over 40's- what sort of horse do you ride?

I am 52 and ride a 16.3 8yo Trakehner. My other 2 horses were an Anglo Arab and a TB (yes, I keep them for life) plus in between I have mostly ridden TBs or near TBs. So no, I have not really slowed down although my Trakkie does have a Haflinger companion and I often think that I may downsize to the Haffie once I reach 70 :)
 
Well I am 54 and about to embark on riding my homebred youngster next year, well I might sit on her after backing this autumn. I must be mad, but somehow I think we are going to get on fine. I am a very cautious person so will do everything humanly possible to give her a good start and get her going well. I hope we will do a bit of everything but we will have to see what our strengths and weaknesses are! She is 16hh now so will probably mature about 16.1/16.2hh.

I have her mother who gave me 7 years of total heaven before she had two injuries in quick succession.
 
well, I'm 55 and have two hot Spaniards, one 15.3 and one 16.00. They are both two of the most challenging horses I have ever ridden, but fortunatley are the most even tempered and endearing souls on the ground. One goes nicely behind the bit, bunches up and attempts to 'spacehopper' you around, whilst the other goes long and lanky and either rears or leaps forward as if from the starting gate!
Having had a toady Exmoor pony in my youth and and Anglo Arab and Trakhener TB in my sensible forties, I think I will stick to the cheeky Spaniards!

No sign of slowing down yet, despite being a cancer survivor!
 
Mid 40s riding a 15hh Irish D x after a 15yr gap. Likes to hack but definitely not a plod. Tests me at times, but this makes it more enjoyable.

Not looking forward to my first spill, hope I still bounce.lol.
 
I'm in my mid forties and just recently bought my old horse back. He is a 17 year old , 16.3hh, Grade A show jumper who is very strong, very spooky and very bouncy to ride!

Not the best choice for me after a nasty fall last year out hunting when I broke 3 ribs ( not on him on a 4 year old I may add) but I know my old fella inside out and I still like riding him despite his quirks.

I have two youngsters I bred (one is 3 and one is 2) so not quite sure if I will still be up to riding them when the time comes and may hand over the ride full time to the girl/s who compete my horses for me.

I certainly don't bounce back from falls like I used to and don't want to have to either !!
 
I ride a 13 year old 16hh Appaloosa mare 'Freckles', who can be a handful at times, and also her son whos a 4 year old stallion. 'Harley' though ive not ridden him much, hacked out a few times, need to school him really.. but need to sort out my arena..
 
wonkey_donkey said:
I'm in my mid forties and just recently bought my old horse back. He is a 17 year old , 16.3hh, Grade A show jumper who is very strong, very spooky and very bouncy to ride!

Not the best choice for me after a nasty fall last year out hunting when I broke 3 ribs ( not on him on a 4 year old I may add) but I know my old fella inside out and I still like riding him despite his quirks.

I have two youngsters I bred (one is 3 and one is 2) so not quite sure if I will still be up to riding them when the time comes and may hand over the ride full time to the girl/s who compete my horses for me.

I certainly don't bounce back from falls like I used to and don't want to have to either !!
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Wow that's really spooky, I have had a very similar experience to you.... I am well into my 40's having ridden most of my life and I have a 15 year old home bred 15 hand Welsh Cob gelding, he is a very safe horse, a bit of a train and not the sweetest tempered horse in the world but very safe to ride such that my 12 year old rides him from time to time, he has only ever bucked me off once and generally keeps his feet firmly on the floor.....

I too was bucked off a 4 year old (like I was a paper bag) and sustained heavy bruising over hip (which is still swollen and numb over a year later) and a broken rib....

will stick to my old cob any day of the year, good all rounder, shows, hacks, jumps...

You just want something sensible and there are all sorts out there that fit the bill..... not just natives, some of those can be really lively and volatile.....

Yay for the over 40's
 
After 30 years of riding and now just into my 40s, my adventerous side has somewhat disappeared, but I still ride a pure bred arab!! I've had him for just over 11 years now (he is 20) and he has slowed down a little over that time, but still also have the occasional spin and buck!! He to is a lovely hack, but still has something about him to make me think I actually have to ride him on the odd occasion! :D
 
Im 42 in a few weeks ,5'5" I ride a 18 year old 17'3 clydesdale whos nuts literally and a 33 year old 17'1 shire. Ive always had the "Big Boys" and just love em. Dont care if I fall of as already broken neck once and knackered back, survived cancer 3 times, so just I live life to the full is my attitude now so go for it as life is way to short to worry about what if. :)
 
Anything I'm given - usually just backed! Like working with young horses - lots of baby stuff and no jumping big scary fences!!

Sadly, the long suffering lady that tries to keep my backin order has given me an ultimatum..... no more riding or she will not be able to get my back right. So, for the foreseeable future, I will mostly be riding, nothing :mad:

And if I do get it right, methinks it will have to be the slightly more mature and sensible ponies in future!
 
I started out horse ownership with a 15.2 Anglo Arab when i was in my 20's. At the age of 50 i bought a lovely 5 yr old 16.1 sport horse - i chose very carefully, as her job is to be a competition horse for the next 10 to 15 years then become an old ladies gentle hack. she has a fab temperament and i am sure she will do both jobs really well.
 
I have an ex race horse which I took on straight from the Trainer. I couldn't ride him for the first few weeks as I was recovering from a serious injury. Looking back I'm not surprised people thought I was slightly bonkers.

He is a sweetheart though and it was the right decision although I do wonder what I am doing sometimes at my age. (54)
 
In my 20s I rode a sharp / clever / athletic TB x Irish mare who I bought as an unbroken 4 yo. In my 50s I'm riding her daughter, so no change in type of horse really. Only difference is that in my 20s I rode 3-4 times a week & jumped / hacked / didschooled wheras these days I just school & rarely ride more than once a week as I share her with my teenage daughter.
 
I'm in my forties and just starting to think that maybe I should start looking at safer types of horses. All my horses have been either WB or TB. My current two field ornaments are my WB 15.3 hh mare and my TB 16.1 hh gelding who I hope to bring back into work very soon. Trouble is, he's recovering from a kissing spine operation and can be explosive under saddle.

I am also going to break in the WB foal if I am still fit and able in 3 years time.

But recently I made a conscious decision that if I ever am able to buy another riding horse (can't while I still have both my retirees), I will go for a Welsh Section D. Just the right amount of forwardness coupled with safety. Though I have known a few nutty sec Ds too!
 
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Dab said:
Oh my goodness is 40 old :eek: :eek: 40 going on 20'something :rolleyes:

Same horses as always TB ex-racers the new one is a 17h1 ex-chaser :D> I'm looking to Mary King and Toddie for oldie inspiration :D
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Thats more like it;0)

Im 40 next year, cant believe it, still 18 in my head!

Got my very own first horse last year, young green ISH mare and Im having so much fun.
 
I'm over 50 and have the best of both worlds, a sane cob and a whizzy Hanoverian X TB. She looks like a handful but she's just keen.:D
Other horses I've been riding this year are a couple of TB's, an ISH and an Apaloosa.
However these days I don't ride horses that have no sense of self preservation or respect for keeping the rider on its back. The young jockey's can have that pleasure.
 
Over 40!!!

I'm well over that and ride a 15.1 very sharp can-do-right-angle-turns-quicker-than-think (:rolleyes:!) Anglo Arab. My only concession to this is I nearly always wear a back protector out hacking.

Previously I've had two ex-racehorses (one flat and one hurdler) and one rather chuckier Anglo Arab, so no, I don't think I've really downsized much as I've got older.
 
Eeeek! I am 57 in a couple of months' time. In my 40's it never crossed my mind about riding smaller, quieter horses - I just rode - hunted, low level RC etc.

Now I do appreciate that I cannot take the spills I used to take BUT it never crossed my mind about buying another horse that would be slightly less "demanding" shall we say - even though I def don't want to jump nowadays. So when aged 53 I bought a 7 year old Quarab (50% Arab, 50%QH). In his advert he was labelled as "quirky" & he certainly has lived up to it - but I am so glad I have him. Within 3 weeks of buying him he had cracked 3 of my ribs by running over me, would nap, spin, buck, plunge & was generally a little s*d! I couldn't have sold him if I wanted to as I knew he would just go down the foodchain. So I persevered - loads of hacking out solo so he had to trust me and vice versa.

Yesterday despite me being full of cold and feeling like ***** we went out for a beautiful hack around the farm, opened and shut gates, met a flock of sheep being moved from field to field & cantered (sedately) across three 15 acre fields!

So I am the same age as Mark Todd - I certainly don't want to go eventing but in my eyes I am still riding difficult horse and producing the goods!
 
I've always had tbs, some ex.racers, but in my mid 50s I thought I would buy a sensible cob and hated it! Stroppy, bargy and strong! ok I know I should have persevered but I hated him so he went to a cob lover and I now have an ex.racehorse/ex.polo pony who is light, sensitive, intelligent, all the things I love about tbs and bombproof with traffic!
 
My ex has 2 arabs, an anglo, and a tb/shire none of which are exactly quiet, but he loves the speed, and I think he has got worse as he's got older!! Can't see hi with a plod
 
I got fed up of lame/drama queen sports horses already and I'm only 33. I now ride an arab (who also went lame :o but is now on the mend :) ). He's fun but doesn't massively over react to things which unsettle him, much better than the horses.
 
At 50 I was hacking out my daughter's 4 yr old 16.3 mare. Three years later I still sometimes take her out. When younger I always thought that "older" horsey ladies were usually a bit mad. Think that I (and probably a few others) have now entered these realms.:D
 
I am 48 and have also been a pony lover all my life, never having really taken to horses, even though I rode quite a few in my teens/early twenties.

I had a TBxTrakhenerxID when I was 17. He died when I was 21 and everything I've owned for the past 27 years has been either full or half-bred Section D.

Current pone is a 14.3 15 yr old Sec Dx mare who I bought when she was 5.
 
My mum is over 40 and is regulally seen on my 4yo TB but she rides bettern than me so :L I dont know much about what she rode when she was younger but she did re-school a racehorse in SA
 
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