How old were you when you got your first horse..?

This won't help you, but I was 43 when I got my first horse. I am a late horse bloomer.

Maybe this will help! There is a girl, 12, at the barn where I board who "adopted" an abused horse. She pretty much trained the horse and she now shows her in hunter/jumper classes. I figured she started working with this horse around 9 years old.

This girl also has more horse sense than some adults I know. I would rather go  on a long trail ride with her than some adults I know.

Paul

I've been riding off and on since I was 2, but I didn't actually get a horse of my own until 50.    []  Here's my pride and joy.



Speaking of QH and TB's, my boy goes back to Man O' War which I thought was hysterical.  He also has Yellow Mount behind him. I  had both the Breyer Yellow Mount model and the Man O' War model when I was a kid. 

Too cool, Laura, about the Breyers!  Love your paint!  Glad to meet ya!  Where is right here *points to her right palm* []

Beautiful horse! He's GORGEOUS!

I rode when I was a kid and even as a young adult, then really not much for many years. I didn't own any horses of my own until I was 45. I now have 9 of them....

I was 7 when I got my first pony, then the next year, my first horse. My mom and I learned together, read lots of books and asked lots of questions! You are not too young, you find your horse and LOVE every minute of it!!!!![8D]

I was 35!!! LOL
Guns, what a cutie!!

Hey i'm 13 too I've had horses for about two years now and I'm doing fine! Good luck on getting your horse!!

I was 7 when I first started riding and 20 when I got my own horse. Only because my parents could not afford one. You are very lucky your parents are getting you one. And we won't say how long I've been riding.LOL  I learned alot by helping out at a stables. I don't think your too young to own a horse. I've seen younger.LOL  But if you can learn as much as you can about them, that would help. Internet is great for that. And this forum helps out a lot. Horses are a lot of work at times. Cleaning stalls whether it is 100* or 10*, breaking ice out of the water bucket during the winter, staying up half way threw the night because it's sick. You need to keep up with the vet and farrier. There's a little more work to them then people realize. But every little bit of information will help. Leasing will help also. Goodluck to you!

well i'm a little late on this topic but...

I agree with everything being said here, but the thing that sticks out the most to me is this...

Once you hit sixteen and seventeen and eighteen EVERYTHING changes. I started riding at 9. Rode for about a year and then my parents bought me the horse I had been riding. He was a 5yr old Tennessee Walker. I still have him and he is my baby and my world. I now have 4 horses in total. I'm 19 years old. I work full time, and go to school full time. A typical scenario for a young adult. Think about it please. Go ahead and get your horse, but think about what you're gonna do when you get a job, and go to school (if you go). Your time will be cut drastically and you won't believe how much of it you don't have.

It's tough. It really is. Plan your time and your schedule carefully so you can still give that horse as much of your time as you can without killing yourself from stress and lack of sleep. (my situation currently   Oh, and you get bills when you turn 18. lol No one informed me they would set in so quickly but they did. And I still live at home [&o]

I'm really glad your getting a horse. They are wonderful. And yes I think you'll be fine. But just think and plan ahead...and do a much better job than what I'm doing. lol. I have a 16 month old outside right now that should be in small local halter classes (mainly for the experience) but that probably thinks I've forgotten she exists except for feeding and watering. lol (i'm exaggerating a little here but you get the idea.) Good luck with it and keep us updated!

After years of begging and pleading and horse after horse slipping away I found Wakiya my perfect little horse at 16 and I bought her myself. I pay for board training, vet, farrier, wormer, and everything in between. Oh I forgot to mention I also work 25-30 hours a week, go to both high school and college, and maintain a very small social life.

I got my first horse when I was ten. I started my own tack cleaning service at the local stable, mucked stalls, groomed and exercised other horses to help pay for my horse.

I got my mare when I was around 12... She was given to me by my uncle, but she didn't really belong to him, so he really wasn't hers to give... but she was mine. Her 'owner' was a man who owed us money, so he gave Gypsie to my uncle, but truthfully, he didn't really own her either because he'd given her to his ex-wife when they divorced. When I was 14, the mans ex-wife came to get her, but when she saw the bond that Gypsie and I had, she changed her mind and gave her to me.
 
 
My gelding was born a few days before I turned 16. My favorite uncle bred my mare for me so I'd get a foal as my 16th birthday present, instead of a car.
 
I still have them both. My mare's my baby, but my gelding is my precious.

i got my first horse who i still have 2 years ago on february 16, i was....o wow....um......13 ha! lol i suck at math anyway, i was 13 and i had been riding almost everyday during every summer except one since i was about 4 or 5 (that one summer i almost died) i bought him, hes the one in the picture in my siggy by the way, he was 6 years old and he was the worst trained horse i had ever ridden and i hated him becuase he didnt listen and he bucked me off and he reared and geez he was terrible, but i was riding one time with my cousin and he started his normal routine, i hit the dirt hard i might add and my uncle marched across that arena headed straight for my horse and boy diablo freaked out and tried to hide behind me so i kept my uncle from touching him saying it was my fault and all that (which it was now that i think about it) and from then on diablo and i have this amazing relationship and i love him more than air, he's actually the only living thing on this earth that i wouldnt ditch for a good pizza.......NOT THE POINT but you get it lol 
to me age is just a number, i think it depends on how mature a person is, everyone handles things differerntly. I agree with what has been said you should try leasing first, thats kind of what i did, i rode my uncles old rope horse, and he was mine to take care of the whole summer, so definatly try it out first then if you feel you can do it for real go for it and get yourself a good horse!
good luck and congrats on gettting the ok to get a horse us horse people are lucky to live this dream i think