What’s It Like When Your Top Horse Is A Senior Citizen
Simply Priceless competed at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event for the first time in 2015 when he was 15 years old.
The black Australian Thoroughbred gelding is now 19, and still going strong with several more Advanced appearances under his belt. Earlier this year, he won the Open Intermediate division at the Rocking Horse Winter III Horse Trials with his rider since 2013, Elisa Wallace.
“We weren’t quite sure what was going to happen this year, since he had last year off,” Elisa explained. Johnny was off from a few minor accidents, including one where he injured his ankle. “The joke is that he’s a little Benjamin Button. He gets better with age.”
It’s not easy to maintain a “senior” horse at the top of sport, Elisa admits. It requires sensible conditioning and maintenance to keep him in top form. But “Johnny” just keeps on going. Up until the coronavirus outbreak, the Kentucky Three-Day Event was on their calendar once again this year.
“Johnny is a senior, but at the same time, he doesn’t look like he’s 19,” said Elisa, who is now based in Ocala, Fla. “He’s a Thoroughbred, so he loves to work and he’s the type that does better when he’s in work. I think the conditioning helps their bodies hold up better.”
Karen Polle was set to make her Olympic debut in Tokyo this year. Achieving that kind of goal was special in its own right, but the fact that Karen was poised to do it with her show jumping partner of many years made it even better.
With Wings is a 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood, and the horse Karen bought a decade ago to be her junior jumper.
“That’s the difficult thing. Even this year, I’m always checking with him to see how he’s doing. I’m listening to him. I think 18 is a bit too old,” said Karen about the Olympics and the postponement to 2021.
“I decided I want to focus on keeping him healthy and happy,” she explained. “Right now he’s great. Super fresh and wild. I don’t think he feels 17.”
Karen showed Wings through the winter circuit. At her home base in Wellington, Fla., she says she’s riding him the most out all the show jumpers in her fleet.
“I like to keep him going more. It’s what helps him stay the loosest,” she described.
Weight and joint management are top concerns for keeping a horse in his golden years comfortable and loose, explained Dr. Dr. Scott Austin, an equine veterinarian at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Aging horses tend to lose muscle mass quickly and their immune systems will decline as they get older. Routine vet work, diet management and exercise appropriate for the horse’s fitness can go a long way.
Elisa explained that she’s in constant communication with her farrier and her veterinarians to monitor Johnny’s health and outlook.
“I cannot emphasize enough that it takes a team of people, and professionals who you can have an honest conversation with,” she described. “It’s a lot of pressure sometimes. You always want to do the right thing for him, and Johnny doesn’t owe me a damn thing. He’s already done enough.”
But in the same breath, Johnny is still out competing and never skips a beat. He shows no signs of wanting or needing to slow down.
“It’s that balance you got to keep up with,” Elisa said.
Even now, during a rare blip of the usually busy spring competition schedule because of the coronavirus outbreak, Elisa is focusing on conditioning with Johnny to keep him fit.
“That doesn’t mean he has to be in heavy work,” she explained.
Elisa likes to focus on hacking out and trot sets. She keeps him turned out in his own paddock for as much time as he wants.
“I’m listening to him,” she explained about his preferences.
And she’s managing his joint and muscles regularly with hock injections and other efforts to “keep the creakiness at bay.”
“The biggest thing is you don’t want your horse to be compensating for anything,” Elisa said. “Johnny had recovered from an old injury when I got him, so I’ve always had to make sure he was 110%.”