I DEFINITELY qualify for THIS group!  Been riding or around horses since I can remember.....right now I have 5 with 3 of those being under the age of 4, one of whom is my 4 yr old stallion who I've just started riding getting ready to show (4 Arabs and 1 Paint mare (boss mare!).

I taught Riding for 30+ yrs, was a 4H leader, etc.   Now it's ME time.   It's really tought to teach and still have time for your OWN horses, so now I figure it's time for me before I get too old to do it (LOL)

One of my 'heroes" is BAZY TANKERSLEY who is in her 80's and has been breeding quality Arabians for PERFORMANCE for over 65 years (AL MARAH ARABIANS), she STILL SHOWS HER OWN horses!     Gotta LOVE that!

TripleCrownKaren:

One of my 'heroes" is BAZY TANKERSLEY who is in her 80's and has been breeding quality Arabians for PERFORMANCE for over 65 years (AL MARAH ARABIANS), she STILL SHOWS HER OWN horses!     Gotta LOVE that!

WOW!!!! Someone who knows who Bazy Tankersley is!  And I am SOOOOO happy to hear she is not only walking this earth but STILL riding!!!

I was always an Arab and Morgan person, but really kept up with the Arab folks.

Smoochies to the Grande Dam of Arabian breeding in the U.S. 

I'm 55 and actively riding.  I don't FEEL 55, but, then again, how does 55 feel?

Ellen 

Hey I know who Bazy Tankersley is too, and I'm not that much of an arab person, but my first horse was registered half-arab and I subcribed to Arabian Horse News back then, early '70's........

But I do some endurance riding, and I saw articles not long ago about Bazy T crossing arabs and curlies to produce the perfect endurance horses.   Anybody know anything about that?

 Bazy Tankersley, now that's a name from the past. Glad to hear that it might be in the future, too.  Arab/Curly might be quite a mix! Have you seen a photo? The endurance of the Arab never fails to impress me.

 

    @@@ also found at this new forum: http://horsetalk.freeforums.org/index.php  @@@

forestandcody:

I'm 55 and actively riding.  I don't FEEL 55, but, then again, how does 55 feel?

Ellen 

Well, I'm 55 too and how I feel depends on what time of day, what I've been doing, the WEATHER and who I'm with.  Changes several times during the day!!!!  LOL!!!!!  But I know my horse keeps me younger just from the joy she has brought me.  Happy people live longer, that's a truth.  My friend Chris has a t-shirt that says "Horses are God's way telling you that you are loved!"  Isn't that great??????

The differences I've noticed about being 50+ are, I am way more content with myself and what I do and who I am than I used to be.   I'm getting a bit creakier, my eyesight has changed a bit, I'm near-sighted, and I have to take my glasses off now to see close-up or read. 

The worst thing for me, is I've lost my nerve a little riding, and antics that used to not bother me at all are now, and it's pissing me off.  I'm a little leery of jumping, and I used to think nothing of it.   The 6 yr old tb I'm bringing along to event next year is a bit of a rogue, and I need to just spank his butt and send him on when he's being silly, and I find I'm doing way for lunging that I used to.

I'm seriously considering that it might be time to switch over to endurance, but I luv eventing!

687940:

The worst thing for me, is I've lost my nerve a little riding, and antics that used to not bother me at all are now, and it's pissing me off.  I'm a little leery of jumping, and I used to think nothing of it.   The 6 yr old tb I'm bringing along to event next year is a bit of a rogue, and I need to just spank his butt and send him on when he's being silly, and I find I'm doing way for lunging that I used to.

I'm seriously considering that it might be time to switch over to endurance, but I luv eventing!

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.  I am 60 and still ride bareback.

In my youth (and tiny-ness-lol) it was nothing to slide my Arab/Saddlebred on his butt down a steep powerline and dig up the other side. 

Now that I are 60 and took a BAD spill off someone else's horse last year (got knocked out for 3 minutes, hubby thought I bought the heavenly farm), I have gotten a whole lot more skittish about riding bareback and won't get on anyone else's horse.

I have three ridable horses.  I will continue to ride the horse in my avatar bareback beause he never makes a mistake.

The other two?  Boy I hate crying "uncle" but if I take either of them alone, down the road, I am putting a saddle on because I can't hang with their dips and spins like I used to.

I have gone off a lot of horses when I used to break them, and some really rank horses that I would re-school, but last year was the first time I ever got knocked out.  I bailed and landed on my feet, but my back is so bad I couldn't get away from the  horse's hind-end quick enough when he turned around to run to the barn.  I was essentially "round-housed" by an 1,100 pound butt - lol lol

So my point is do the right thing for yourself and lunge your event horse   This gettin' old business is no sport for sissies

The only "up there in years" folks that don't hurt are the ones the never got off the couch in the first place - lol

I've heard some very good trainers say it is good for everyone (even the young ones) to lunge and do ground work with their horse each time before mounting, just to be sure the "fresh" is out and the horse is in the right frame of mind following your commands.  I always do some ground work first, even if just for a few minutes, to know where my horse's mind is.

60, 70, 80, 90 ..............I hope I'm riding right up to heaven's gates!  And I certainly don't want any more accidents at my age~!

 

It's not a matter of how much ground work I do with Joey, it's a matter of how I ride him.   He's an expert at ground work........

I took him out by himself yesterday, and carried a crop.   Every time he tried to get huffy, suck back or spin around, I just reinforced my orders to ' go forward'.   We mostly walked, and I kept him stretched down into my hand, and ahead of my leg, like I should have been doing all along.   Joey is a very excitable, hot tempered, extremely catty and athletic guy, and not very long ago, I would have been on top of this but I've been sooooooo chicken on him, I drive myself crazy.

When I got my last tb and he was off the track with terrible manners and nooooo respect, his favorite thing was to rear straight up, pivoting around and around and squealing this horrible high pitched scream, and he had other tricks too, but nothing Lochie every did upset me, I just got after him, and got him going.   Joey is one of the two horses I've ever ridden, though, that can actually leap backwards.

I've always been a tight, confident rider that can get on impossible horses and get them going, dressage or jumping.   Once in a clinic, another rider couldn't get her horse over a jump, she kept cantering down, and the horse would slide into the jump, drop it's head over the log, and she'd slide down it's neck and fall off.   She asked me to ride it, and when the horse slid into the log, I stuck my spurs in and kept them there until the horse crawled over it.   It took three doses of that before she just cantered on down and jumped.   I've ridden horses that would buck up to a 3'6" oxer, jump and buck away. 

  Three years ago, I realized that I was fifty, started thinking that if I was going to keep eventing, I needed to be a better rider, started picking on myself, started losing confidence in my riding skills, started grabbing face on jump approaches, and clinging when my greenie wanted to be a pill.   Yesterday, I decided to just suck it up, and be a rider who knows how to sit a silly brat, and get over it.

I find I have times I am like that...act like I don't know how to make Starlette cooperate; other times I just decide she has no choice, and she's great.  Have to always remember who is boss!!

Maybe we have just developed good sense in our "older age". We just didn't have any until now. Perhaps we're all just late bloomers!

as long as we're not too blooming late

 

Hi Kathy, I enjoyed seeing your Web page and your great Welsh ponies. Sorry you have so many health problems but it sounds like you aren't going to let them get you down. Good for you. I'm older than you and arthritis in hips and wrists can really flare up during riding. But, the fun and psychological boost I get from riding makes up for it 100%. I have a dear friend who moved from Maryland to Temple, TX almost 2 years ago. She and her husband love it there and wish they'd done it sooner. Are you anywhere near Temple? I know TX is one BIG state. My friend is pushing for me and my husband to retire in TX.

From my local Craigslist:

WANTED HORSE TRAINER

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Date: 2007-12-07, 11:48AM PST


I want a female horse trainer, to train my 2 yr. old filly this spring. MUST have horsemanship skills like Clinton Anderson. this filly is the fastest thing on four legs, she is paint/arab, trainer MUST not mind get bucked off.
thanks

How many responses do you s'pose this posting will get????  <grin>

Mary