Starting an older horse in reining?

So, I really want to get my feet wet in the reining world and do some local and perhaps some rookie level NRHA or NRCHA shows before I head off to University in a couple years. I've been riding for about five years now and I'm pretty confidant in my seat and riding ability--and definitely in my ground working skills--but honestly, after riding many younger horses and dealing with my old riding instructors poorly trained teenage horses, I really just want an older horse that I can play around on, trail ride and not be eternally frustrated with. My question is, if I go for say, a 17ish old horse, could I still do some reining or would that be a bad idea?

Replies much appreciated :)

Eventually, I'll save up for a younger horse that I can spend the money on to send to the trainers and really get into the sport but like I said, for now I just want to enjoy myself while still being able to be in reining.

I will tell you what I tell most who want to get into reining. Go find yourself an older REINING trained proven gelding. You can pick them up for less then what you will have to spend getting one trained. Even if you do ALL the work yourself which unless you have trained reiners before would be very very hard regardless of your past experiance. Spend a few more $$ and get a nice reining gelding. They are fun to ride will d well at the green and Rookie reining will do well in trails and so on.

I agree with nrhareiner. I just purchased my reining gelding, he's 11 so he's not super old, but he certainly knows his stuff.

My older mare is 21 and was professionally trained as a reiner when she was younger, then after many years of barrel racing and team roping, she is very, very rusty. I've tried and tried to tune her up in it, but she's a bit too set in her ways.
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If you are going to start, then start with a horse that knows their stuff. An older horse is a much better way to go providing its sound for the use you intend. No point in you both learning from scratch. That's just a recipe for unhappiness all the way around.

You can do it if you want, but learning while your horse is.. it's a heckkkkk of a learning curve. I would go with a aged reining gelding 6+...

One of you should know what your doing!!!