No, 14 years is not too old at all. A
horse does not become mature enough to do serious endurance rides until he is
about 7; he is at his peak between 9 and 12 or so, and is not ready to retire
until he is about 20-22. In particular, since you are not planning to go
all out but just do rides for the pleasure they will bring you and your horse,
he should last many years yet. He will be just fine starting at
14.
I hope I'm sending this to the right place...just
got a new ISP, so who knows:-p.
My name's Victoria, I have a 14-yr-old QH named
Fionn (fin). We're both interested in endurance. I've been reading
all the articles for newbies on endurance.net, but there's one question I
haven't seen answered: is a 14-yr-old horse too old to start this
stuff? I'm not planning to take off to Tevis with him or anything,
but maybe some local 25 mile rides, ro start us both out (*months* from now
when we're both in better shape). He's a good strong little guy, an
ex-Texas cowpony, as close to bombproof as they come, and in very good
condition, considering everything.
Also, we haven't worked at all since November,
because his field and the surrounding area is covered in ice (I'm in
Maine). If we start training in, say, late March, could we be ready to
do a couple of rides by fall? Hopefully I'll have him moved to somewhere
less snowbound by next year:-) Thanks for the help!
