[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;4560068]
When they pry the checkbook from your cold, dead hands.:lol:[/QUOTE]
Sounds good to me! 
Buy the horse and ENJOY !!! Lots of good advice above. Please share pictures when he arrives !!!
If you want to ensure your horse will be safe after you are gone, a person needs to create a trust with the horse. They also need to fund that trust.
A will just passes property and whoever the beneficiary now owns that horse(property) and can do with it as they wish.
In most states, a trust can be set up to benefit animals, and therefore ensure their safety and care.
Funny - I just had my first foal this year - and I just turned 49, so I figure I’ll try to back her for the first time when I’m like 52?? I figure we’ll just grow old together & be too little old ladies running the barn 
[QUOTE=MoonWitch;4560828]
Funny - I just had my first foal this year - and I just turned 49, so I figure I’ll try to back her for the first time when I’m like 52?? I figure we’ll just grow old together & be too little old ladies running the barn ;)[/QUOTE]
Ah, what a sweet image! You better post some pix when you first back her! :yes:
About 8 years ago, I was acting as agent for a man who was selling a nice, OTTB horse.
I contacted a lady I knew and she wasn’t interested, but her friend was.
Her friend turned out to be another lady I knew, who I had never thought of. This lady tried the horse, bought her and as they were loading the mare she turned to me and said…“NJR, I NEVER thought I’d be buying a new horse at 75 years of age!”.
Every year since then, I see her at shows and ask how “Bala” is? Every year, “R” tells me she’s great, and that over the years they’ve gone from lessons each week to just trails to just rides in the arena a few days a week, but are still enjoying each other. “R” is 83 now, and “Bala” must be all of 15 or so. I know that “R” has Bala in her will and she’ll be taken care of forever.
Too old? Never.
I’m not ancient, but my horse is also in my will and is willed to a trusted friend along with a sum of money for her care. The friend knows that she is entitled to make any decisions, including selling the horse, if that were to happen. I trust her to make the best decision.
NJR
I was worried about buying a 7 yr old gelding for my teenage daughter as he will be all mine to ride (yipee!) after she has gone off to college. I was worried, as I figure I could be in my early 70’s by the time he is ready to retire. Perhaps he’ll teach my future grandchildren to ride.
I ride with a 69-yr young lady. She is looking for a nice, quiet horse for her to do basic low-level dressage with. She says that life is too short to worry about the what-ifs and wants to realize her dream of horse ownership, no matter her age. I quickly put aside my worries about the age of our horse and am happily horse shopping with her.
[QUOTE=Horsepower;4559543]
So here’s what I am wondering: If a person is in their 60s or older and they love a horse that is only 11, are they too old to buy the horse? My concern is what if they die before the horse. What arrangements can be made for the horse’s welfare if no one else in the family rides or is interested in horses?[/QUOTE]
Never!!!
Never. Plus, age has nothing to do with temperament and rideability. There is a 5 y.o. TB at my barn that is calm as can be. He toodles around with his older rider and both are just having a ball.
Id say when i hit 95 i’ll stop considering bringing home nice yearlings, but i’ll never be too old
if i have anything to do with it, my non existent future children will be horsey, and would be waiting, drooling by the barn to get first crack at getting mom’s horse in the will… if they know what’s good for them they’ll do that. :lol:
[QUOTE=fivehorses;4560778]
In most states, a trust can be set up to benefit animals, and therefore ensure their safety and care.[/QUOTE]
Alas not in my state. Well, you can set one up, but the trustee can’t be held to account for how s/he administers trust. So choose your trustee wisely.
My mom is 63 and still gets out and does all the barn chores. She just bought a horse last year I found for her. My sister and I will start her young horses for her, but she still rides better than many people I know. Her friend, who just died of cancer, set up a trust for her own horse if/when her husband dies, to make sure the horse is taken care of. It is not unheard of. Gotta take care of the ones you love!
A guy at our barn started lessons with his granddaughter when he was in his mid to late 60’s.
Few years later bought himself a green 4 year old Arab mare. Not long after acquired a green QH gelding. Recipe for disaster, right?
Well he has ridden more miles than I ever will, learned to drive too and taught both horses. Now in his mid 70s he still rides every day, rain or shine. He made a comment to me a few months ago about selling these two and starting over with new young ones but I don’t think he was really serious… :winkgrin:
His favorite trail partner is my retired farrier, now well into his 70s, with two replaced knees. His old gelding passed away last summer and I was sure (sadly) that he’d quit riding. Well he surprised us all and went out and found himself an 8 year old QH and he is still riding trails all over the place…
They are quite the duo… We all quietly fret about them and keep tabs on when they leave the barn, where they are going, etc. but really they do better than any of us “young” folk…
It’s too late if you are at the embalmers. Other than that, go nuts! (with the caveat that the older one is, the more carefully one should plan for the disposition of all animals after you aren’t around anymore. Money, instructions, trusted people to handle things for you, etc. Have a plan, and have money assigned to implement the plan.)
[QUOTE=SOTB;4559560]
Never too old! You can’t stop living life because you might die one day. If the horse out lives the owner, the horse can be sold, given away, donated to a school or therapy program. I am on the young side, but have already told my husband (who knows nothing about horses) who to contact about getting rid of the horses is something happened to me. If this person loves this horse and can afford the horse, they should buy it and enjoy it! :-)[/QUOTE]
this person sounds like they are already making burial plans—they can’t fit the horse into that schedule! Best they don’t own any animals–even a goldfish–who will take care of it?:eek:
You know, I think more horses get left high and dry by 20 somethings (or any other age) whose eyes are bigger than their bank accounts, but bless you for thinking of your horse’s best interests.
When are you too old to buy a horse?
When your children got you judged incompetent because you won’t stop riding horses and one of them has power of attorney - the horse hating one, bless his pointed head.
Well, you don’t really have to stop riding. You just have to seem like you’ve stopped riding. Heh heh heh.
That’s when you have to find sneaky ways to buy horses - with cash, so it can’t be traced.
“I’m going out for my walk now, Robert, I’ll be back in two hours.”
“Wait, two hours, that’s too far for you to be walking, Mother!”
“Oh, no, don’t worry, I’m taking my walker,” (never underestimate the power of a walker, nothing like a wlaker to lull them into thinking you’re slowing down. You can get one at the church rummage sale, easy peasy), “I’m just going down to sit by the pond and feed the birds, don’t mind me. I’ll be back for lunch.”
“Ma, wait, aren’t you going to take your bread crumbs with you?”
“Oh, yeah, give me those. I’ll be back for lunch!”
Four hours later…
“Good grief, Ma, its been four hours and you stink like a barnyard, where have you been?”
“Oh, I was down at the pond feeding the birds, you know, those geese have shat all over the place, its just terrible, I could have slipped in their poop, its a good thing I took my walker, my lands (see, “my lands” sounds really old and creaky, so say “my lands” alot), my lands! somebody really ought to do something! And I’m just getting slower and slower, seems to take me forever to clump down to the pond, And the dogs went swimming and shook all over me, hahahha, I’ll just get my walker and go take a shower now…” Heh heh heh.
Dumb twit. I threw my new OTTB, Bingo, into the trailer and drove up to Morder Town Brook and met the girls, we did a 15 mile ride over those timbers and walls we rebuilt last month, practicing a side by side foursome for the Hunter Pace at the end of the month. Didn’t miss a jump, even the 5 foot spread over the brook there, just a lovely morning ride. They’re picking me up next weekend for Golden’s Bridge Hounds, I am so excited, I’m gonna have to think of something real good to tell the kids, I’ll be gone most the day, what will they not be suspicious of? Oh, I’ve got it.
Next Sunday…
“Ma, where are you going so early in the morning?”
“Don’t wait Sunday dinner for me. I’ll be gone all day…”
“Ma, I insist you tell me where you are going, what are you doing?”
“Bingo, darlin’ its just Bingo!” Way over in New York. Heh heh heh
[QUOTE=Horsepower;4559543]
So here’s what I am wondering: If a person is in their 60s or older and they love a horse that is only 11, are they too old to buy the horse? My concern is what if they die before the horse. What arrangements can be made for the horse’s welfare if no one else in the family rides or is interested in horses?[/QUOTE]
At age 62 I bougt a 2.5 year old. He’s 5.5 now, I’m 64. If something happens to me, I’ve instructed my brother (my only relative) to send him back to his breeder, for her to either keep or re-sell. I trust her ethical and emotional investment in the horses she breeds. If for any reason, she can’t take him, I’ve asked my brother to either take him to a reputable trainer for sale (this assumes he’s still young enough to have value). If he and I both grower old(er) together, then I will request my brother to fund his retirement from my estate. It may not be a big one, but it will provide enough $$$ for retirement board.
Huh. I fully intend to have a secret credit card in my old married name I can use to fund my horses. By the time they find it, I’ll be dead and long gone, and their whole inheritance will go to pay off the debt of it, heh heh heh. Because I will have also used it to pay for the horses’ retirement homes for life (note I said horses, plural), as well as the secret three horse slant load and dually I got stashed in the woods out back with the dressing room where I keep my breeches and dress boots and…
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LOL… AR you made my afternoon.
