# Am I too late?



## jbarring (Nov 10, 2013)

I'm 18 and I just started riding English (5 months ago or so). I feel like I'm too late. I see all these 6 year old girls scurrying about and they're more experienced than I am. I don't think I will be able to do anything in terms of collegiate equestrian sports because everyone else is like pro. Then I read the wikipedia pages of the famous riders and they all started at basically 2 weeks old. By the time I'm ready to compete in anything I will be too old.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

The "burned out rate" for any sports are about 18yo, so I'd say, you're early. Just pursue this. George Morris still gets on Hunters at clinics and pops over a course and he's in his late 70's. I'll be 56 this month, and I'm not giving up riding. In fact, I bought my first horses at 27yo, although I had several years of HS lessons as a teenager.
Most of those little 6yo's running around the stable won't be in horses when they are 26!


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## frlsgirl (Aug 6, 2013)

Stop it - now you're making me feel old  I got back a couple of years ago at age 35. I probably won't be competing until I'm 40. 

As long as you keep yourself in good health, you can ride well into your 60s or even longer. My trainer is competing at 63 and has a student who is in his 80s!


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## Inga (Sep 11, 2012)

jbarring said:


> Then I read the wikipedia pages of the famous riders and they all started at basically 2 weeks old. By the time I'm ready to compete in anything I will be too old.


I heard that Olympian Edward Gal started riding inutero. ha ha Kidding. You are NOT too old and you will likely have many years of competing if that is your interest. I think that one of the greatest things about the horse world is that you are NEVER too old as long as you can get on. 

I told a story on another thread about when I was young (many years ago) I was in a training barn and an older gentleman mid 60's or so started taking riding lessons. Some of the people whispered and made fun of him but I was so impressed with him. He said it had always been his dream to ride but his life hadn't allowed it until now. I moved to a show barn and sort of forgot about the guy until he showed up at a show I was at. He was riding a Saddlebred that I knew was a little full of herself. He wasn't ready to win the world championships but he was riding a horse, at a show and it wasn't an easy horse. I was even more impressed with him and will likely never forget him. 

Long story short, at 18 years old, you have not even started your journey yet. Get started and see how far you go in it. Like all things in life you often get out of it what you put into it. Best of Luck to you! If you make it to the Olympics, won't it be fun to say "I have only been riding since I was 18?"


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Nobody is ever too old if they have the desire and physical ability to do it. I know lots of folks that didn't get into riding or horses until early middle age. Some of them went on to compete and even train (those that had the desire to, many were just recreational riders).

Heck, I've known several old folks that were in their 80s and 90s and still rode. They had really broke horses that would lead up to fences or buckets or whatever to allow the rider to mount easier, but they still rode.


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## thetempest89 (Aug 18, 2013)

You're making me feel old. Which you must be making people older then me feel ever older.

Goodness. I'm 24 and just go back into riding maybe in August? You're never too old to show imo. As long as it's a passion and you can, why the hell not.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

Don't worry. To start with probably at least 80% of child riders get out riding seriously in their mid to late teens. 

To be honest, I think sometimes the reason those kid riders go so far isn't just because of the time they spent riding, but because kids who start that young are usually from horse families. They have access to good horses, and have a family that value it. 

The more you ride the faster you'll catch up. If you're just doing a lesson a week it will take longer, you'll get there eventually though. If you can ride each day, or multiple days a week you'll catch up so much quicker.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

You're definitely not too old to ride and compete. There are different levels of competition for a reason! I didn't start riding until I was 21 and almost done with college (not by choice... I wanted to ride my whole life but parents weren't supportive). Am I jealous of the 12 year old at my barn who rides better than I do? Yeah, but I don't compete against her (both because she's riding at a higher level and because she's in the junior classes)

On the other hand, you probably are too old to get into professional training/riding/etc. The more I got into riding, the more I realized that I wanted to work with horses professionally. Too late to switch majors and get into vet school (had already graduated with an unrelated degree by then). Not enough horse experience to even get a call back for barn manager positions. It's tough to stand out when everyone else your same age has 20+ years of horse experience because they started riding at 5 and trained their first horse at 10


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## amberly (Dec 16, 2012)

It is NEVER too late to start learning about horses.
My mom was terrifying of horses. But at the age of 30 she decided to buy one and learn about them. She knew nothing.
Now, ten years later and amazing horseman taught her everything she knew. my mom could be a horse trainer if she wanted to - but she doesn't find it interesitng. The person who taught her and taught a bit to me started at 16 and is a horse trainer, instructor, and a 4-h horse leader.

But my mom started learning about horses at 30 and she is now 42 and knows quite a bit. I don't think it is ever too late.


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## PrivatePilot (Dec 7, 2009)

I rode (amateurish) western on and off over the years, but never really got serious until I was 38 (I'll be 40 soon) at which point I started riding english at our current barn. I made an amazing amount of progress within a year.

I'm still FAR from an advanced rider. My goal was to get to be a reasonably proficient and SAFE rider so that I could move into solo riding (which we have done via a few leased horses) so that I could have fun. 

So basically, it's never "too late" to become a good, great, or excellent rider. There are others at my barn who have started well into their adult years and have become very proficient and skilled riders.

Your goal is obviously more advanced however..which is the rest of my story - at the same time I started another male rider (probably in his mid 20's) also started at the same time. He rode CONSTANTLY in lessons, probably between 3-6 times a week at the peak, but never less than 2 or 3 times per week. Within 6 months he was riding the more advanced horses, and within 12 months he was riding the top tier horses and is firmly amongst the barns best riders IMHO.

If he, in his 20's can do it, you can too. It's all about determination and saddle time.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Although I have ridden all my life, I didn't start riding English until I was 29 yrs old, I compete English and I win, lots actually.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Definitely not too late.

A friend just started riding three years ago and started practicing polo 2 years ago. She is 54. Though I've been riding a while, I just started playing polo 2 years ago. My daughter worked for a polo player who is in his 70s and didn't start riding until he was in his 20s. I worked for a guy who is in his late 60s and he didn't start playing until he was in his 50s.

Some of my favorite people still start ranch colts and they are both in their 80s. He rode most of his life, but she didn't start until she was in her late 20s. 

I have many more examples. Saddleseat riders starting in their 40s and 50s after only riding rental horses on trail rides for years...


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## picup436 (Nov 22, 2012)

Jock Paget, a top eventer from New Zealand only started riding at 17 or 18. 11 years later he's winning 4* events. (Although we won't go into the positive tests for banned substances in his horses lol!)


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Riding is something that you can start at every age. Just immerse yourself in the horse world and enjoy. It's not something you fizzle out with as with some other sports. Obviously your body will change, but there are plenty of people who ride regularly and even compete successfully. A lot of the oldest Olympians are horseback riders including a Japanese gentleman in 2012 (check this out!-Oldest and Youngest Olympians)

I think it has to do, in a physical sense, with having control over ones body, as opposed to being the fastest or the strongest etc. And of course mental stuff and horse sense are not age relevant. I have heard a lot of older people say horses keep them young. (Also the lifestyle is good for you too!)

I met an older woman who had not ridden since college, gave her a tune up on how to groom, very basic stuff, and a few months later she is jumping courses. Our Icelandic was a gift to us from our neighbor in her late 80s. She received her from her late husband as an 82nd birthday present, and kept her until she realized that two horses were too much for her living by herself. I have seen plenty of older riders with "horse sense" progressing very rapidly in the saddle and on the ground, while some younger riders that just don't have "that" will go through the motions almost, and don't go in leaps and bounds.

So riding you can do literally anytime, and being competitive I honestly believe (to an extent) you can do anytime as well.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

I think you'll find a good number of people here who didn't even start riding until they were 50+, so no, you're not too old to learn to ride.

I don't know enough about competing to judge your odds of success, but just remember that very few people compete at high levels in any sport, and to do so takes pretty much total dedication, and the sacrifice of a lot of other parts of life. 

I'd suggest thinking hard about why you specifically want to compete, rather than just learn to ride well and have fun with horses.


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Are you kidding me? You are never too old to learn something new. 

Heck, LeAnn Rust won the *rookie* of the year from the WPRA in barrel racing when she was *53-years-old*. Nobody told her she was too old to do something new.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

A few years ago I had a retired naval officer come to me to learn to ride. He was in his late sixties. He had ridden for a couple of years as a child but that was it. 
He was following Foxhounds within a year.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

We had two people on the UK yard I managed that started riding when they were in their 30's - one took over his wife's horse when she lost interest and another her daughters pony for the same reason. Originally they both only intended to be pleasure riders but got so into it the man ended up eventing at Intermediate level and the woman show jumped to Grade A
You are not too old!!!


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I didn't start riding regularly until I was 40. I wish I had an 18 year old body to work with. You're not remotely too young. The cool thing is, most of those people you know who have been riding since they were 6 will soon lose interest in the sport since they have no appreciation of how lucky they were to be riding and won't get back into it until their late 30s. Just do it.


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## Yooper (Oct 12, 2013)

Nah, you're definitely not too late. In fact, you might appreciate it more than a six year old. You understand, for example, the monetary part of it all. That money isn't magic and lessons aren't free. 

I'm 24 and just restarted lessons. I took them when I was young up until my teenage years, then stopped due to school load and teenager reasons. I honestly feel so much better now. I am earning these lessons with my hard work. Sure, it is an expense that I could save instead (since a great deal of my income goes to college courses for nursing school), but I don't do any other 'fun' things in my life, as I'm not a social butterfly. A lesson a week is my happy time. 

So yea, don't be anxious about the youth riding horses! Just enjoy it when you do it!

Though I will note, a fall seems to hurt a little more when you're older. I got a bone bruise on my wrist due to my last fall, and it made work a little painful for a while. I'm a CNA which is very physical and involves a lot of flexing and lifting, so I had to live on ibuprofen for the duration of my shifts to stop it from aching so badly.


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## wild old thing (Jun 15, 2012)

jbarring said:


> I'm 18 and I just started riding English (5 months ago or so). I feel like I'm too late. I see all these 6 year old girls scurrying about and they're more experienced than I am. I don't think I will be able to do anything in terms of collegiate equestrian sports because everyone else is like pro. Then I read the wikipedia pages of the famous riders and they all started at basically 2 weeks old. By the time I'm ready to compete in anything I will be too old.



HAHAHA...

I started riding at 64 - had never been on a horse before that. I did my first show/competition at 66. I'm not a bad rider, if that's what counts. Frankly I think it's more than how you ride - it's also what you know about all of it. My riding skills get better with each lesson, even when I have a dismal one. The more you learn, the more self critical I think you become (not to mention your horse laughing at you).

Listen, I'll never know everything about this sport. I came into it late and I don't have my own horse, so I don't yet have the opportunity to learn the other end of it, which is the nuts and bolts - the tack, the day to day care, their bodies, etc. But I learn what I can. And I intend to ride until the day I die. If you love the sport and especially if you love horses, you do what you can to be with them and their knuckleheaded, stubborn, deeply mysterious selves.


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## dlady (Apr 13, 2013)

LOL if you're too old, I guess I should even be on a horse.

I got on a horse for the 1st time by myself 2 years ago at age 50. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. You're never too old to do what you love doing. 

Have fun and enjoy yourself.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Definitely not too old. I started riding at 7, so I can't really sympathize, but I can say without a doubt you aren't too old. xD Just work hard to catch up to those six year olds ;D

I will say that I disagree with the statement someone (I don't recall who x.x) made about not making it professionally. 
I'm not sure what discipline you're looking to do, but much of the upper division stuff depends on a lot of $$ Age doesn't have /that/ much to do with it xD


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## betty beiling (Dec 4, 2013)

don;t give up. you are never to old to learn to ride. just relax andtake deep breath. and yes i can do this........


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

No it's not too late. Whether or not you will be a competitive rider by then or not is up to you. Depends on if it comes naturally for you and how much you practice. 

There are things that I'm competitive with. Usually, riding a horse is not one. I do like to win but I ride for relaxation. We have done a few judged trail rides and I have come in first once. 

You need to do what makes you happy. You don't have to win to enjoy what you do. Winning is not everything. 

When I was in Jr high, I played football. Not because I wanted to but because my dad wanted me to. We didn't win at all which kind of sucked but we had fun. In Sr high, I started playing football but quit because it became really competitive and wasn't fun anymore. I changed to playing soccer. Something I did enjoy when I was younger. My Sr year, I got upset when I didn't make the varsity team. I realized later that I was happier playing on the JV team because it wasn't as competitive but we had more fun. 

I didn't get into horses until I was 36, 6 years ago. I wish I had done it sooner.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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