Re: Older Endurance Horses

[Connie DeJong <cdejong@cisco.com>]

Be careful on floating teeth, make sure the vet only takes the sharp edges if there are any. Don't just float as a preventative measure. Else when your 20 yr old is 29, may not have enough teeth to float. Doesn't matter how good of health, he can't live without teeth.  Well cared for horses can live well into their 30's.  Ours is 27, he is the most distinguished gentleman, and still raring to go.  He always accompanies us on our training rides, but last year he didn't compete.  Prior to that he had done at least five 25 LD rides/year with my now 11yr old son, and one with me riding.   His last vet visit I asked for a float and the vet recommended against it.  He picks through his hay now only eating the flowers, not much stem and stashes the rest in a nice bedding heap.  I have him on omelene 100 and All in one, with occasional rice bran and grain mash on long ride days. He gets too hot on equine senior!
Connie

At 07:43 AM 1/29/99 -0600, you wrote:
>We have an 18 year old and a 20 year old that we are doing 25's LD with.
>Plus we do a week long trail ride with an average speed of 6 miles per
>hour on them and they do great. The 20 year old gets some special care,
>he is on Purina Senior feed, beet pulp and COB. He has his teeth floated
>regularly and he can have no dusty hay. But the 18 year old is hard to
>keep the weight off of. He has a tendency to get fat and we ride him all
>year long. Lots of miles, and no special care. We got both horses when
>they were older, and I know the history behind them. And the 18 year old
>got a lot better care then the 20 year old. Really makes a difference in
>their health later on.
>
>Lynette
>
>Maggie Mieske wrote:
>> 
>> We have an 18 year old foxtrotter mare that we put some conditioning on and she
>> did some 25 CTRs last year and will probably do a few this year with friends
>> aboard who have never dreamed about riding 5 miles let alone 25.  Forget 50 or
>> 100!  She was the horse who helped my sister get back into riding and see she CAN
>> distance ride!  She went out and bought her own horse!  My friend, Jan Kennedy,
>> has an 18 year old mare that beats the pants off the competition when it comes to
>> P & Rs and she looks great, too!  At one CTR last year, I recall she scored
>> something like a 390 plus!!  I think older horses do well if they are well cared
>> for but I see a lot of older horses out on the trail!  Endurance horses seem to
>> live longer because they are fitter and well taken care of!  I think Jan retired
>> her other older mare at 21 or 22!  Good luck with yours!
>> Maggie
>> 
>> Stealt21@aol.com wrote:
>> 
>> > I was wondering if anyone has any info on the competitive trail ride they do
>> > around the ski roundtop area in Lewisberry, PA?
>> >
>> > Also i'm very new to this and was wondering what everyones experience is with
>> > older horses in endurance riding....say a 18 year old?
>> >
>> > thanks
> 
Connie DeJong					(408) 526-6117
Customer Success Engineering			Fax (408) 526-4952
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