Am I imagining it but years ago we didnt have...

[Toffee44]

But years ago we had better bred horses, just because you owned a mare you didn't just put it in foal.

The conformation you see now I never saw growing up. Sweet itch meant you didn't breed from the mare, didn't breed from horse with sarcoids and horses that were unridable were shot or found retirement homes not extensive surgery etc. and you never bred from a horse unless it had proved something (hunting, showing, pony club)

I remember using a paraffin based wash on a sweet itch Shetland lol

COPD was called bad asthma and horses were turned out.

Too many people owning horses now and not enough horsewoman/ men. And too many horses!!

 

[Toffee44]

Lol I had a GFS saddle that fitted everything I rode!!!

Would be able to do that now.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Harvest mites, Sarcoids, Grass sickness, Lice? And now garlic is bad so is hoof oil and so many more things or was I just so ignorant in my youth?

Owning a horse this time round has caused me to be a nervous wreck, and that's before being in the saddle

certainly had lice in the 70s, grass sickness has been around since the early 1900s although more prevalent in Scotland, garlic has always been toxic, mites have always been there but most people didn't ride feathered cobs. Granted, I did use hoof oil

Personally I never saw a pony with SI in my part of the world growing up (East Anglia) but I knew about it. I also didn't see a case of lamminitis until much later on-ponies were expected to lose weight in the winter and gain it in the summer-they were not rugged and not fed ad lib from round bales in the field either.

I saw a shetland in a full neck turnout rug last saturday in 16 degree weather, even if it was bloody clipped out it didn't need it.

 

[saalsk]

Never heard of sweet itch as a kid - maybe that was the weather where I grew up - not so many midges !

Horses had either horse+pony nuts, or hunter mix, along with chaff, and the posh girl down the road from me used something called Baileys - which looked like sand and smelt like farleys rusks.

We were all gradually upgrading from string girths, to cottage craft fabric ones, which had to match your headcollar. But that was fine, as the only colours were pretty much black, brown or white.

Posh girl down the road had one of the first pair of "petal" over reach boots I had ever seen - while the rest of us struggled with either saddle soap, or laces, or both, to get the standard pull on version over the hoof. And a set of shoes was £10. And the farrier was a friends Dad, so no I didn't fancy him. By the time I was old enough for boys to even feature on my radar ( Dad's plan worked - keep her interested in ponies until she is 18... ! ) he had retired !

Turnout rugs were all green tarpaulin style NZ's with white leather leg straps, front straps, and a fabric surcingle. PJs were jute rugs, with surcingle. Padding on the surcingle if you were lucky. Anti-roll surcingle if you were the posh girl who lived down the road.

BTW, the posh girl who lived down the road went to primary school with me. Then secondary school. Then uni. We were each others Bridesmaids, and I am god parent to her little girl. She now owns a hairy cob and we still try to out-posh each other !

 

[Loulou2002]

I'm in my thirties and when i left school i worked in a yard for a few years. I used to love it when the horses were clipped and they had blankets and jute rugs. I tried to find some heavy wool blankets a while ago in charity shops etc but couldn't!

 

[Dab]

this thread totally put a smile to my face.

My first hat was a hand-me-down from a cousin, and it didn't even have a piece of elastic, but it was blue velvet and i loved it! All our ponies were ridden in normal caverson nose bands, until i started SJ and then i bought a drop nose band!

Our ponies were feed straights which included a scoop of BRAN...he was cold shod, never lost a shoe, never had a crack or a chip, and his feet were oiled every day!

All us pony kids used to bu**er off all day at the weekend or in the school holidays, on our ponies just armed with a packed lunch, a bit of string (someone might bring a hoof pick!) and 2p for the telephone box just in case...and we would hack for miles and miles.

Our ponies were never over weight, never lame, never had sweet itch or any other illness in 10 years of owning them...i'd never even heard of GS, lami, or sweet itch when i was a kid.

It all seemed to be a little simpler back then

Except for the rugs....lugging a soaking wet New Zealand rug and hanging it up in the boiler room to dry gave me biceps of steel...

 

[Fairytale]

We had sweetitch in the 60's - my NF pony had it quite badly and I used to apply a sludge of pure lard and burnt newspaper...........old gypsy remedy so I was told at the time! Gawd it made a mess!

My first saddle was bought over the counter to fit my bum not the pony, never had any trouble with fit, or pony never said anything anyway.

Wormers came in a tub, like pony nuts, and got fed in a jam sandwich.

Oh and yes, the baggy johds and yellow jumper (mine had a horses head on the front and I thoughi I was the dog's wotsits )

So many happy memories, rightly or wrongly, but it was defo much less stressful in those days!

 

[Fairytale]

PS. and of course yes, those green canvas NZ rugs that kept the shape of the pony when you took them off, stiff and unwieldy they were indeed! And didn't those jute stable rugs stink !

 

[Champion1969]

Leather!

Please shoot me if I am wrong, but years ago you would only buy English leather, yes there was P*** leather, but you wouldn't touch it with a barge pole and you wouldn't certainly call it that in this day and age. However I have recently bought an IMPORTED leather Shires bridle for under £30, £4 for leather dressing and I think its bloody good value.

Now somebody prove me wrong

 

[Champion1969]

And Mollichop was the in thing, hence why I bought in bulk and now stuck with the stuff

 

[nix123]

Hahaha the good old days, i remember in our lessons we used to take the saddles off and do the whole lesson without one. Now its all health and safety, and the blame/claim thing. I feel sorry for the kids todays, they seem to have so much more than we did, but a lot less fun and freedom.

 

[4x4]

Sweetitch? Only ever knew of one in many years of keeping horses until about 15 years ago. Could it be coincidence that there were never that many proprietory forms of feed, just oats, barley, bran and beet pulp if you could get hold of it? Spillers pony nuts or stud cubes were all I remember.

No. no, I had one with sweetitch years ago and we had to use benzol benzoate!

 

[Champion1969]

No. no, I had one with sweetitch years ago and we had to use benzol benzoate!

Can this still be used, as there is a girl on our yard using this on her pony?

 

[JillA]

Can this still be used, as there is a girl on our yard using this on her pony?

Yes, or at least it could a couple of years ago. My local Boots told me it had been taken off the market so I emailed their HQ. They said, no, it was still available and I should tell their branch as much . I got some from a small independant that time, but it is the active ingredient in more than one of the proprietory itch treatments.

 

[4x4]

It doesn't seem to work now, but I totally agree with what's been said above
a) There were no un-rideable horses or ponies - we didn't think so anyway, anything rubbish went for dog meat and you didn't breed from unsuitable stallions/mares.
b) Conformation went miles
c)We fed straights - mainly chaff which we cut ourselves/hay/oatstraw
d)We didn't wear hats -I used to hack out regularly in flip-flops and shorts! eek!
e)Horses had manners and were taught by VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE WHO KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING
f)We had good riders to look up to - Pat Smythe, Harvey Smith, Derek Ricketts, Jenny Loriston-Clarke, Jane Holderness Roddam, Princess Anne, Mark Philips, Hugh etc
g)Farriers etc. weren't afraid to tell a horse off if it did misbehave, for fear of upsetting their clients
h)It actually cost a lot more - pro-rata - to keep a horse then so I think there were less horse owners about - certainly less livery yards.

 

[4x4]

Shall we start a clique...I can remember when....

 

[Champion1969]

I didn't plan to start another "remember when" thread, I am just confused as to how many thing have changed since I last owned a horse

 

[LEC]

It doesn't seem to work now, but I totally agree with what's been said above
a) There were no un-rideable horses or ponies - we didn't think so anyway, anything rubbish went for dog meat and you didn't breed from unsuitable stallions/mares.
b) Conformation went miles
c)We fed straights - mainly chaff which we cut ourselves/hay/oatstraw
d)We didn't wear hats -I used to hack out regularly in flip-flops and shorts! eek!
e)Horses had manners and were taught by VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE WHO KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING
f)We had good riders to look up to - Pat Smythe, Harvey Smith, Derek Ricketts, Jenny Loriston-Clarke, Jane Holderness Roddam, Princess Anne, Mark Philips, Hugh etc
g)Farriers etc. weren't afraid to tell a horse off if it did misbehave, for fear of upsetting their clients
h)It actually cost a lot more - pro-rata - to keep a horse then so I think there were less horse owners about - certainly less livery yards.

Actually I completely disagree with most of this!

Horse quality has gone up hugely since I started riding which was 31 years ago. Horses are on the whole now better bred, better looking and more athletic. The injection of continental sports lines IMO has been a positive for horses. The difference is I think equestrianism is much more amateur now that it was 30 years ago. Hardly anybody had a horse just to hack out on.
We have fed mixes for the last 25 years.
My mother has ALWAYS worn a hat out hunting with straps as she felt it set a bad example to us children. Our hats might only had one strap but we all wore them.
We have good riders now to look up to. Is Harvey Smith really someone who should have been looked up to?
Our farriers have never tolerated poor behaviour but nor have we ever put up with it from horses.
As for horses being cheaper to own now, I completely disagree. The difference is the bottom of the pyramid has completely changed and horses have become more accessable through livery yards and riding school numbers have declined.

 

[diamonddogs]

We used to have this enormous chaff cutter in the barn which we used to shove a couple of slices of hay/straw through and make a lovely chaff!

I think you people who had your hat elastic under your chins were a bit up yourselves - everybody knows the elastic was worn over the peak, and if it had a knot in it and the velvet was faded you were a proper rider!

My first jods were cavalry twill with suede knee patches and could only be worn for best because they weren't machine washable.

I remember buying Pony magazine (black and white photos of show ponies, and good old R S Summerhayes) every week and drooled over the Pennwood saddles.

All my friends bought their riding kit from Jacatex but my dad's friend worked at a very posh gentleman's outfitter (suit you, sir) that sold quality riding wear, so mine was bought at a discount.

Some of my fondest memories are when we used to hack over to the village blacksmith (yes, you could get your pony shod and your dad could buy a custom made wrought iron garden gate from him as well!), who was an old man in his seventies who had a dent in his bald head from when he got kicked by a crazy stallion. There were mobile blacksmiths about but it was all cold shoeing, and you didn't get the fun of the hack! After all these years, I'm still transported right back to that old forge and the old boy with a dent in his head whenever I smell a hoof burning!

 

[Ellibelli]

I started riding nearly 40 years ago and had my first pony 36 years ago. Maybe it's because I was bought up in a working class area, but I remember just about every poor horse having white marks from ill fitting saddles, horses being over bitted, draw reins were all the rage, and as much as I admired Harvey Smith at the time, on reflection his horses were not nearly as well schooled as show jumpers are now days. There were plently of bad livery yards, or horses kept on back yards. Most horses that would perhaps be diagnosed as having ulcers or kissing spines now days were simply branded as unrideable and sent to the local horse market, and there seemed to be one of those in every town. I do think standards are generally much better today than back then!

 

[JillA]

I've still got a Pennwood lightweight jumping saddle - used to work at Pennwood before it became Pennwood lol - and it fitted EVERYTHING, from cob to TB. And it didn't have a cut back head - something about the tree, which he had patented. The seat is like a piece of wood now though, I have used it for breaking for a number of years.
And I had Jacatex lol - thought I was the bees knees walking to the riding stables for my fortnightly lesson. Jodhpurs, boots, hat and whip - I had it all!!!
What WAS the name of those wormer pony nuts lookalikes? Equi-something?
The main thing that is missing these days though is the old fashioned professional groom, who knew how to get horses to do all sorts of stuff without having a temper tantrum - have its mane pulled, be shod, load into transport. And to whom feeding was an art, none of them around these days (well not around here anyway) so new owners can't call on that sort of experience.

 

[diamonddogs]

Can anyone remember what that stiff paste you used to get for coughs was called? It came in a flat round tin. My pony could get a nugget of that out of the middle of an apple, nom the apple down and spit out a perfectly formed nugget of cough stuff...

Look what I found hidden away on my hard drive:



The smell of that mac will stay with me for the rest of my life!

 

[4x4]

Can anyone remember what that stiff paste you used to get for coughs was called? It came in a flat round tin. My pony could get a nugget of that out of the middle of an apple, nom the apple down and spit out a perfectly formed nugget of cough stuff...

Look what I found hidden away on my hard drive:



The smell of that mac will stay with me for the rest of my life!

Easacoff?

 

[4x4]

I had one of those macs a bit later on for hunting...and I went to Lester Bowden in Epsom to buy green Hunter wellies 'cos they were very de riguer to ride in on the downs...also as someone else said, lessons without a saddle, also closing your eyes and folding your arms coming into a grid!

 

[saalsk]

Can anyone remember what that stiff paste you used to get for coughs was called? It came in a flat round tin. My pony could get a nugget of that out of the middle of an apple, nom the apple down and spit out a perfectly formed nugget of cough stuff...

Look what I found hidden away on my hard drive:



The smell of that mac will stay with me for the rest of my life!

Was that cough stuff like Electuary ?

I remember making hay wisps while sitting listening to pony club teaching evenings.

I also remember throwing a tantrum when my parents told us kids we were moving house. And all because I had had my vulcanite pelham ( for hunting, snaffle otherwise ) engraved with our postcode by the local police anti-theft department person - and I was terrified that if I ever lost it, it wouldn't find it's way back to me if we didn't live there...

 

[4x4]

Cor, saalsk, you can't be THAT old, they didn't even HAVE postcodes when I was a kid...

 

[JillA]

I had a huge tub of Banakoff - like a thick grease with menthol and eucalyptus, and you put it in the false nostril. Bit like rubbing Vick on someone's chest. I think I may still have it at the back of my vetmed cupboard, waste not want not lol.
I remember the one in the tin, based on thick molasses, can't remember what it was called though. Colic drench and a drenching horn anyone? Or Ellimans Embrocation? I had a veterinary book published by Ellimans, containing the sort of stuff you read about in the Herriot books, although I don't go quite that far back Mallenders and sallenders and all that stuff

And check out the prices in the Jacatex ad - a fortune in those days, 5 or 6 years later I was chuffed to earn £10 a week

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Gosh!!! I never thought to see that old Jacatex advert again.

By gawd, look at the prices too!!

Their stuff was fantastic. Went on and on and never wore out. I had a pair of their "riding trousers" and they lasted me all through PC and onto adult riding, until they were so small they ended up just under my knees and I started wearing them with long boots!!

No wonder the company went bust I believe? Their stuff was simply too good.

Seeing the ad made me feel very old though..............

 

[4x4]

I'm still wearing mine....

 

[jessieblue]

Ahahahaha, love the jackatex ad. Im sure I ordered some lovely shapely jods from there and some really flappy top riding boots for my skinny little legs lol.

I did my AI, it must have been about 1980. I had to pay £11.50 per week to much pout 52 horses between about 4 of us!! Maybe 2 or 3 at the weekends! Never get away with that nowadays!