Modern owners of horse farms and equestrian sports enthusiasts very often seriously think about purchasing animals. They are always faced with the question of how to correctly determine the age of a horse so that the purchase does not disappoint and justifies itself. The age of the horse is important for calculating the workload, when used in breeding work, and in some cases for determining the dosage of medications.
How long does a horse live?
On average, a domestic horse lives 25-30 years. However, there is always an exception to this rule.Among animals there are both long-livers and those who die much earlier than expected.
Despite the fact that young animals are ready for the first workloads at the age of five, the animal’s physical growth occurs during the first 6 years. Thus, the first cervical vertebra is formed only at the end of the sixth year of life. The active period lasts until 18-20 years. A horse can safely be considered a long-liver if its age has reached 35-40 years. At the same time, there are often individuals that do not reach 10 years of age.
How to determine the age of a horse
Even if the animal has documents about its origin, it is necessary to inspect it to ensure it corresponds to the specified age.
Visual inspection
Determining age begins with an external examination. First of all, you should pay attention to the movements of the animal. Young stallions and mares move easily, springily, and energetically. When moving, the neck is held high, higher than the level of the withers.
You definitely need to examine the face and touch the skin on it with your bare hands. The skin of young animals is thin and soft. This also applies to the animal’s lips. The eyes are bulging, shiny, mobile. The skin is pulled back easily and returns to its place quickly. Young fillies that have no offspring have a toned belly. Their backs, like those of young stallions, are straighter.
Elderly mares that have foaled many times and older horses, especially those that have worked hard and a lot, have a strongly arched back. In a calm state, in old animals, whose age is approaching 15-20 years, the lower lip sag due to weakening of the facial muscles. By the same age, gray hair may appear on the muzzle, and the hooves become rougher and wider and lower. It's worth taking a closer look at how horses eat.Adults and older animals eat more slowly.
Attention! Very often, the appearance depends on the care and conditions of detention; visually it is not always possible to determine the age with an error of up to 1-3 years. To confirm age, you can examine the animal's teeth.
By dentition
The biological age of an animal can be determined by its teeth. Surprisingly, foals can normally be born with or without teeth. There are usually four first teeth - two incisors, also known as hooks, on the upper jaw and two on the lower jaw.
If the foal was born completely without teeth, then they appear on the 3-4th day of life. You can find out about the age of a young animal of this period by the number of milk teeth. By 9-10 months, their full set of 24 milk teeth has grown. At about this age or a little earlier, the baby can be taken away from its mother and transferred to the hands of another owner.
It can be noticed that:
- By the 12th month, the grooves or cups on the front incisors are worn away in young animals.
- By 24 months, all baby teeth have no cups.
- In the third year, the baby incisors are replaced by permanent teeth, the bite changes, and the teeth move forward.
- By the age of 5-6, the change of teeth ends, and all permanent teeth have clearly visible cups.
- At about 7 years of age, the cups on the lower teeth begin to wear down, and the animal is considered an adult.
- By the end of the 8th year of life, there are no cups on all lower teeth.
- From 9 to 11 years of age, the depressions disappear on the teeth of the upper jaw.
At the age of 12, all the teeth are ground down, and age can be determined by the ongoing changes. In the period from 12 to 20 years, teeth are still growing, but their shape changes from round to triangular, and the bite is pulled forward quite strongly.
After 20-24 years, growth stops. At this age, teeth are just grinding down.Their shape is determined by the shape of the tooth base. In animals of this and older age, the teeth can be ground down to the very gums.
Factors influencing life expectancy
Lifespan is determined by several factors:
- genetics and breed;
- care and living conditions;
- workloads;
- feeding and grazing;
- veterinary care.
It is believed that representatives of draft breeds live 30-35 years, and racing breeds - from 25 to 30 years. One of the factors influencing life expectancy is nutrition. With age, the horse's body loses the ability to digest roughage. If this problem is not noticed in time and adjustments are not made to the diet, the animal will begin to suffer from intestinal colic and malnutrition. All this can cause a relatively early death.
Thus, in addition to origin, the life expectancy of a pet is influenced by the efforts of its owner aimed at proper maintenance.
Record horses
The existence of horses whose age significantly exceeded the average life expectancy has been documented:
- The thoroughbred horse Prospect Point was born in 1978 in Kentucky, America. Took part in 72 competitions. In seven of them he came first, in eight – second, and in ten – third. In 1985, his racing career ended. Since 1993 it has been used by its new owner in show jumping. Until 2010, despite his lameness, he walked under saddle. He was euthanized due to a serious illness in 2016 at the age of 38.
- At the equestrian club on the island. Sakhalin lives a horse named Chaika. Today her age is 46 years. Once upon a time, she regularly carried cargo for the local military trade. She was rescued from slaughter and has been living in recent years in warmth and care in the club stable.
- Magic is a 46-year-old mare who currently lives in California, where she helps teach horseback riding to beginners.
- Old Billy is considered the absolute record holder among long-lived horses. He died at the age of 62.
The Guinness Book of Records contains an entry about two elderly short horses - the twins Tuffy and Griffy. They were born in 1982 and the couple is believed to be alive to this day.
