would you buy a 16 year old?

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alfiesmum

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dilema, i was thinking about travelling 3hrs to see the perfect horse (well you never know).
however i just found out that he is 16 years old
emailed and said i wasnt interested due to age and price and owner has emailed me back to say she would negotiate in price. she is asking an awful lot for him (more what i would pay for a7/8 year old.
would you A, go and see or B, walk away .
i think 16 is awful old to be starting a busy life with me although the horse has been competing unaffiliated until 3 months ago. and how much would you pay for a horse this age?
i do quite often ride my friends rocket who is 20 years but she has had her since she was 6.




i dont want any more health issues-had enough with my 10 year old to last me a life time.
 
My mare is 15 this year and is still going fit and strong. There were a couple of horses going round Badminton that were 18!!!. I think we write a lot of horses over 12 off these days but it is a fact that horses are living longer and have longer ridden/competing lifes. If he was right price and perfect in every other way I would deffo have a look x.
 
16 yr old just sold on our yard, he's gone to a PC home, so certainly not retiring.
I say sold, she practically gave him away because she felt the home was more important than price.
He's only moved down the road :).
 
I would buy a 16 year old! He would have to be fit and mature for his age with great physique and an ability to muck out and tack up my horses very quickly whilst stripped to the waist! :)
 
Ha SophieP! That's the sort of 16 year old to have around - a really useful type.
I'd buy a 16 yo providing everything else was right. I'd want to negotiate a good price, though, depending on what the horse had done. I'd also have it vetted. All being well, I'd not think twice about a horse being 16.
That said, I'm not looking to be selling on at some future point. That might be a consideration for some people.
 
If the horse has recently been leading a busy life and is fit and healthy 16 would not put me off. We bought my horse in November aged 17, she's fitter than some of the youngsters at our yard.

I would def have a 5* vetting just to check you are not buying any underlying issues, but at out yard there are 3 youngsters currently on box rest due to injuries/lameness. My horse (now 18), her field mate (20), and a couple of geldings 20 and 27 are all happily schooling and hacking out - age isn't everything.
 
I own a 17yo

not sure I would buy a 16yo, partly cos it took mine at 12 a year to settle in and at least another year to get used to him. If he had been much older that would have a bit more like time ticking away I think. So even though I had always said I would buy and older horse in practice not sure I would.
 
I only just started doing Endurance with my arab last year and he is 17!!

My 10 year old mare however, has just bveen 'retire' due to an unknown lameness!

I would go and see it and if your interested make sure you get him vetted

age wouldn't put me off
 
If I liked everything else about I would go and look. We went to look at a 16yr old 1* horse for friend the other day. she has him on trial but agreed a good price. We had to drag her along tho when found out age.
Go and see and if you like get a vetting with your vet, at end of day, owner is willing to negotiate on price, can't hurt maybe you dream horse!
 
Depends on what exactly you want from your horse. I would certainly buy a 16 year old. That is actually quite young these days.
 
I wouldn't because I'm happier with a 3-6yo. But..thats not to say you shouldn't :D If he's what you want, go have a look. But I would ask first exactly HOW negotiable on the price she is.. :)
 
I would buy a 16yr old providing it was fit and healthy and not arthritic.A horse can be 5 and unrideable due to soundness issues whereas a well cared for 16yr old could be quite capable of competing at a top level as easily as an 8yr old. If the horse is perfect in every way apart from age and the price is negotiable enough then I wouldn't be put off. However go with an open mind.Some 16yr olds still look and act like 5 yr olds whereas some are nearer to 20 plus.Definitely have a vetting to put your mind at rest and ensure that you are buying a healthy 16yr old.
 
i bought my old lad at 16. i had him on loan for a year first and so knew he was perfect for me. not sure i would have gone out looking for one that age. he did injure a suspensory 6mths after i bought him but came back from that and all together i had 5 fantastic yrs before he went permanently lame with another problem. saying that, he's now back hacking out and doing the odd show class aged 24!

so, this time i went and bought a rising 6yr old and after 2yrs of great fun he's gone and got himself a career ending injury. he'll most likely never jump again and will be lucky if i can ever do anything with him again. so maybe i'll go back to buying an old timer next time!
 
My first horse was 15 when i got him. He was an arab x welsh and he was incredible. He was stupidly fit, jumped like a stag and would have made the most amazing competition pony for me....(if he would have traveled in a trailer!!!)
I had to ride him 7 days a week as he was naturally so fit and we used to go for miles and miles. In the summer we would hack 2 hours most nights and at weekends we would be out for hours on end.
I sold him when he was 18 to a girl to compete on him. He would jump 4 ft as if it was a pole on the ground!

My friends pony is 25 and is as fit as she was 10 years ago. So as long as you get them vetted and dont pay the same price as a younger horse...i would definately consider it.
 
totally depends on what the horse has done and what your plans are. personally i would only buy an older horse if it was a schoolmaster- but that is because i event and one day dream to have a go at a 1*. realistically i am going to have to buy an older horse to show me what to do... also, do you want to sell the horse on? if no then 16 shouldn't be an issue; if yes then obviously horse would be 18/19 probably and so would be harder to sell again... :)
 
The thing you have to bare in mind is one 16 year old horse could be very different to another 16 year old horse, it's very much down the individual horse and what the horse has done in life, type, confo etc

He may be fit and sound now and remain the same for another 5 or 6 years, then again he may require a slower life style within 18 months, there is no guarantee.

If the horse is more than capable of doing what you want to do now and your happy with the fact that he'll be able to do this for the next few years and hopefully more then that’s great, but if your wanting a horse to carry out the active disciplines for the next 15 years, then no it wouldn’t make sense to buy a 16 yr old unless you were happy getting something younger and giving him the retirement he deserves and ending up with two horses, if you'd think you'd be in the position to do this, then yes by all means why not buy a 16yr old, after all no matter what age they are, they can all go wrong and needing fixing (ok I'm making them out to sound like cars now :D)

I'd go view him, if owner knocks the price down to reflect his age, you can't be fairer than that, but there is no point buying him unless you are prepared to sit back one day and agree that he needs a quieter life.
 
As others have said it totally depends on what you want it to do really.
I have bought a 20yr old before but I knew the pony very well and I wanted him to have a quieter life doing a bit of hacking with me. He was as strong as an ox & never ailed for anything until the day we had to have him PTS 7 years later.
However, that being said, personally I wouldn't buy a 16 yr old now I prefer youngsters to be honest. My current horse has just turned 9 and I often wish he was still 4!!!!!! :D
 
My old mare ws 17 when I bought her, she was a pure bred arab and extremely fiesty! I had only had part breds before, she taught me an awful lot about arabs and I also discovered how much patience I actually have which put me in good stead when she was pts at 25 and I got a younger arab mare. Go and look.
 
bought my mare at 16, shes difficult, stubborn.. but is a hell of a lot better than some of the youngsters on the circuit.. she is now 19, and going strong.. fitter than ever

and i love her to pieces, shes been there done that... and is having a quieter yet still competitive life with me :)
 
after another little chat with owner i decided not to bother, the said horse is not fit due to not being used all winter so this to me just smells of trouble.

back to the drawing board again!!!!!
 
I would have said for me personally no. When I was looking for a horse I didnt look for anything over 12, not because I have anything against older horses but because I wanted a horse I could 15+ years with. With a 16 yr old you'd be looking at retiring them within 10yrs most likely.
 
For me, the answer would have been no. However I have recommended a client buy a 15yr old, and I would if I was looking for a safe schoolmaster for my husband... BUT, the price would have to seriously reflect the age of the horse.
 
16 wouldn't bother me and I've taken on a 20 year old before and had 4 great years with her before retirement due to injury.
BUT:
My second pony dropped dead at only seven so I take each day as it comes.

If it comes down to which boxes a horse ticks for me then age is low on the list of priorities.
 
We bought a 15yo Grade A (who is now 16!) last year and he is a saint and worth his weight in gold. Jumps 1.30's happily, loads of scope and looks fit as a flea. We'd have missed a super horse if we'd bypassed him because of his age.
 
I was given a 15 yr old who was ridden regularly until he was 30 and died at 34. My friend has a 28 yr old who is still ridden and driven and is keen and far too forward going at times.

I had a 5yr old put down a few years back and my now 13 yr old (daughter of above 28yr old) is probably only ever going to be a steady hack now due to injury!

It just depends on the horse and what condition it's in by the time it gets to 16, as well as what you want to do with it.

Some of you may have seen my post yesterday asking for opinions on a pony in Lincolnshire. In that post I mentioned that my friend had been disappointed this week as a pony she thought she'd bought hadn't worked out. Well, that pony was 16, and friend was quite happy to buy it, as at first viewing it appeared to be everything she wanted. It failed the vetting, but friend still decided to buy, and would have done so if something else hadn't gone wrong.

I think it really helps if you know the horse - I'd happily buy my friends 28yr old from her - she's brilliant!
 
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I jumped both my horse well into their late 20's (although i was unaware of this at the time!) both fit as a fiddle and looked around 12-15 years old. Never left a show without several red rossettes.:o

It wasnt until the vet came to put them down last year that he said "you do know how old these horse are dont you? i said yeah around 18-20? he said no - they are both in thier ealry 30's!! I was so shocked! (although some old school mistress had said many years ago that he was in his 20's - i dismissed that comment :p)

The vet said it was a testament to the wonderful life they had led - this was the only thing anyone said that consled me :(
 
I bought my first horse for ride and drive he was 15 years old. He is now 31 still does a gentle walking hack and has never given me a vet bill.
 
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