As YOU Age, Does Your View on Horse Ownership Change?

[Reble]

Coming up 59 years young.

I do have a plan that maybe in a few years, will sell the farm & animals.

Would like to get a small place here for the summer and have a place for the winter where the sun shines.

Now if something happened to my husband the farm and animals would be sold.

For now, just enjoying my 4 legged friends, I will know when it is time to make changes,

& change can be good.

 

[mdegner]

I think about this some times. I was 45 years old when I saw my first mini and fell in love. So, I married their owner and have been enjoying their company for the last 6 years. I think about how old I will be when this year's babies will be 20, and it's a sobering thought. It has factored into our decision to do minimal breeding at least for the next couple of years, plays into my sense of responsibility about bringing life into the world. (I am one of those people who wants to hand pick the perfect home for my horses, and we all know there aren't many of those our there...LOL.) I also find it makes me want to live as healthy a life as possible--I want to be like Amanada's grandparents--so I can out live my horses.

If only I had run into these little creatures when I was 20 something. . . Maybe not, I would just have more of them..... I do love them though, and I want to be around them for as long as I live.

 

[Shari]

Age ....47... and other factors, have made me re think what I really can do. So I have down sized. Two Icelandic and one Mini... Maggie.

All older horse's, all well trained. And I am happy with so few horse's for the first time in my life. Oh and as I get older... the smaller I like my horses.

Husband and DS help me with things I can do not longer do, because they know, its the horse's that keep me going and have helped me get this far.

And they are part of the family.

 

[ctinsley]

Now in our sixty's we have decided to start cutting back we have managed this year to cut our ASPC/AMHR herd in half. It is getting hard on my husband to put up all the hay and you cannot find anybody wanting to work that hard. I would like to retire in the next couple years and as all you know horses are not a cheap hobby, We have decided, talked with Corey and plan on showing for 2 more years, and try and sell the rest of the broodmares during that time. We plan on keeping Cash, our gelding that was Nat Grand Champion last year and 1 other gelding. Then travel like we have planned the last couple of years. But we've had a great time showing.

 

[SampleMM]

I have definitely been thinking about this since last year when my husband was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect and several other heart problems. Long story short, he had open heart and many things were able to be fixed but the surgery has caused him worse problems. With Mike not being able to help me with stall cleaning, haying, and many other day to day things, I have come to the realization that I must go down to one stallion and just a handful of my mares. I am in my middle forties and I know I can't continue to do all this work by myself forever. Also, my children will be graduating from high school in the next few years and I want the flexibility to travel and enjoy other facets of my life.

 

[Marty]

I am done and won't be breeding again. I have three mares and two babies who I would like to keep, however the math says that I'd be almost ninety when the babies are 30 so that is not a good thing. It is increasingly difficult for me mostly in the winter which is when I always manage to have some serious wreck issues in the ice and snow. I have bad arthritis and bad disks and hurting joints and I also get pretty sick every winter like clock work so basically the writing is on the wall: What on earth am I thinking? We are on social security now and that adds a financial twist to it. This is one expensive hobby for people on a fixed income but for now, they are the reason I cop a smile and I don't stay in bed till noon.

 

[Helicopter]

I'm 62 and I have 23 minis and 5 other equines. Really don't know how I managed to accumulate so many of the little dears.......I don't breed......but I never part with anything either. My youngest is a yearling and the eldest is10.

I often think about what could happen if I were to kick to bucket suddenly. I am always intending to provide for them in my will but haven't gotten around to it.

Luckily I am very healthy (touch wood) but gee they are a lot of work and I'm always trying to figure out ways of making things easier for myself.

Fortunately the weather here is not outrageous so I don't have to contend with snow and it's associated problems the way many of you do....but the heat of summer really knocks me around. Pleased to say the last couple of summers have been pretty mild and this one looks like it is going to be the same.

 

[supaspot]

This is a topic I find is on my mind a lot lately and wondered what others my age, or older, think about horse ownership as you age.

I'm not sure what is magical about being 45, meaning why didn't I think about this so much when I was 44?

I don't have a good reason, but I keep thinking, and kind of worrying, that I'm going to be 46 soon and it's obvious to me that hauling bales, buckets of water, picking hooves, stacking feed sacks, etc., isn't getting any easier. But in addition to that, I keep thinking that Raven has a baby coming in 2012, God willing, and let's say horses live about 30 years, am I really going to be able to do this when I'm 76????

I'm not so sure I am.

And I'm planning to breed Goldie in 2012 so that would be a foal in 2013. Plus Poopy and Scarlet are only 4 and 3 respectively (Raven is only 5) so that's about 5 or so horses that could easily live til I'm in my 70s!

I've always felt that any horse I breed or buy I should be prepared to have that horse its entire life. Maybe along the way I would sell or give it to a great home for some reason, but I go into it thinking it's a forever decision. I'm not sure I'm going to be up for this when I'm in my 70s.

I would really, REALLY appreciate hearing from others who have thought about this topic. I have to admit it's kind of got me stressed out. I want this to be fun, not stressful.

Anyone?

, Im 51 and its worrying me too

 

[LaVern]

This is getting too depressing for me. I think some young folks should start a thread about what future plans they have. I know that they are out there and I also know that I sometimes come across way to know it allie, just because I am getting old and jealous that I won't be around to see what they will be able to accomplish 50 years from now.

 

[Sandee]

Not depressing. It's all on how you look at it. We are in our 60s. My husband says, "When are we going to get out of horses?"

I say, "When are we going to get out of horses?

He has lots of aches and pains and doesn't think that he'll be able to keep up the acreage. I have been keeping in better shape and the physical therapist keeps giving me different exercises to keep me going depending on what part of me is not working right that year. (I seem to end up in physical therapy every spring----sort like a spring tune up). I love the horses. Was only able to get back to horses about 14 yrs ago after the kids were out of the house and then we moved to the country 8 yrs ago. If I could keep hubby away from the computer and moving more, I think he'd be better off. Even my Dr. is convinced that the horses are the best thing for me. Each check up he says, "got to keep you moving so you can take care of those little guys."

I know that if we had just retired without horses that I'd be going crazy. I love to show and fortunately we have been lucky enough to have the money for me to do so. Just as I was getting discouraged and sure I'd have to slow down along come my grandkids wanting to show. Now I'm just worried if I'll last long enough for them to "take over" ( they're 6, 7, & 10) as my children have no interest in the horses. Taking those kids and watching them with the horses certainly makes me smile. It's almost as nice as winning the classes myself. (two National driving Champiions live here).

I know another lady that got me into the nicer show minis. She is 72 this year and still has a few minis. Her place was on a hill and was getting very difficult for her in Wisconsin winters. So she sold it and BUILT a new place...at her age! She's a real inspiration to me. She says my still showing is an inspiration to her. So between the two of us - who knows how long we'll go on. ?

Added: I do have signed papers in a place so IF something should happen to me my minis would hopefully not be in limbo. I have also written instructions to the most reliable adult in our family about what to do with all the horse stuff. So I have looked ahead but hope that's a LOOOONG way off.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

I'm looking 50 in the eye and it's scary. I have five minis, plus my friend and I co own a dozen and she owns a dozen or so herself, so there's about 30 here. We have six barns! One is just hay, but the others all have horses. It's such a chore some days to feed: feed and water the stallions (5), walk over the yard, feed and water the mare barn (5 foals and six cats) feed and water the show barn (6 geldings) then go back and feed and water the field horses (2 barns, 16 horses, 3 llamas) and in the winter it gets old really fast! And that's not even counting cleaning!

I would love to cut my five down to maybe three. I've been trying to sell the AMHR/ASPC gelding for a while now, he's just too much for me to handle right now. I like my horses dead quiet and that he is not! I'd also like to cut down on our co-owned horses, but Jane wants to keep the ones I want to sell (and sell the one I wanna keep!)

We only bred three mares this year, but I'm not even sure they took.

 

[horsenut50]

I'll be 44 next month and I too think about this subject since I have 3 big ones and 2 minis in the age range of 2 to 16. I have no kids to pass them to, my husband loves horsepower just not my kind and the rest of my family are not horse people either. With this economy it is a burden to ask friends. The only thing I can do is to keep my savings growing to have my husband keep them going where they are boarded at. Since I board I don't have the many issues that other folks on here do with taking care of their charges in wintertime or bucking hay ect. (though I really wish I did have that problem, I miss having my own farm)

 

[eagles ring farm]

We are getting up there too. Both in our 60's

I can't even think about stopping now although I know it might come in the future

we are lucky to have our health and have our farm for sale to move to smaller acreage. Hoping to get that done this coming year we have tried our best to keep our numbers down we have 8. 2 stallions, 2 geldings and 4 mares although I do have my eye on a mare or 2 ( I'm addicted )

But it is time to put some thought into our horses future should something happen to us both at once

Glad to read this post as it has me thinking about putting a plan in order