When is your horse officially old?

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Simbacat

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I'm feel I have just got my mare to such a great place and it has been quite a journey for me as an older first time owner. Someone on the yard asked how old she is today and I said 14, but I realise she is 15, oh noooo!!, can it be true that now she is so good she is also officially old. She is a bright chestnut and has grey hairs on her mane I try and pull out one by one when I ride her. I'm seriously thinking of dying them! When did you realise your horse had become old? any encouraging stories of older horses very welcome
 
Our ID cross gelding is 18 and looks 30. We had to retire him last year because he had so many problems despite having always been well cared for. Unconfirmed metabolic disorder we think but after £10000 worth of investigations and treatment we decided to call it a day.
 
Dentist thought my horse was 14/15, but he was 22/23 looking at his teeth! Acted like a freshly back horse most days, and gave the youngsters a run for their money up the gallops!
 
My boy is 22 and he feels/acts like a 4 year old quite often! He's perhaps the naughtiest out of all of them and he's the oldest by a way!

He takes longer to get fit as he's older, but once he's fit the only thing that hinders him is an old leg injury. He's got greyer over the last 3 years but I just tell him he just looks majestic!
 
I think a horse is old when it tells you it is. my 23 year old welsh mountain is out on full loan and still goes round a 2'6 xc course rather quick and will still go for a good gallop. he's 12.2hh and is often mistaken for much younger. whereas my 14 rising 15 year old seems To be mellowing out. He's still happy hacking and jumping, but he's not as happy schooling, doing half pass and canter pirouttes (ok we could only ever do 180 degrees before impulsion was lost, I'm no dressage rider). He'll still school to a fair standard though. He will slow down a lot earlier than my 12.2 has. If your horse doesn't feel old, chances are it isn't. :-)
 
My horse was old in his 30's- as in I classed him as old.
When he was in his 20's I was still doing everything id have wanted to do and he was still loving life, we slowed it back in his early 30's but he was still very rideable at 38 when I lost him to colic so not even age related (other than the fact I would have operated had he been 6 I suppose)
 
I agree, a horse will let you know when it's old.

Agree, also, that in the olden days a horse was considered 'aged' at 8. I understand the average age of a horse has increased about 12 years since the last century.

My retired grade A is 25, but he's only retired 'cos he has few brakes and steering and I'm too old to put up with that!

My other grade A is 14 and I think he's a spring chicken!

I also have a five year old and two seven year olds that I expect to be going on for years and years!
 
My mare is 15 in Jan, retirement to her is a dirty word, she's a loon at times, loves jumping, goes mad if she's left behind when our other mare goes out competing, she'll tell me when its time to take things easy.
 
My girlie is 19 and doesnt look it. I thought she was indestructible! Unfortunately an op and rehab earlier this year seemed to slow her down. I thought old age was catching up! :-( However after a few months of trying to get her fit and getting nowhere she was diagnosed with cushings. I was gutted! However 2 months on the meds and she is back being the spring chicken she was earlier this year! She is 75% arab which I do think helps.
 
My TB mare was almost 15 when I got her and will be 23 in April. She is the oldest in years on the yard but not in looks, fitness or demeanour. She shows no signs of slowing down, she is so willing and always up for a blast along the gallops and has no (touch wood) signs of stiffness or any other health problems. I am an older owner too but I hope we will have a lot more years together happy hacking. I am sure you will have a lot more good times to come with your mare.
 
Ned is almost 15 too! He's still as fit and lively as anything :P

There were two ponies at my old yard. I think they were brothers, but not sure if full. Funnily enough, the older one is still going really strong. He still goes hacking almost every day and jumps up to 3ft in shows. He's steady, but that's because he's stubborn :P when he wants to move, he can MOVE!
His brother, looks terrible. Not on deaths door, but he only goes on walking rides with small kids one or two days a week and never jumps any more. They've had the same care, I just think it's down to the individual.

I will admit I worried when I found out Ned was 14 and not 12 (my bad maths, ha!) but he's fine :)
 
My TB's passport has him as 12 yrs old, the dentist and my OH put him as 18+ and 20 yrs old respectively, there's plenty of life in this old dog, my 20 yr old mare was struggling through the summer, because it was painful to watch, THE DECISION was made to have her pts before winter and our cloying mud arrived, having arthritis, we didn't feel it was fair to keep her going on bute, well, the stubborn tart got a new lease of life, she has not had bute since the back end of summer, is loving hacking out and generally enjoying life, so guess who is off death row and long may it last. The only change is she now has linseed in her token feed
 
I think it depends a lot on the individual and also how they are kept. My 22 yr old TB was kept on part livery and had limited turnout so from the age of 18 she felt stiff and old. She took a long time to warm up and was struggling to lift her legs for long enough to be shod. She was then turned out full time at the age of 20 and retired last year at 21. Since living out and having her shoes off she has really improved, no signs of stiffness and much sounder than she was so 10 months after I retired her she has now returned to work. My 18 yr old ID isn't showing any signs of stiffness but has also been turned out for the last two years and definitely feels more energetic and enthusiastic. Keeping them moving seems to really help keep the aging process at bay.
 
Don't think age matters I knew a pacer who (may still be) took part in gymkhanas and hacks over the age of 30.
Another one who was in his late twenty's who was always ready to go and loved jumping!

Like others have said it's how they feel not there ages. I also had a pony on loan and he was in his late teens but one of the best ponies i have loaned! Also there are more i have known through my travels of the horse world, some horses as they get older need to take it a bit slower, all depends on the horse (and obviously there health)
 
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