Should I ride my Horse

["shermano" <shermano@prodigy.net>]

 I need a little advice, and am not soft skinned, so tell me like it is,
please.
Ok, the short story is:  Last January, 10 months ago, my 23 year old Morgan
gelding pulled a front suspensory ligament at a 25 mile ride and has been
off (grade one lame) ever since.  He wasn't ridden last spring or summer.
My teenage daughter, 120 pounds, has ridden him on 2 to 5 mile rides in the
last 2 months.  He still seems off.  The vet says his injury has "resolved."
His front right cannon bone area is obviously bigger than the left.
   Mentally, when you are on the ground near him, this old horse is what you
expect of a nice, well behaved, well-trained Morgan.  But when he gets going
down the trail, he becomes very forward and race-minded.  It is hard to get
him to drop back a gear.
  Yesterday, I decided to ride him.  I have ridden him in the past. I weigh
220 pounds.  We rode 15 miles.  It took us 5 hours, so you shouldn't get the
idea that this was any kind of a race.  It was just a nice, slow walk in the
countryside, interspersed with moments of wild galloping.  I know you
probably think of that as animal cruelty, but this guy wants to go so bad.
If we leave him behind in the pasture, he puts on 10 miles an hour just
wearing out the fenceline and whinnying for his lost buddy.  Well, his
injury may have slowed him down a bit, but I can't tell the difference.  At
the trot he limps.  When I tried to do just a nice canter, he wanted to
gallop.  If I let him gallop, he tried to fly.
  What should I expect over the next 3 to 5 years?  If some disease or
ailment doesn't befall him, what will this old injury do to him?  His brain
won't let him just become a lawn ornament.  He has to tear around, with or
without a rider.  The only time he is quiet is when his buddy is just across
the fence from him.
   So, am I hurting him by riding him at this point?  None of us live
forever, but am I shortening his life by riding him now?  When will he
realize that he is an old man, like me, and start to take it easy?
  Thanks for your input.
  Sherman, riding and driving Morgans in the north Florida backwoods
community of Gainesville