Decideing when to retire a horse?

[Ashley]

HOw do you guys decide when to retire a show horse?

I have a gelding, who is my baby and its not right leaving him home. He is going on 10 so I know he isnt old, and has been showing every year since a foal. He loves going, he is such a ham for attention and showing off it isnt funny.

Yes he so alot over weight so that dont help. But I refuse to cut his food down anymore then what he is getting despite I have been told he needs to be cut back more.

I showed him this weekend and just feel after driving him he isnt what he used to be, and its like he dont want to be doing it in the ring. He will drive just fine outside of the ring thou and has more pep.

He loves to jump so that isnt a issue, and he still does showmanship fine.

Just trying to decide if he would be happier just as a pasture pet or continue showing him. Of coarse its moms gelding and things he needs to be retired cause he is old, but 10 is hardly old.

 

[kaykay]

Ashley its a tough decision. We had to make this one with Patches. The first couple years she LOVED showing and we loved showing her! Then the last show season we could tell she wasnt loving it anymore. The last straw for me was she started getting diarhea everytime we took her to a show which she never did previously. So we retired her.

A few days ago a good friend and judge said I needed to show her again in driving. He felt now thats shes had a year and a half off she would be fine again. Its very tempting but I think we will just let her be the queen of the pasture.

 

[mistyrose]

Ten isn't to old to show especially if it is showmanship and performance. In our area one of the most shown gelding is 18 this year. But if you are going to drive and jump him, it isn't fair to him if you don't keep him in shape! You can probably keep feeding him the same if you commit to working him more every day! If not you will need to cut back and change his feed.

You can change off his work buy jumping him one day driving the next and on the third day round penning or working him on a lunge line.

I have a easy keeper gelding and believe me I know its hard to limit the food. He is much happier fit though just like all of us.

 

[Jill]

If you and your family have the time to enjoy him as a pet and drive him, that's probably the way to go. I think a lot of horses get "sour" and bored of the ring after so many times in it, but still enjoy driving around the field, etc. (which is probably WAY more interesting to a horse!).

And, I agree with you, 10yo is NOT old. Some of the top Dressage horses really aren't even in their prime until their mid-teens

What you describe about your 10yo gelding is pretty much what I've come to feel about Derby. He loves (LOVES) attention but I think he's tired of showing. But, it's a lot of fun to have just a good, honest horse to drive and have fun with even if he's not interested in being in the spotlight anymore.

 

[Ashley]

IT wasnt that I wasnt trying to keep him in shape. He was getting worked until we hit a period of 3 weeks of extream heat. I wont work them in that. He is on a diet, and I was told he needs no more then a handful of hay a feeding. SOrry I wont starve my horses either. He doesnt get much as it is I refuse to give him less. He is on dry lot as well. He is haveing his thyroid tested as for what he is eating and the condition he was getting he should of lost more then he has.

And even thou he is fat, I wouldnt say he really is out of shape. THe horse can do 4 jumping class, 2 of which will have jump offs and he doesnt even come out breathing heavy at all, verses horses who are lean who are puffing away.

When he was being worked, he got rotated from lungeing to four wheeler. THe 4 wheeler was 3 miles around the pasture, never even breathed heavy then.

Jill- I am the only one that drives him everybody else is to scared to get in the cart. I trained him to drive and started when he was a yearling so he doesnt get more bomb proof. I dont drive him much at all right now as he needs some teeth work done.

 

[Stacy Score]

Ashley,

I know of several driving horses here in the NW that when they retired from the "show ring" headed into CDE -- THEY LOVE IT ! ! ! They still get the chance to show off, get plenty of attention, don't have the stress of a show and get to see lots of new things that keeps them happy. We are lucky - we have a strong group up here that does CDE - but anyone can do it with some help of a few friends and a big enough area - a CDE course doesn't have to be huge, it just needs the required obstacles. You probably have a CDE club in your area that is already set up and they have a special division for the minis called VSE (Very Small Equine) - several people here have posted on how much fun it is.

Good luck, I understand how you feel, and I do understand also trying to carve out more time to go to a show when you are already running your wheels off, but maybe taking a weekend or 2 to do CDE would also be a nice break for you too.

Stac

 

[Sunraye Miniatures]

I have one here that loves to jump when he was younger. We have done very well in Jumper. I showed him this year, and he's still good at it, but I feel like now he isn't doing it just for fun, he's doing it because its his job. So we have decided to give him a year off from showing next year. Might still qualify him for Nationals in like a easy class, but give him a semi-retirement.

Now as far as the conditioned issue, as long as he isn't puffin and huffin and sweating really bad, and no I don't mean cause of the heat, who wouldnt lol, than I don't see a problem.

 

[nootka]

After one "off" weekend, I would not make that call, just yet.

Could be he just wasn't feeling the best at that point (I think horses are prone to some bits of a depression, too, for lack of a better term, it may not have even been physical, just something about the atmosphere didn't make him feel right). You might give it some time before you make the call, but it seems to me you are in tune with him enough to know if it's a problem or something else you might need to address.

Just maybe Bonnie would be a good person to run it past if you get more serious about considering it.

(still waiting to hear more about the show!

Liz

 

[SmoothEZ]

Ashley,

My philosophy is to retire them when they are at the top of their game. If you have a horse that has won National Champion and is now starting to show age or just isn't quite as good as it was then now is the time to retire. Case in point, if Secretariat had continued racing after he won the Triple Crown and had started losing races I think we would have not remembered him as well. Most Race horse facilities know that when you have a big winner it is time to retire and not take the chance of turning a winning horse into a looser. Once your horse has accomplished the goals that you have set for them in the show ring I think it is time they get the opportunity to be just a horse. I have gone into show barns where they have an Ex-National Champion horse that if you look at them today you would say "Do What" they are now enjoying themselves and just being horses and are happier for it. JMHO

 

[Ashley]

Oh he has never been and will never be a national champion. He is just basically my pet boy, who would never make it past local level.

I did have Bonnie do a reading on him several years ago and had her ask if he still wanted to show. She said he did as he was a ham and loved showing off and sucking in all the attention.

 

[MiLo Minis]

My horse, Rocky, was shown in halter as a weanling and a yearling then went on to do halter, jumping, halter obstacle, driving, obstacle driving and liberty and he was awesome to show at all of them! He always did well and really seemed to enjoy. Then came a time when he bit me quite hard on the thigh in halter, at the same show I had to give him a tap with the whip just to get him into the ring and in liberty the horse that used to run to me and put his head in my chest turned his face to a corner and stood with his ears back when I went to catch him. I retired him from the show ring and gave him some time off in the pasture. Then I took him out and started doing some fun country drives with him and some back pasture cross country jumping like we used to do. He got his zip and zest back and I brought him out to shows again this year. I had at one point decided just to do driving with him and he has been very consistant in the top 3 every show pretty well but today we did halter (took 4th) halter obstacle (1st place) and driving (respectable 4 and 5 out of 11) and driving obstacle (1st place). I am going to try not to overdo it with him but he is now racing to the trailer and happy to show again!

 

[Frankie]

I think we all have bad days, maybe this one show was his bad day. Maybe something bothering him you just weren't aware of, or maybe he got up on the wrong side of the stall. Or, was just a little off. How were you feeling that day? Could he have picked up on it?

I think it's important that you love to show with him, and as long as you do, and he does, I would continue to show him.

When I want to show for fun, I take my 6 year old gelding. I just love that time with him and he will do anything for me. Plus, he baths and clips without even a halter on and is fun/easy to get ready to go. We usually place 2nd or 3rd,,,,,,,,,but that's good for him and that's ok.

If he doesn't really want to show, I think you'll just know.