Starting/Re-Starting the Older Horse/Pony

[altermetoday]

Would love to hear experiences about the older horse/pony that got a late start to getting going under saddle and how that turned out.

I’ve got a super cute pony that I think is now 8? He was started as a 3 year old and then was given to me because the owner didn’t want to keep such a youngster for her kids and I needed a companion pony. I didn’t have the time to work with him as later I bought a green horse and two to ride. He works out well as the companion pony, but I’m now down to riding one horse and was thinking of starting some ground work with him and see where it takes me…

Am I too late though? He’s a super smart guy…which may work against me.

[RodeoFTW]

I have a pony. Just found out two days ago that he’s actually really broke and I’ve owned him for some six or seven months.

It’s never too late.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=altermetoday;8655063]
Would love to hear experiences about the older horse/pony that got a late start to getting going under saddle and how that turned out.

I’ve got a super cute pony that I think is now 8? He was started as a 3 year old and then was given to me because the owner didn’t want to keep such a youngster for her kids and I needed a companion pony. I didn’t have the time to work with him as later I bought a green horse and two to ride. He works out well as the companion pony, but I’m now down to riding one horse and was thinking of starting some ground work with him and see where it takes me…

Am I too late though? He’s a super smart guy…which may work against me.[/QUOTE]

Why not make this reintroduction easier on all and take him to a good local trainer that starts colts, to see what you have?

If he needs some refresher, that trainer could do that for you.

Never hurts to have a second set of eyes helping, especially experienced ones, that do that every day.

[altermetoday]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8655082]
Why not make this reintroduction easier on all and take him to a good local trainer that starts colts, to see what you have?

If he needs some refresher, that trainer could do that for you.

Never hurts to have a second set of eyes helping, especially experienced ones, that do that every day.[/QUOTE]

I have a trainer that will work with him, however, I will do the groundwork with him first. I’ve also started all my own horses and trained many up to be nice made horses, however, they were all young.

That said, I’m trying to decide if its really worth it…I’ve heard its hard to start the older horse/pony and it may not be a sound use of my time or money so I’m looking for others experiences.

[Countrywood]

8 is not that old, mine was 12 and never ridden before that. They can be a bit more set in their ways/stubborn, on other hand are smart and more sensible

[Frog_Pond]

My current ride is a 23 yo Standardbred who raced from 2-12, was turned out and verrry occasionally ‘ridden’ western on trails, and came to me, still green as grass, two years ago. He didn’t steer, barely stopped, and is very forward, so that’s where we started. He’s learned a lot, and while he’s still a bit nervous, it was worth it for both of us. I also have a 12 yo mini who I’m starting in agility this spring, and he’s very smart, very sassy, and in general, a handful. He’s been a pasture puff his entire life. His smartness works for us – he learns about 2x faster than the horse, and likes to move on, hates being bored. For the horse, I have to take things slow, for the pony, I have to keep up with his mind! I don’t think 8 is too old to learn at all. Give him a chance!

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=altermetoday;8655185]
I have a trainer that will work with him, however, I will do the groundwork with him first. I’ve also started all my own horses and trained many up to be nice made horses, however, they were all young.

That said, I’m trying to decide if its really worth it…I’ve heard its hard to start the older horse/pony and it may not be a sound use of my time or money so I’m looking for others experiences.[/QUOTE]

We started many feral horses and some were easily 8/9 years old.
Within a small time they were making very nice school horses.

I don’t think age would matter that much, especially if it was already started before.

Now, if you are going to start it again and then not have any riding for it, you will be back where you started.
If you are going to put it in steady work, then I would say it is worth your money and time, yes.

[x]

Not hard at all to start older horses. I had an old Broodmare, 12 years, unbroke, that we started under saddle, and within 60 days were out foxhunting her. No problem. I have a horse that was started as a 4 year old, then turned out for 8 years with nothing done with her. Within three rides she was back up to par, and went to work in my lesson program (she had been well broke as a 4 year old). I had a twenty-plus year old broodmare that hadn’t been ridden since she was a three year old, and it took about a week on her to get her back to where I could start putting students on her. If they have been broke once, they don’t forget it, so in your horse’s case it will be a tune-up and then go from there. 8 years old is not too old, and your horse was already started as a 3 year old, so the tough part is done.

[Scribbler]

I would say a lot depends on what’s been done with him, what his personality is like, and how sound he is. Is he good on the ground, and happy to be around people?

But eight is not that old. Lots of people don’t start a horse under saddle until age 4 or 5, so you have only lost a couple of years. And ponies tend to be long-lived!

The age might be an issue if you were buying to train as a competition horse and re-sell. If you figured you needed to put several years of show miles on him before you sold, you might think 8 was a bit old, because he would be over ten before he sold, and people might not pay absolute top price as his total show career would be shorter.

But that probably isn’t at issue here, if you just want to create a good children’s pony.

Another way to think about it is, what will happen to him if you don’t start him now? You will eventually have a 15 year old, 20 year old, 25 year old pony that has no job in life.

I’ve seen people start or re-start horses in the 8/10/12 age bracket, and they don’t seem to give worse problems than young horses. They are calmer and less explosive, so in fact they seem easier.

BTW, when I clicked on your post I expected to see that the question was about starting a horse that was 20 years old!

[adelmo95]

I have an 11 year old gelding who was sold to me as green broke and after a little handling was determined to be basically unstarted. He took a little longer to understand some of the basic concepts like leg means move forward not kick at it however once he grasped that concept he has progressed extremely quickly.

The nice thing is that you don’t have to deal with a “baby brain” and they are fully aware of where all of their parts are. In the span of a couple of months my guy has gone from planting his feet and kicking out whenever he decided he should be done to being extremely keen to jump around a course with auto lead changes.

I would not hesitate to take on an older horse to train, and 8 it NOT old for a pony.

[Foxtail]

My favorite horse was pulled out of New Holland at 8 or 9. When I started leasing him at 10 I basically had to start him from the ground back up. Compared to the filly I worked with last year, training him was a piece of cake.

[JoannaHCR]

[QUOTE=altermetoday;8655185]
I have a trainer that will work with him, however, I will do the groundwork with him first. I’ve also started all my own horses and trained many up to be nice made horses, however, they were all young.

That said, I’m trying to decide if its really worth it…I’ve heard its hard to start the older horse/pony and it may not be a sound use of my time or money so I’m looking for others experiences.[/QUOTE]

Due to school/time/work/moving I ended up starting 4 horses we bred all between the ages of 5 and 9. Sometimes they take a little longer on the very basic concepts, but it seems like after they understand leg means go, and steering, they move along very quickly.

If the little guy has already had some work, it should really help move things along!

Have fun!

[Winding_Down]

I have started older (age 4-8) horses a few times and I have found that it is easier than a younger horse. And the training has gone faster as in from scratch to 60 days, they are typically out doing everything, including small jumps.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=altermetoday;8655063]
Would love to hear experiences about the older horse/pony that got a late start to getting going under saddle and how that turned out.

I’ve got a super cute pony that I think is now 8? He was started as a 3 year old and then was given to me because the owner didn’t want to keep such a youngster for her kids and I needed a companion pony. I didn’t have the time to work with him as later I bought a green horse and two to ride. He works out well as the companion pony, but I’m now down to riding one horse and was thinking of starting some ground work with him and see where it takes me…

Am I too late though? He’s a super smart guy…which may work against me.[/QUOTE]

Goggle Vladamir Littauer’s book Common Sense Horsemanship. It’s a free download from many places. In it he has a seven month program to start/restart a horse. It works quite well.

Good luck in your project.

G.

[2DogsFarm]

This thread is bordering on Zombie
Wonder if OP did anything with the Project Pony?

Retraining the older ones basically describes most of my Life With Horses.
Examples:

*7yo TWH used occasionally for trailriding, retrained in under a year to be my DH’s Eventer (they are in my profile pic) competed BNH, schooled to Training.

*11yo TWH - (recently gelded) ridden rarely by owner who was a bit afraid of him < she “rescued” him from life as a stall-kept stud, turned out to be too much horse. In a year he was going so well I showed him Gaited Dressage. Where we ran into my former trainer who was surprised to see us there: “He’s so relaxed!”

*15yo WB - imported from Australia as a Jumper (1.5m). Was going very nicely as my dressage mount - schooling 2nd Level - when I lost him to a wildfire anaerobic infection RF last July.

*10yo Hackney Pony - a freebie from my shoer who had started him driving, had a bad crash & cautioned me “never try to hitch him”. Intended to be a companion to the WB, 6yrs later we are ground-driving. IMHO (& if I was 10yrs younger) he’s ready to be hitched.

& Lastly:
*13yo TWH, used for horsecamping/trailriding. Gifted to me when I lost my WB by friend who had him for 6yrs. He is now trotting at liberty & work U/S was progressing well, until this Summer when my health(surgery) has put riding on Hold :o

[TheHotSensitiveType]

I too expected a much older horse! If you have the time/skill, why not?

I recently started working with a pony around that age. Quite unfortunately, he was not started well and has a lot of anxiety problems related to being ridden. If yours was started well, that will make re-starting that much easier. Awhile ago, I started working with a horse in his teens who was super green. He is taking to being ridden regularly quite well. He even nickered at me the other day. Sweetie.

Good luck! Be safe and have fun!

[ElementFarm]

I have one.
well bred WB mare started lightly at 3/4. I rode her as a 5yo, and when I moved away, owner sent her to a trainer to compete (3-day) for exactly one summer. Owner ran out of money, couldn’t get WB prices in the OTTB-friendly eventing scene, and brought the mare home. She sat in her field for 4+ years.
I bought her, sight unseen as a 10yo. She hadn’t been sat on more than three times in the preceding 4 years. I restarted her, and it all came back. Within 6 months she was showing 2’6 hunters, and within a year, moved up to 3’ with good ribbons. Following year I showed her in the 3’3 and 3’6. It as great: she had the maturity of an older horse, but not the miles or stress on her joints. I still own her and she’s my heart horse, and just had a beautiful colt. Based on that experience, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy an older horse with extensive time off. I don’t think I’d want one that had never been broke, but once Marsie was back in work, all the old training came back smoothly.

[TrueColours]

So glad I found this thread! I have a 10 year old mare that we will check and see if she is in foal this Monday and if not, her future will be to get started under tack and see how she makes out …

Silly to keep an open mare until next year - may as well give her a job and see what she is like as a nice going mare instead!

[Malda]

My Icelandic was 16 years old when I got him. Lots of trail exp, but no urban exp. Had never seen a curb, sidewalk, different colored pavement, traffic, auto-waters, etc. I went slowly and he learned just fine. (First ride was interesting.)

Friend had a ex-Gran Prix horse that was taught to drive at 20 years old. Did fine.

Horses can be quite adaptable, 8 is still young.

[Chachie]

In some parts of the world, horses aren’t started undersaddle until 5 or so. They’re given basic training and then turned out for 2 or 3 years to finish growing, then started undersaddle.