What is the oldest horse to buy or adopt for leisure riding purposes?
Note: The following excerpt is the transcript from a question I answered from my Facebook Live made in the Steady Horse Facebook Group on 8/7/19. Watch the video or read the text below to learn the answer to the question.
Definitely get the advice of a vet that can definitively tell you if there is something going on. If you can’t get to a vet immediately, get another pair of eyes from a horse knowledgeable person. Another thing you can do if you have a horse that’s sound, have the two horses walk side by side, have somebody leading them. Look and see what’s going on, just to give you an idea of what’s stemming the movement that looks like twisting movement. That would be my recommendation and what I would do if it were my pony and there was any concern of that horse being lame or having an issue.
A lot of it depends on the health of the horse and their temperament. Is this relaxed or a hot horse? If it’s an older horse, will they get worked up and you will have a lot of groundwork to do with them and a lot of physical work to where it could be too taxing for them.
My best recommendation is to make sure that they can comfortably and soundly carry you and be able to ride out without coming back home. all sore and in pain because we want our horses to have a good, healthy and comfortable life. Consultant a vet. Do a vet check with that horse, make sure that they will be able to at least have a comfortable, productive riding life. That again will depend on the horse.
You could have a 16 or 18-year-old horse that has some medical issues that may not be fit for riding. I’ve got a 15-year-old horse right now that is not fit for riding, so he does not do any writings. But then you might have a 23-year-old horse that’s fit as a fiddle, very productive and go out on a ride with no consequences of being sore or having issues. Definitely consult with your vet and hopefully they can work with you to figure out what kind of productive life that horse can comfortably have.
