Bringing up Gramps!

[SandyDSA@aol.com]

Need some opinions here - not that anyone on this list EVR gives them:) but 
here goes. We have acquied a beautiful PB 17 year old gelding - HEVAY CMK - 
lots of Raffles - he is an Azraff grandson and also carries Sotep. He is 15 
or 15.1 with SOLID, clean legs, super nice conformation and a really nice if 
a little sprightly temperament. We have had him exactly a week and have found 
that he does indeed jump clean at 3', goes merrily down the trail, has 
BEAUTIFUL gaits, and is good enough with leg aids to know that he DOES have 
dressage training. He seems to have a great love for going down the road so 
to speak, and at 17 years old, certainly LD would not be out of the question. 
Perhaps even some 50s. Now - how to proceed. Not knowing his personal 
history, it isn't the same as my horses whom I have known since youth. 

I have to say that we took this handsome fellow because his owner couldn't 
keep him anymore and didn't know what else to do with him and didn't want him 
going to auction, so we took him pretty much sight unseen. I had no intention 
of keeping him indefinitely, and told his former owner that I would without 
doubt see him in a really good home. Well, if my daughter has HER way, WE 
will give him a really good home! sigh! I NEED a 7th horse! But....he is SO 
NICE! So how best to let him make himself useful and create a nice niche fo 
activity fo rhim? Endurance, 4H, perhaps a couple of my advanced students - 
but the biggest question is how to bring him up to condition. He actually 
LOOKS pretty good for not having been ridden in 4 months, and then only at a 
walk. He is sleek and balanced if soft, and is a real workhorse so to speak. 

Okay - taking a horse at this age and this level of condition - perhaps fit 
for a 5 mile trot - I will listen to anyone who has done this kind of thing. 
Okay - take yer best shots!
Sandy