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 NEWS FLASH - 2008 Best Humane Business Innovation Award National Black Farmers Association "Project Wanted Horse"
 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.
Nearly 4 Million
Pleasure Horses in the U.S.A.
Today's American equine
population includes an historically high
percentage of seniors. We can attribute this to many factors, but it
is a trend that has created a growing demand for attention by feed
manufacturers, veterinarians, equine dentists, farriers, barn managers,
trainers, horse retirement facilities, and all the other service providers.
The American Horse Council reports that of the 6.5 million horses in the United States today, 60% are
pleasure horses. As
the role of the horse in America has
changed dramatically from laborer to recreational partner, so has the viewpoint
of his caregiver.
When the small farmer represented the bulk of
rural America, and rural America represented the majority of the U.S.
population, retirement for the occasional aged horse meant, quite
literally, "turning him out to pasture" for the day, instead of
working the fields or pulling the
 loaded wagon into town. The cavalry
mount, artillery horse, barge or city drayage horse rarely became
"aged." But then, life expectancy for people was much
shorter due to hard work, disease, lack of dental care, warfare, accidents,
and childbirth. For the racehorse, and the infirm due to accident,
the local county abattoir was a mercy. The small businessman who ran
it was a member of the local community. He handled many different
animals. His methods were humane, because everyone in the county
would know if they were not. In a society built by immigrants
escaping poverty elsewhere on earth, nothing went to waste. The
tanner, the candle maker, the soap maker, the rope maker, and myriad other craftsmen
depended upon him. In America, there is no tradition of eating
horsemeat, as there is in other countries. While the butcher came to the
abattoir for other animals, not so the noble horse. Still, it was a
culture of usefulness at every stage of life, fulfilled with dignity and
husbanded with respect. A horse that was suffering from illness or
injury simply did not receive antibiotics, stem-cell grafts,
or hyurlonic acid injections to get through the rough patch and heal.
Diseases that used to bring him down are nearly eradicated by regular
vaccinations and treatments Better nutrition and dental care prolongs
every bodily system. [Note: every statement of historical fact made in this summary is proven. Email us if you need unbiased scholarly or statistical citations.]
 As the baby boomers look
forward to decades of "senior" living, so, too, do our horses. Today's pony doesn't teach
a generation to ride, but two, or even three generations. [Ponies
represent only 3% of the horses aged 15-19, but 30% of the horses
aged 30 and up.] An adult couple begin
riding as their teenagers empty the nest, and are still caring for their
horses two decades later. The horses have replaced the children for
many never married and divorced adults, just as dogs and cats do.
Except for one teensy, weensy,
problem. A horse doesn't fit in your "senior living"
apartment. A horse doesn't fit in your car. A horse has big
feed requirements. You can't take him to the groomer, the groomer has
to come to him.
The 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 family members. They are useful
well into their twilight years, because we didn't wear them out or break
them in their youth or their prime.
 Deserving, beautiful, if only
in the eyes of the owner who has shared so many trails with them, our
senior horses look to us. It is our job to maintain their quality of
life. It is our job to learn what is, and is not, an acceptable
quality of life. Lastly, it is our job to ensure they do not suffer
when that quality cannot be maintained.
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.
We are still kicking ourselves
for not taking videos of our wonderful seniors over the years. But
this one on YouTube of a 32 year old Tennessee Walker mare encountering a
motorized wheelchair should inspire you!
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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.
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Del Camino
does not endorse, approve, guarantee, warranty, or otherwise recommend any
product, service, vendor, book,
article, website, webzine, or magazine linked on this page
Just as people develop age-appropriate behaviors, so do horses. One of the challenges for the people who care for senior equines is to notice subtle behavioral changes, and interpret them correctly.
Empathy and the power of observation, combined with the ability to learn, enables humans to have relationships with horses. In so doing, we learn about their behaviors. Behaviors as horses anatomically, as discreet individuals with experiential and physical histories, behaviors within the context of their physical environments, behaviors socially among other horses,
behaviors interacting with other species, and, finally, interacting with us.
There are no short cuts to this process. There is help, as many people have honed their powers of observation, and whether their approach was scientific, practical, or spiritual, discovered and recorded for the rest of us their findings. These should inform us whether our equine partner is young, middle aged, or very aged.
These books are good guides from these different perspectives — the journey is your own. Along the way, people involved with horses trying to figure out how to catch one in a pasture who wants to stay with his herdmates, often discover as much about themselves, other people, and life as they do about the horses. For both
the person and the horse, that is much better than just learning the ABC's of how to throw a rope or approach with a halter.
The Del Camino Products and Services catalog offers some horse
products of interest to owners of senior horses.
Here's an easy online calendar from Intervet for tracking health records. It can be an excellent tool to collaborate with your boarding or retirement farm, a good link to include in a packet for others who may horse-sit while you are on vacation, and is certainly a cost-free way to get started with good records on your
horses from the beginning. Even though to focus is on broodmares and foals, there are excellent tools for keeping adult horse records on vaccinations, worming, trimming and other maintenance:
The AAEP has issued updated
vaccination guidelines as of January 2008.
UC Davis School of Veterinary
Medicine Center for Equine Health
Technical Large Animal Emergency
Rescue -
Horse Welfare Statistics -
Equinezone Horse Supply -
Equine Now
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