year:
DSCF1044.jpg


And the day before we lost him:
DSCF1473.jpg


He is very sadly missed and I have a lump in my throat writing this. Mum did a fantastic job with him though and he never looked his age, and he was happy and well cared for right until the end. RIP Monty xxx
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Wow, what a beautiful boy, he looked fab. Glad you and your mum got to have fun with him, and that he got to live out his years at such a lovely home!!!
 
We have a 34 year old nutter at our riding school, still working, the only reason his work loads been cut a bit is because he can't see so well any more. He has to be turned out for 2 hours before he can be ridden and is a total whack job, jumped on me last year so he could escape from the field and try and join one of the lessons :rolleyes:

Then there's a 31 year old who still does lead rein lessons, he's super creaky but holds his weight and is still happy as :)
 
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