I do not compete with my senior boy, but that's because I'm not really interested lol. He is an 18+ year old quarab (best I can tell), and two vets called me a liar until they looked at his teeth when I told them his age. He gets about 2 pounds (not sure how much, I fill the scoop up to a certain point) a day of Bartlett maintenance feed a day, plus all the grass he can eat. he was used for barrel racing until a few years before I bought him (he was only retired bc he went nuts from poor "training" and his owner outgrew him) but he won regularly. His old owner has an entire wall covered in blue ribbons lol. He is currently in rehab training :P
My newest senior I don't really compete on at the moment but I'm wanting to take her to a few 'just for fun' sorting, penning and cutting practices at the arena down the road. She is 24, 25 in April and was a roping and cutting horse most of her life (and was used for trail riding after that). Overall she's in pretty good condition, out of shape from mostly being a pasture ornament for the last few years before I got her. Some arthritis in her hind end but it's not severe or crippling by any means, I'm intending to start her on a joint supplement this spring but overall she's an easy keeper and has nothing but GO under saddle. I took her on a mile long trail ride with a friend and her 5 year old quarter horse and my old mare was trotting and prancing the entire way and had no intentions of wanting to go slower.
She's getting her teeth done in a few months but so far seems to be an easy keeper. She doesn't eat any more hay than my easy keeper 2 year old and only occasionally gets a bit of safe choice and alfalfa pellets mostly as a treat. She's just turned out on 40 acres of pasture with my gelding and seems to keep herself moving plenty that way when she's not being ridden.
My first horse at 27 was still running and winning at barrels in local events. She was literally just on pasture, hay in the winter, occasionally a scoop of sweet feed or corn (way back when I was a kid and did not know any better) but kept on weight awesome and never really slowed down at all until she died at 28.
I really don't compete with my mare anymore but that's not because of her age! My girls a Quarter Horse who is (I believe) going on 25 this year. I do fun shows with her occasionally and if the opportunity were to arise I'd get her back into cutting/team penning because she absolutely loves doing that.
To keep her healthy she's outside most of the time and only comes in when she wants, I might start her on a lose dose joint supplement but that's up in the air. Feeding wise she gets regular grain and some Empower and hay. I'll only start her on senior feed when she needs it. You wouldn't know she was 25 if you looked at her. The only time she looks her age is in the winter and even then, it isn't too bad! To keep her strong I just listen to her and what she's able to do.
We have a 34yr old aqha buckskin and 22 year old apha paint. The kids still compete trot/lope barrel and poles. The buckskin was my husband college rodeo horse, he has been the best horse we have ever owned. Anyone can ride him and always could. He still has a lot of could to run a pattern or track a steer. He has no teeth and is feed soaked pellets and rice bran only and stays at a great weight The 22 year old still acts like 10yr old and I don't really consider him senior yet lol
Alot of our ponies are technically veterans (15+).
My main boy is 21 rising 22 :P He is still competing. Showed with us for the las 2 and 1/2 seasons and now he looks a bit old in the ring and we thought he might like a change so we are pursuing one of my long term interests... DRESSAGE! He loves it though is a bit taken a back by the quietness of it all. He is used to the cheering crowds, a ring full of ponies, evening preformances, spotlights, music the whole works! But he does enjoy it and we are clocking up fair scores (69%-75%) but you can always aim higher. He is looking great at the moment and getting him working long and low again. We always try to work him low for his back but with a new method my instructor just found out he is literally trotting around with his nose to the floor. What we do is leave him out most all day bring him in work him feed him (simple systems: speedibeet, lucie nuts, linseed other feeds: stud balancer, chaff and a non heating conditioning nut with copper yeast and seaweed) he gets about half a bucket. Then he is let back out again. I will attach some pics below
Two pics where he is on grass is in 2012. Just head is 2013 and trotting on sand is him in his younger days when he was in England.
When Skippy was running last year he was 26. He had minor arthritis but nothing major at all. He got maintence HA/Shark Cartilage injections (not in the joint). He was on the best hay. During the season he was on Omolene 200 added oats and some Senior thrown in the mix.
He also wore a Magnetic Blanket, and his legs were always wrapped on the road. When at home he had his own little pasture that he stayed on.
Wow, loving this thread! I hope more pics and posts come this way.
I purchased my first horse in August, although my family owned several companion horses when I was in my teens. Molly is 20 and I just plan to trail ride with her, since I don't have the time to pursue lessons right now (law student working 30hrs/week). She's a healthy girl with no arthritis or other problems that tend to plague "seniors" and she's putting on much-needed weight since I've had her. The vet has been out several times and thinks she's coming along well under our care, and says he likes her quite a lot, although I'm sure he says that to everyone.
Yet still everyone loves to bring up her age in conversation. "Oh, she looks great for being 20!" "Wow, I didn't know horses lived that long!" "Are you going to get another when she dies?" YIKES!
I purchased this mare with the intention of riding her - not hard, not roughly, but for many more years to come. I didn't judge her on her age, and knew at the time that she wasn't a youngster and we might face limitations in the future. It makes me thrilled to know that there are others still going strong into their 20s and 30s, and riders deciding based on their horse's health if he or she is okay to ride and compete, rather than letting a number dictate when they become a pasture ornament.
I don't mean to rant, but it really does make me happy and inspire confidence in seeing other people's healthy, "senior" horses. After all, I want a long time with Molly!
My daughter rides our old man (23) Rockstar flagging for rodeos and parades. We do not do heavy racing on him, but he does hold up for the long rodeo routine and we took him up to the mountains so we could trail hike while my husband hunted. He had plenty of time to stock up on nutrition up there due to all the rain. He gets "free range" on coastal and supplemented with his equine senior, calf manna, and joint supplement and gets his teeth floated every 6-8 months. He is slowly being retired to ponying and light trail riding, and we are training her 10 year old QH (in the background mountain pic) for the rodeos and parades.
I've seen a few disasters with old horses being gamed. Like Hickstead, one blew the main aorta and dropped like a sack of potatoes, unlike Hickstead. Even tho horses can appear to be in good shape, it takes much longer for their respirations and heart rate to return to normal. They are old and gaming is hard on them. When 27 my gelding was always up for a trail ride but I was always mindful of resting him on long steep hills. His head wanted to gallop up them although it was too hard on his body to do so.
We had a horse (named Garret) who passed away last October. He suffered from sickness because he's getting old. I'm kinda ****** because my dad promised us that he'll take care of him, but sadly he didn't. Oh how I missed him. To all of you guys here you might want to take extra care of your horse, they're such a treasure. On the bright side, I found an article on how to take care of our seniors. Just wanted to help my fellow horse enthusiasts - http://bit.ly/18T9vTM
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