TIME FOR A CHANGE

Jump refusals, lack of stamina, persistent stiffness, recurring injuries--these are all signs that an older horse is ready to move on to another, less strenuous career activity. In my Quarter Horse, Louie, the physical signs appeared almost overnight. During an especially long trail ride, I noticed that Louie was more winded than usual and had dropped to the back, obviously struggling to keep up.

It turns out that his passage into old age was right on schedule. Louie turns 20 this year, the average age when horses begin to feel the limitations and aches of advancing years. “Often a first sign is that aerobic capacity begins to decline, and that can happen starting at 18, with 20 being the magic number,” says equine exercise physiologist Kenneth McKeever, PhD, FACSM, who serves as the associate director for research at the Rutgers Equine Science Center.

For Louie, this meant scaling back to shorter trail rides and making a slow transition into a new career in competitive trail---something he didn’t have the patience for as a 12-year-old. So while I’ve lost my younger, sure-footed horse who could go all day, I’ve gained a much saner mount who is finally able to stand still long enough to listen to my cues for opening gates, sidepassing across logs and maneuvering all the other obstacles of competitive trail events.

Indeed, I’ve learned that it’s worth taking a positive approach to a horse’s age-related limitations, focusing on the abilities he retains rather than the strength or speed he may have lost. In fact, it can be

an opportunity to identify an aptitude that was overlooked during a horse’s goal-focused competitive years.