Senior Horse Resources - Retirement Jobs - Companion Horse

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Looking for a Companion Horse to adopt in Arizona?  Adoptable Horses in Arizona

Most Jobs Have Their Own Page, see Table of Contents at left.

Companion Horse  Marketing a Companion Horse/Pasture Buddy  Choosing a Stable

Real Retirement Other Resources

Del Camino has extensive experience caring for senior (age 15 and up) horses.  One of the rewards of operating a large riding academy was being able to offer well-trained horses the opportunity to retire from strenuous competition or other work, cease frequent travel, but continue to have plenty of appropriate exercise, social interaction, and affection.  Coupled with careful nutrition, farriery, and veterinary care, this environment enabled horses of many breeds trained in various disciplines to age gracefully and enjoy their golden years.

Aging people learn to wear hearing aids, and eyeglasses.  They learn to wear support stockings and dentures.  They drink Ensure and take Senior Multi-vitamins and MSM and glucosamine and chondroitin and baby aspirin.  They learn to use a cane, buy a special contour support mattress and gel inserts for their shoes and rub creams on their achy joints. They are active and enjoy working much longer than their grandparents. Grandma loves to do her volunteer work, even if she has to give up her knitting and uses audio books instead of reading.  If they are horsepeople, when they can no longer ride, they learn to drive.

And so it is with our senior citizen horses.  They are loved and valued team members at many stables. They are useful well into their twilight years, because we didn't wear them out or break them in their youth or their prime.  Years of training and experience does not go to waste, but teaches the next generation of horsepeople.

One of the missions of Del Camino is to help horse owners find timely information that guides them through this journey.  We want to keep our seniors as fit, as active, as contented as possible, as long as possible.  It can be done.

We dedicate our work to a few of many beloved Del Camino horses:  Freckles, who left us at age 43, Miss Cricket, who delighted children until age 38, Captain Oliver "Ollie" who fought Cushing's until age 32, and Brandy's Prince, and Smokey, both of whom had Cushing's which caused laminitis at age 26.

Thank you for having graced our lives, and taught so many people the joy of horsemanship.

How This Seniors Section Works                (Top of Page)

Please read the overviews of the topics before clicking on links.  We can't possibly list every reference available on the internet, and we do not accept any compensation for a listing.  None of these listings were solicited. 
This site is meant to distill information from a variety of sources, as well as our own experience, before sending you off on your own quest.  
The descriptive paragraphs at the start of a section are there because we believe they are important.

We update this section of our website fairly often, so we recommend you return regularly.  Why not add this page to your browser's Favorites list?  Doing so does not cause us to send you junk mail.

• Large sections acquire their own page, to keep it easy to read.

• As we find a broken link, we remove it if we cannot easily repair it.

• Visitors are encouraged to join discussions in the forum to share their knowledge or experiences.  There are no reviews on this page.

• Topics progress from those for people caring for their senior horse, to those wishing to place their senior horse in a new job, and finally, how to prepare for and make arrangements to euthanize a horse to prevent suffering.

Companion Horse Jobs                                  (Top of Page)

Some aged horses can no longer be ridden, perhaps due to bladder stones, a weak heart, or chronic mild lameness.  If their condition is not worsening rapidly, and they do not require intensive nursing or medication, they may be able to find homes as companions to other horses.  If, however, the horse needs expensive medical attention, or cannot be introduced to new surroundings fairly easily (such as a fully blind horse), there are few openings for them.  Most of the companion horse jobs go to younger horses, or open broodmares.

Often people want a companion horse for a short time, to keep a recuperating horse company.  If your horse will be a "pasture buddy: for a rehabilitation project, know what will happen to your horse when the job is done.  Will your babysitter get a new horse to befriend, or will your horse need to move again?  If you want to keep track of your horse, you should retain ownership, or have a Protective Bill of Sale that requires them to notify you when they are going to sell your senior.  Then you can help market him normally, or even re-purchase him to donate or retire him elsewhere.

Those who want a long-term companion horse are not seeking to take on a high-maintenance animal.  Occasionally they will if there is hope of putting the companion horse back to light work at a future date.  Generally, though, an aged horse with special needs has very little chance of finding a job as a companion.

Marketing a Companion Horse/Pasture Buddy

To pursue this option, you will need to market your horse just like any other "For Sale" horse, except that his job is "Companion Only".  Most of these horses are advertised at no charge by the Classified Horse Ads websites as "Free" horses.  You will have to decide if you wish to advertise your horse to the general public for "free."  You will need to screen the inquiries (if any), and go through all the steps that an Equine Adoption Agency would use to qualify the person's horsemanship skills, ability to afford to maintain the horse, the stabling planned, and whether you are giving or adopting the horse. 

Because we are so close to the Mexican border, whose abattoirs are busier now that the Texas ones are closed, and there are auctions twice a week in Phoenix, we made the decision not to advertise a horse publicly as "free."  Especially since the Mexican abattoirs do not follow the standards that were imposed on American operations.  Instead, our ads say "Private Treaty" or "Inquire" and are placed in the "For Sale" rather than "Free" section. 

Further, even an adoption agency, to recoup some expenses and to weed out collectors, people who can't afford to care for the horse, and killer buyers, charge an adoption fee.  Typically it hovers around $500 unless the horse needed expensive surgery as well.  If the average horse weighs 1,000 pounds and the buyers are paying (11/07) approximately 20 cents per pound at auction (down from 60 cents this time last year)  $200 or lower is too little.  Even dog adoption fees average at least $200.

A grade trail horse averaged $1,500 at the 2007 Midwest auctions.  If someone wants your senior only if he is free, you should visit the place where they will keep the horse, and you should see it groomed, handled, and if rideable also saddled and ridden by whoever is going to ride him.  Do it the way the better adoption groups do it, and you have a chance of finding a decent home.  Expect it to take awhile.

Your best chances are with someone you know locally, rather than a stranger. We have often offered to give a horse to a known good home.  We might offer to give a horse to someone who had been willing to buy it, once we knew it was an excellent match and they could afford maintenance.  But any horse that would be "free" that needed to be marketed outside of our own acquaintance, we worked with a highly regarded professional non-profit adoption or rescue agency.

Rather than send the horse to the agency, which was probably full anyway, we continued to care for it, exercise it, and show it to prospective homes that were screened and referred to us by the adoption group.  The adoption agency bore no expense, and did not have to figure the horse out.  We had the benefit of their screening expertise, and the emotional relief of not taking too many false lead calls.

Choosing a Stable                             (Top of Page)     

Stables specializing in using retired show, pleasure, and ranch horses as schoolmasters are few and far between.  Most training stables are competitive barns specializing in training, showing, and sales.  While they may keep a horse that is "between owners" to give lessons to new clients until they purchase their own horse, most do not specialize in managing the health and work routines of older horses.  Visit the Therapy Horse Job page or Lesson Horse Job page for more detailed information.

DO visit in person any ranch you have placed on your short list after reviewing their website or brochure, and talking to the operator on the phone.  You won't be making this trip regularly, so make it at least once before your horse sets hoof on the trailer ramp.

Many special needs aged horses cannot live at pasture.  Some cannot eat grass.  Some would get beat up and run off the hay by younger horses.  Some need daily medication.  Some cannot regulate their body temperature well enough to live outside all day in summer heat or in winter cold.  Ensure any stable or private party you consider has small group covered pens, and individual covered pens, or inside stalls as options.  Have the routine for turning out and exercising these horses explained to your satisfaction.  Remember that the customer horses that are paying for training or turnout necessarily get attention first in a busy barn.

Find out how hoof care and veterinary care is handled.  Your loved one will no longer be trimmed and shod by his regular farrier, and no longer be examined and vaccinated by your trusted veterinarian.  Many retired horses go barefoot, especially if they have good hooves are are working very lightly in groomed footing.  But they still need regular trimming, even if old hooves grow more slowly.  Others need shoes for support, in which case the farrier doesn't need any fancy techniques, but needs patience with oldsters who may not be able to stand for long periods with stress on a bad stifle, or arthritic hock, etc.

But see, senior horse owner, you really can't just rely on a good farm's statement "we will schedule regular farrier work."  Find out how long the current farrier has taken care of their boarders, and how often he comes.  If I could schedule my visit (since it may be my only one) on a day the farrier and even the vet will be there, that would be ideal. 

I would definitely watch more than one lesson, preferably both a private lesson and a group, or a youth and an adult lesson, to see examples of how my horse will be handled, groomed, and put away, even though the companion horse is not ridden. 

If you like one or two ranches, at the end of your visit, ask for a couple of references from people who retired their horse there.  Follow up.

Real Retirement

If none of the retirement jobs we have discussed are appropriate for your friend, it is time to just let him hang out and be a horse.  It is time to visit with his pasture buddies most of the day, be groomed by you and enjoy his gentle stretches and massage to stay comfortable,  be inspected daily for possible injury, illness, or loss of condition or teeth, and get a treat.

The Retirement Stables page has information on retirement stables, and how to choose one, if you cannot keep your companion at home.

This happiness should last while he is still fit enough to enjoy it, a timeline no one can predict.  When rapid decline occurs, when constant discomfort or even pain invades him, you will know.  Your long association as friends and companions will have given you an "eye" and an empathy that is priceless.  No one else will have this insight into the change in his behavior, his demeanor, his eyes - not even your vet who has helped you maintain him for years.

When you reach this leg of the journey, please see it for the natural course of events that life is, and begin to prepare for him to leave you.  Please visit our Euthanasia and Memorials pages, so that you will be ready to help him across "The Rainbow Bridge" responsibly, just as you have cared for him all along.  Choosing to own a horse is something like a wedding vow, and the very best horsepeople are just as skilled at compassionate elder care, hospice, and end of life care as they are at any other.                 

Other Resources                             (Top of Page)

The Del Camino Products and Services catalog offers some horse products of interest to owners of senior horses.

Horse Welfare Statistics

Equinezone Horse Supply

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