I am going to go check out an older mare that sounds fine - although aged. But heck, so am I.
Does anyone here drive a horse older than 20?
I learned to drive with a 19 year old (that sounds funny doesn’t it?). I ground drive the old guy, who is just about 26, and wouldn’t hesitate to put him to one of the little Jerald show carts where I would feel less comfortable about him toting my weight on his back.
I also got thoroughly trounced in a pleasure driving class by a horse who looked to be quite aged, he had the swayback of an elderly horse and other elderly features.
If you plan to pleasure drive I don’t see a huge issue.
My first driving horse was 22 when I got him. He hauled me all over the neighborhood until he needed to be retired at age 27. And for the two years from when he was retired until he died, he never stopped reminding me that he belonged out there on the road.
My current driving horse is probably about 20 (he’s a rescue so I don’t know for sure). He’s my youngster (compared to my other horses). I feel he is in his prime.
Rebecca
As long as the horse is sound and willing there is no reason not to drive or ride them into thier 20s. My current driving pony will be 20 in June and should have several years left. Her sire was 24 and still ready to go until I lost him when he coliced and twisted suddenly in January :sadsmile:.
Christa
My old driving pony is twenty and going strong. The old ones are great teachers! I wouldn’t overlook a 20 year old.
We use a mare who will be 26 this year. She is in excellent health, gets driven regularly. We are getting her more fit so she can work with the geldings. When fit she can walk and trot a hole in the wind, which we need added onto the boys’ collection of speeds within each gait.
She is also an excellent Leader in a Four, needs to be handy to use out front, for when we put the two young horses to work as Wheelers this year.
Pretty funny to see her out-walking the young guys, out-trotting them too. You can see her smirking at them, probably saying things in Horse about “Pretty boys who can’t REALLY move out enough to keep up with an old lady!”.
Older horses do better with regular work, keeps them flexible and interested in their surroundings. You don’t work them to death, but a sweat doesn’t hurt them either. We mostly just shorten her mileage, not doing fast, hard works with her now, she won’t be doing any Marathons. But putting in 6-8 miles at reasonable speeds is well within her capacity, with no problems after.
As long as you are not going to be competing aggressively in Combined Driving . . .
Nothing wrong with an older horse
Our old boy Macrae was trained to drive in his early teens but hated it
In his early 30’s he could no longer be ridden - getting arthritic, etc
BUT he hated being retired to a field
so we got a light EZentry cart and tried driving again
He didnt go far - maybe 2-3 miles
but he had fun as we did too
and we drove him up to 2 days before he fell in the field and couldnt get up
He was 39
Don’t Give It A Thought `` ENJOY !
Don’t give the age a ‘thought’ … if horse is ‘healthy’ .
Driving is the BEST way to exercise an older horse `` keeps them active and conditioned :D`````without the weight of a rider …
HIGHLY RECOMMEND DRIVING OLDER HORSES AND PONIES ```:yes:
I drive the ‘elderly’ daily ! :lol::yes:
ENJOY !!!
Slight spinoff - would you ever consider teaching a 20 year old to drive?
We acquired an aged mini this fall - she is 20 as well. My dd loves the idea of teaching her to drive but I wonder if she is too old.
Obviously we can do a lot before we get to that point to help us decide - she was a broodmare and I have no idea if she’s ever worn a bridle. So, if not, it might not be worth the effort. I did contact her original breeder but never heard back from them.
But if she can learn to ground drive, would it be crazy to consider training her to pull a tiny cart with a 10 year old in it? Or is it too much for the novice owner + novice horse to manage (you can be honest). 
Training an older animal to drive can often be much less exciting than training the younger ones, because the older animal has seen a lot in their lives. You don’t usually get the “over-reaction” kind of responses.
First would be to have her mouth examined by a horse dentist or SKILLED mouth Vet. Vets can do teeth, just not always their best thing. Minis are well known for their poor dental construction. Teeth are the last thing to shrink when animals get downsized, so often minis have too many or too big of teeth in their shortened jaw structure to make bitting and chewing comfortable. Often they need teeth removed to allow correct alignment. An exam by a skilled mouth person should be able to tell you if mini needs work or is set to go. At her age, she might have already had her mouth fixed up, so no issues. Best to check and KNOW before starting though. And even if she is 20yrs, she can get started in a bit, if her mouth allows it.
Minis often seem to live to be VERY OLD, so giving her a skill/job at her age will probably be real helpful in keeping her active and healthy. If she is your kid’s pony, you may have her forever! Driving her will be enjoyable for the child and you way into the future, help prevent her being obese and developing health problems.
You the Adult, NEED to be involved in training her to drive. Minis often “appear” to be more than willing, so they get pushed along too fast. Good basics are not established or trainer doesn’t “read” the animal to see resistances. A kid can train, but they need Adult eyes supervising to be sure the lessons are thorough, animal is understanding. You want to be sure the kid doesn’t get bored and impatient with repetition needed to get basics taught well, tries to hurry or skip needed lessons. Even a mini outweighs child and you, so ft it gets scared you probably can’t hold it or force it to behave without the good basics. Your previous training sessions will have given mini the understanding of the job, to WAIT for directions, prevent problems, if mini is confused.
You have to train the child along with the mini. WHOA means DEAD STOP and EVERY TIME it is heard! This is both when lead or in training equipment. There is no allowing one more step!! This is your most important training lesson, may be needed as an emergency brake. Animal should be almost self-stopping at the WHOA word, willing the HELP the handler/driver.
Child has to understand that when she says what she MEANS, mini has to respond correctly. Child must MEAN WHAT SHE SAYS, say the correct words to direct the mini. Driving with command “do overs” is very confusing to the animal, so they ignore you. Your observing the training, maybe doing part of it, will keep the child on-track, quickly correct any mistakes she makes. You can talk together on “the Training Plan”, next steps as animal progresses. Animals can’t read your mind, they have to have the words, consistant training, to be the reliable animal you want to be driving.
Kid training their first pony is a huge learning experience. Teaches them MANY things along the way to getting animal going well. And YOU get to spend more time with your kid for great memories. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Goodhors, thank you so much for the very detailed post!
Yes, we fully expect this mini to live to be 35 or so…which was one reason I was quite happy to get her at 20 and not a badly behaved yearling mini which came my way…I’d be in my 70s and that thing would still be going strong!
Very good point about the teeth and mouth, and I will most definitely have her examined before we consider a bridle. She is very quiet and shy, so it’s hard to know if driving would suit her or not. Although I think she’s changed a great deal since November when we got her. I don’t believe she had been handled much in the last 10 years, and was still with her 12 year old “filly”. :lol: I think it probably did them both good to be separated.
Even if we can’t get her into driving, my dd is going to do showmanship with her and give her a job. Dd had a scary fall last year riding and has decided she’s not sure about riding anymore…so working with the mini is a great alternative.
Spring shots are coming soon so we’ll have her mouth looked at and her teeth done if necessary, and go from there. In the meantime we’ll work on in-hand commands to keep her working. Thanks for the help!
Oh goodness, my mustang learned to drive at around age 24 (this was our first day at it, he is so BTDT we were enjoying the trails less than two hours after introduction to harness. I always wear a helmet btw, but jumped back in the cart for the photo only, thats me shaking out my helmet-hair)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c54/buck1173/buck%20and%20spice%20drive/BUCKY_DRIVE2.jpg
And here he is at age 32 getting back into the groove to be the leader in my tandem (he’s all ready to go an hot to trot I might add, its my lousy work schedule and life in general thats holding things up :lol:)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c54/buck1173/b6c65b2f.jpg
If my grand old man didn’t have bad hocks, stifles and pasterns, I’d be actively driving him. He LOVES getting out and about and loves new trails and seeing new things. (The morgan, eh, he’s ok on trails but is just as content to stay behind the safety of fences, thankyouverymuch, its a big scary world out there, no need to venture too far.)
I love the oldsters that just won’t quit. My old man drives me crazy if I’m not keeping him entertained and giving him at least something to do once a week. He refuses to accept retirement. To bad his body just can’t keep up with his spirit.
I had an old grade TWH mix gelding who I purchased with no papers other than a year old coggins that said 17 -18 years of age. He was sway backed, and had the huge divets above his eyes. But he rode beautiful. So as most horses are at least 10 years old for 5 years when they are grade and sold, :D, I figured he was at least 23 years really. Just a bad guess. At what would have been his 24th birthday by the document, more likely 28 or 29, I taught him to drive. He never accepted the blinders well, but was great between the shafts. So I drove him open bridle. Took him to his first and only show when he was maybe 28 by documentation but more likely over 32. My 3 dollar blue ribbon cause me 500 in vet bills when he brought home a cold.
So yes an older horse can be taught to drive.,
We continued to drive him another 5 years when he could no longer carry a rider. My best guess is he died in his late 30s. But what a grand old man he was, Miss you Major.
