wanted to post in h/j but figured i’d go here
would you purchase a 16 year old horse with no other issues other than normal wear and tear? if your intentions were to do nothing else but to do the local hunter stuff, 2’3/2’6?
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16 isn’t old if the horse is healthy and sound
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Without the slightest bit of hesitation I would purchase a 16yo sound horse doing what I want to do.
I will add that it is best to have a plan for things going sideways no matter the age of the horse you buy. What will you do with Dobbin when Dobbin is no longer sound to do what you want to do?
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No problem if your vet does a good PPE, including Cushings blood work.
Once we bought an 18 year old for an elderly friend to ride.
Friend died two years later, kids leaned to ride on horse, one was high point in their kids activities.
“Old” horse lived healthy and sound to 30.
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Absolutely, that’s the perfect age! Less shenanigans, someone has put in the time already, it isn’t growing anymore so you aren’t going through shims and saddle adjustments every six months… win-win.
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My current riding horse will be 22 this year.
Decorative Hackney Pony turns 24 next week.
Horse is still very sound & if I worked him oftener, could be in even better shape 
Pony could pass for 5 if you watch him move & aren’t close enough to see how gray his face has gone 
My TB was 27 when I lost him to a trailer accident. He had probably 10 more good years.
I brought him home at 22.
Played with jumps, setting them around 2’ out of respect for his age. He’d clear them at 3’ 
At 26 I rode him in a Dressage clinic. Clinician did not believe his age.
So, YES to the 16yo 
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we had a mare who at 18 won a championship at a show that the state vets were there doing drug testing, vet escorted her from the ring to her stall, we handed him the horse’s paper work, he examined the horse, looked at her regency paperwork then proclaim This Horse is not the horse on this paperwork as this horse here can not be older the eight or nine years old not 18.
We had to get the show manager to come to the stall to ID the horse as they knew her and her history.
But every time a question about a horse’s age comes up I remember Elmer Bandit who was a NATRC distance horse accumulated 20,780 lifetime trail miles (those where just the miles in competition that he was judged so this horse most likely had mileage enough to have gone around the world twice at the equator) He died at 38 but competed through age 37. The rdies he competed in were distances of 50 to 60 Miles over a two day period.
And of course “our” pony that was used in my daughter’s summer camp, he was given to her as he was said to be 24 at that time. He was in good health so we just kept him, problem became is he Ever Going to Die? He lived until 45, he had to be euthanized after getting down and unable to get back up.
So OP’s possible horse, if it passes all the vet’s checks could easily have another full life ahead of itself.
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Yep and I wouldn’t bother with a vet check either.
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Yes!
I do need to ask, though, what are your plans if the horse has a soundness issue in the future, say at age 20?
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thanks all for your replies!!! made the appt for the PPE for the 13th. not going to do anything too in depth, just a real basic exam with my trusted vet
i already have a beloved horse (26 TB mare) who lives the HIGHLY pampered life… and i do mean pampered lol
this current horse was just supposed to be a lease to have something to ride as my current mare retired about a year ago due to DSLD
i started riding him tho and fell in absolute love, and approached the owner about a purchase. she loved us together and really liked the idea surprinsingly
all my animals have forever homes. that is not even a question. he will stay with me til the end. so yes, even if he were to have a soundness issues at 20, 21, etc.
i guess i was just making sure i wasn’t thinking emotionally instead of financially when “jumping in” so to speak… my thought of how my next horse purchase was going to go was a little different in my mind (was going to plan on looking for something younger, more of a classic “hunter” type, but the best laid plans!!) … when i say more hunter type, this guy is Appy/Warmblood so i was worried about showing, however we will be fine to mosey around the local unrated stuff around here. this boy is so nice, goes into a frame without so much as you needing to touch the reins/apply leg and has a strong background in dressage, and he’s like riding a couch hes so comfy! i was done for as soon as i rode him the first time.
so. again. just wanted to make sure i wasn’t being crazy by jumping in. my trainer thinks he’s good for me too
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Is the horse doing right NOW what you want to do with it? If so, then, no problem (and I think that you are smarter than most to do so). If it’s not, then you shouldn’t assume that it can.
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… or you can do whatever the horse can/wants to do, because you like the horse that much.
If you like a horse, you will do whatever, so as to be with and do with, whatever that may be, with that horse.
Sounds like you will do just that, going by your last post.
Lucky you to have found a horse love, lucky the horse if he has you in his life.
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well if it was a weanling then that is not would be different but really is, our last two have been weanlings. Raising those dudes has been interesting
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I bought a 16 year old dressage horse that had rehabbed a tendon injury. He needed minimal maintenance and I got my bronze medal in 3 shows with him.
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I would love to see pics of this boy. I have an Ap/Trak x that I adore. He’s retired now and enjoying life as a 30-year-old. 
But he jumped till he was probably 22? And even after that he would pop over stuff.
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Can you PM me? Since he’s not technically mine right now, I don’t want to post publically just yet… I mean I do but trying to be respectfully. Mom and I are friends (have known her over a decade actually), and she couldn’t be more laid back, but send me a PM and I would love to show you! 
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Gotcha…will do!
Yeah, I was just thinking we should all post our current using horse’s age. Not the youngsters some of you are training up, but the actual using horse you have.
20 for me.
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When I got my Hackney pony, he was 22 and retired for a year from a show career. He hated being retired. He’d never been driven outside of an arena, so it was an interesting adventure getting this very hot pony to adjust to all the things we would see around the neighborhood.
When I had to retire him, I started training my 20-something year old pony to drive. We drove for another ten years until that pony couldn’t see well enough to go out any more.
Rebecca
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A sound, sane 16 year old doing what you want it to do? Especially one you know well and like and enjoy? No Brainer. Buy it!
Having said that, if you are at an age where you are thinking “I desperately want to start one last youngster and go to Grand Prix and I could do it now but am not sure I’ll have it in me in 6 years time” I could see your dilemma.
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