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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
   
| After my sister had her last child she was convinced she'd ride again and bought a 3 or 4 year old. well she never did ride her more than a handful of times over the years.
She's now about 12 years old. My Mom talked me into starting to ride her. Surprisingly she is broke well enough that she hasn't bucked or done too bad. She is a looky loo and spooky bad spooky. lol Her body position isn't that great, she has trouble maintaining a circle. we seem to trot as if we are drunk.
She doesn't seem spoiled or sully, more like she could care less.
Am I just wasting time on a horse this green for her age?
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | No your not wasting your time. She will come along as if she were still 3 years old. The plus side is her knees are closed her back is strong enough she won't become a sway back. So put her to work.Sound like she is a good one. |
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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
| She's bred to do something. lol Granddaughter of Bugs Alive In 75 on sire's side and Granddaugher of Easy Jet on dam's side. |
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Blessed 
Location: Here | I agree with cowpie. just keep riding |
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Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | I am a fan of those lines. They can fly. Have fun don't let her go to waste. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| My gelding was the same age when I pulled him out of a cattle pasture more or less.
We didn't really click for over 2 years. He was safe, did what I asked, but almost seemed to resent work on some level. His work ethic has changed as his training and conditioning has come along, but it's taken a while. Keep at it, those lines are too good to put back out to pasture... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 550
| I don't think it is a waste. Anytime you can make one better, that is a good thing for the horse, and you.
It sounds like she is behaving about like she should, just treat her more like a green broke 3-4 year old and she will probably come along fine. |
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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
| I guess I want her to act her age. lol It tends to be depressing when it takes half a field just to trot because she doesn't go in a circle or even a straight line. I haven't even loped not knowing where we will end up. |
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 Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | Best horse I've ever had was a 12yr old unbroke stud horse that I picked up for cheap.
At least yours is broke. Yes, there's hope. They can learn at any age and do well, IMO |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | My problem with starting a horse this old is that it takes about 3 years from start to finish to get a really good solid barrel horse IMO. So she will be 15 before she's solid, and usually they don't have many competitive years left by then. Probably 10 at the most....more like 5....to me, it's not worth 3 years to have a horse for 5 years. If it were me, I'd breed her to a super stud and raise babies out of her...maybe start one of her babies in a couple of years. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 503
| dianeguinn - 2014-01-18 10:26 PM
My problem with starting a horse this old is that it takes about 3 years from start to finish to get a really good solid barrel horse IMO. So she will be 15 before she's solid, and usually they don't have many competitive years left by then. Probably 10 at the most....more like 5....to me, it's not worth 3 years to have a horse for 5 years. If it were me, I'd breed her to a super stud and raise babies out of her...maybe start one of her babies in a couple of years.
While I mostly agree with this, I don't think breeding her is the answer. If the OP were to breed her the mare should be proven, IMO.
To the op, I don't think you're wasting your time. She could all of a sudden just "get" it. You never know! |
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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
| Diane I agree on the age thing. There are 2 nice bred mares here with competition records that are old now. Both stayed sound and were ran until they were about 20. So here they sit retired and too old to breed. I'm afraid that's what will happen here, that she will never reach her peak. She has a "what ever" attitude. She doesn't refuse to work but doesn't try either.
My ride today was rather interesting. I said she is a looky loo, this mare can tell you what's going on in someone's yard a mile away. So my sister (picture a fat June Cleaver) comes marching down the road her house dress flapping in the wind and house shoes flip flopping on the pavement, pack of kids following like little ducks. All screaming they want to ride, I promise it took all my restraint to not get off and say go right ahead. That's after I got her settled down and got back upright.
If this isn't enough old June Cleaver drags my Mother out to the back porch and she begins to yell at me What are you doing to that horse? Ummm right now trying to stay on. On the plus side she is very athletic, able to leap large fields without touching the ground, rolls back quite fast, pivots quickly and can run backwards. All without the ques to do so.
Another plus I didn't fall off and she did settle down and we continued to ride.
Edited by cinch 2014-01-19 6:22 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 902
Location: Qld Australia | I would give the horses a go. She sounds exactly as you would expect for that age with minimal riding. On the plus with starting at that age you don't have the baby stages to go through. Mentally older horses seem to cope with less goofy days.
She will be an older horse when she is set sure but she should have no/few maintenance issues as she has not had her wheels run off. There are plenty of horses running as 20 something yos that have run all their lives and are still sound.
I am not so sure about the relatives though - if your sister is already on the war path sounds like it could get messy if you try to run her or actually start being successful with her. To me this is the biggest negative not the horse at all. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| It sounds like you want a 12 year old broke horse and you have a 12 year old green broke horse.
It takes patience, time, and hauling to get that broke horse. It will probably be about a year before you see the results you want.
So no it may not be worth it, all depends on what you want the end result to be |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | If your wanting a barrel horse then I personally wouldn't waste my time. If you just want something to ride around on then go for it. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 253
Location: SoCal | My family tends to feel if they aren't nicely broke by 6 or 7 years old you're out of luck. Horses get set in their ways and are done wanting to learn by that age. Granted I know some horses love to learn their whole lifetimes, but if they don't start learning young, they usually lose the "sponge" like learning ability and get bored. Personally, it sounds like she has good bloodlines, so I'd just get a baby or two out of her. If you just are looking for a riding horse and not a competition horse, keep going, but at her age and ability, competing isn't something easily achieved. |
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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
| Well yes I did have hopes of running her some but it would probably only be on a local level. I tend to agree that by 6 or 7 they should be going pretty good.
I have considered breeding her. I wouldn't be breeding for profit so it doesn't matter that she does not have a show record. But on the other hand I currently don't have anything else to ride. So???? lol
As for family owning her, my sister doesn't care. she just wanted to come down and watch and visit. She knows she's way too fat to ride and stays very busy being June Cleaver. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 984
Location: Southwest Minnesota | I don't think you are wasting your time. My daughter's gelding was 9 when we bought him. He had only had 30 days training as a 5 year old and not much riding after that, just an occasional trail ride. He has turned into a very nice barrel horse. Good luck!! |
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 IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| I don't think you are waisting your time either. I am going to get on my soap box for a second...I dislike it when horses are put into the hands of people who let them sit and rot away. I understand life happens, but then you end up with a horse that could potentially be dangerous, or only a select few can handle.
I have ended up with a few of these horses, because lack of training is not the horses fault. We ended up getting them going, making them "safe" as far as teaching them to load/unload, stand okay for a farrier, ect...and have not had any bad luck. The older they are the quicker they seem to get it, and physically you can be more demanding. They are much easier to put wet saddle blankets on. I would get her going and either keep her or sell her to a home that will put her to use. This horse still could serve a purpose other than going to waste. It is just a matter of getting her more broke, and finding her niche.
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