14 year old gelding. Too old?

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

My favorite horse of all time lived until she was 37. Her last several years she spent in retirement.

 

[2pinkmom]

My husband says I am the last refuge of the geriatric equine, so I'm biased. But no, 14 is not generally old by horse standards. But as PP have noted, a lot depends on the individual's conformation and the way he's been used in the past. The guy I train with has a lovely horse on loan from a friend for students like me to ride. Horse is about 16, and had a long, successful career as an advanced-level eventer, and still fox hunts on a regular basis. It is incredibly well-trained and has a generous temperament. He has some arthritis type issues emerging, and I'm sure his X-rays would be, um, interesting. But for a horse that has gone that hard, he's astonishingly injury free. The trainer attributes it in part to a certain economy of movement the horse possesses. Says it probably has protected him in the long run.

Don't buy a horse with just a few weeks of lessons under your belt. Bad idea. Dishonest sellers will smell you from a mile away. Lease a nice horse at your lesson varnish for awhile and enjoy the positive aspects of horse ownership without having to deal with mind-boggling expenses and 3 hours of chores a day

 

[animalpro24]

14 is a perfect age.

 

[babyblue]

My sisters and I all rode for a year or two before mom got us our own pony. Even then my mom had a lifetime of experience and taught us herself, our dad rode as well. So we were not jumping into anything new so to speak.



What posters mean as far as outgrowing experience wise, yes after a year my sisters and I were ready to show better more high end horses. Our pony was not set off to slaughter or disposed of as one poster suggested. We simply did different things with him, trail rode and drove him everywhere. He was the perfect companion for the horse babies and new riders. At 12 hands and some however we did out grow him a wee bit. Eventually when we looked pretty darn ridiculous ridding him and each had our own show horses we did the best thing for him. We donated him to the Milton Hershey school for their horse program. He lived out his life as the favorite pony, taught many kids to ride and drive and made so many people happy.



Taking loads of lessons now, ridding every horse you can get your hands on will give you the best idea of what you really want out of a horse. This way you dont end up wanting to do cutting or dressage on a small gaited pony or something that may be wonderful and sweet, but just not what you need to do what you want to do.



My current horse is 21 and is being grumpy in his stall because he wants to go out and play like a 2 year old. Days ago at his vet visit for the year the vet says he thinks at this rate he has 10-15 more useful years, let alone retired years. Good genetics, good care, good health and good conformation along with modern vet, dentist and farrier work is making for much longer lived horses.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
No, 14 is not old by any means, unless the horse has been horribly cared for or injured.

Would a very experienced horse person being going with you to look at this horse you found on Craigslist? I consider that a very iffy place to look for a horse unless you have somebody with a whole lot of horse experience to take a look for you.