FARM SHOW Magazine: 2000 - Volume 24 Issue 5 Page 24

Worlds Oldest Horse

Horses typically live only 20 to 25 years. That's why people are so amazed at a little pony down in Virginia named "Ted E. Bear" which is reportedly 58 years old.
  When you conisder that one horse year equals three human years, the little Shetland is the equivalent of 174 years old. He's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest horse on the planet.
  "Ted E. Bear" has been owned by Katherine Pennington for the past 20 years.
According to Pennington, Ted received no special care throughout his life but is still in relatively good health and gets around well.The pony is now slightly affected by arthritis and is blind in one eye with very little sight in the other. In the evening, when it's time for him to come in, all you need to do is call him and he whinnies an answer.
  "As you call and he answers, he will walk unerringly to you," Pennington says. "I think he answers each time you call because, since he has had to use our voices to find us, he thinks we also cannot see him and must find him by sound, too. If we are late coming home to put him in, he will start to call us as soon as the car door shuts û I guess, just a reminder that he is still waiting."
  Pennington says Ted can no longer eat hay, but manages to eat a special Purina feed designed especially for older horses.
  Contact: FARM SHOW FOLLOWUP, Katherine Pennington, 3485 Head of River Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23457 (ph 757 421-9181; E-mail: bdkp@earthlink.net).