Lady is a very senior citizen

Del Blanco Lady is a VERY senior citizen. She was born on April 11, 1966. That makes her 41 this year and she is still healthy and happy. We have a mini herd of 3 mares and 1 alpha gelding. The gelding thinks he’s pretty hot stuff with all those mares to boss around. Lady loves him. Even at her age, she is quite a flirt. She used to be lead mare but lost that standing to Honeybee a few years ago. The only horse she can boss around now is our 4 year old fjord.

I got Lady when I was 38 and she was 16. She was my first horse and really taught me to ride. She is from quarter horse racing stock and was very fast in her younger days, but has never been on the track. Her sire won $12,000 at the New Mexico State Fair way back when. The previous owner said she was faster than any of the other cowboy horses. He also gave me dire warnings about not getting my feet caught in the stirrups when mounting or dismounting and not to get a rope under her tail or she would buck me off. That never happened. We went trail riding and she loved to run so we had some wild rides. Sometimes I intended to go straight ahead but she saw a shortcut home, so I would go straight ahead and she would turn for home.

We took her to the Lefty Converse Senior Horse Show when she was 38. Even though she had hardly been ridden for several years, she did quite well and got a third in English pleasure and she and my husband got oldest horse/oldest rider combination with a total age over 100. They gave us a bunch of goodies including a bag of senior feed.

Last winter I thought she wasn’t going to make it any longer. She quit eating during the coldest, windiest part of winter for about a week. I couldn’t tempt her with warm mash or grated carrots. Then one day she started eating again and has been fine since. I have heard of a horse living to 50. Sometimes I wonder if she will make it that long. She looks so happy out in the field with the other horses.