I am curious. My 27 year old OTTB does well at the hilltopper division of hunter paces this year. What is the oldest horse you know of who is still in the field?
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I can think of a pony in my area who is late 20s and going at least second flight.
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We had a veteran first flight horse (unraced purpose-bred TB) that stepped down to second field at 23 until 27, hill topped with kids until near 30.
Horse had the heart of a dragon and would’ve hunted until his heart and legs gave out if they let him.
As far as I know he only ever had his hocks injected in his 20s and then maybe a bute here and there.
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Dazzling Dan just left the hunt field (died) at 32 --to my knowledge he hunted more seasons with Battle Creek Hunt than any other horse in its 98 year history.
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We have on who lives w me who is 28. His owner is late 70s.
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I do not recall any talk about horse ages, but just about how many seasons some of them have been hunting. Maybe this is because so few of our owners really know their horses’ actual ages. I have three hunters but the ages of two of them is just an educated guess. Who knows where the ages on some Coggins came from? One was just a guess by me his first year with me and he was stuck with it. He may have actually been years older.
Much more attention is paid to the age of the rider, and you receive a plaque when you hunt past your 70th birthday.
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Awesome as I am 71. Next year we will have a combined age of 100!
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awesome
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This is a photo of my large pony at 26 hunting first flight. I hunted him until he was 34 (2nd and 3 rd flight) and a junior hunted him until her was 36. He was still being ridden WTCG and jumping small obstacles until 3 months before he passed at 39 years old.
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How wonderful. My horse and I just reached a combined age of 100!
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