This is a picture of me and the Support Crew Chief on my last trail ride two years ago. I am grounded from trail riding because I only want to trot and the DOR thinks at my age I should walk. Since I won't do that no trails for me...she is a party pooper for sure.I am an old horse, a very old horse! I want to talk about the worth of older horses...we are often worth our weight in gold.
The oldest horse on record was Old Billy, who lived to be 62 years old in Woolston, England. He was foaled in 1760 and died in 1822. I have a few years to go to beat Billy's record.
So when is a horse considered old? When the DOR was young a horse in its 20's was considered ready to die and a horse in its late teens would be considered for retirement and wasn't one that most people would want to buy. In 2004 Equus Caballus Magazine states that the typical life span for a horse is 25 years. With better care and nutrition horses are living longer and more productive lives.
What can an old horse offer besides companionship? We can offer a lot! If well taken care of we are able to still be ridden. There is nothing like an experienced oldster to teach a beginning rider. Of course we can be naughty, like the time I was bucking with Dakota a couple of years ago. He needed to learn to ask me to do things nicer so I had to teach him a lesson. An older horse is a great confidence booster. Take Ginger, she helped the DOR regain her confidence after Jack's werehorse incident. Then there is Salty who can be ridden by a light rider for a short amount of time...oh the small children he has made giggle. Sir Darby is a great anyone can ride him horse, who just loves being ridden.
Let us not forget my idol Elmer Bandit who at 37 is still doing endurance rides. This guy just rocks!
So when you are looking for a horse think about what the DOR recently said, "The horse we enjoy in our old age is often the same type of horse we learned to ride on." She learned to ride on a 32 year old anglo arab named Chiquita "Skeeter", her mothers retired state champion gaming horse. Maybe every human needs a good kids horse to ride once in a while, just so they can relax and be taken care of for a bit-then they can go ride a fireball.
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR
2 comments:
I said goodbye a year ago to my old MAre Catan(looked just like JAck) at 28 yrs . Up until just the year before she had been giving my niece a run for her money .At 25 she took her last mountain trip and maintained her title as the
"Shortcut Appy" never a hill she couldn't climb!I stopped riding her for much the same reason ,she had so much try and getup and go ,I didn't want her to push herself too hard . The last year ,she played "live in granny to the foal(a doppleganger of her)then quietly in the early fall I chose to let her go as her arthritis had become too debilitating . Freedom you are a good fella
Some times I think horses and humans are a like in a lot of ways. The older you get the young ones think you are not worth much,but if they stop and listen they would find out that you do know a few things that might be helpful.I haven't talked to many horses except the ones that my stepfather had,and his favorite thing to say was "that's a mean one stay away "when he was gone my sister and I would go talk and play with him he wasn't mean he liked us. His name was "Sandy" Golden Sands was a double registered Palomino Morgan and we thought he was beautiful.
``Hugs and Smooches to you and Jack~~
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