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

[Ditchjumper2]

I remember buying a Christy Beaufort Ineternational riding hat that I still have upstairs in the wardrobe with the Jacatex jacket!

Those New World I think NZ rugs that had those chain bits on the legs straps and a bit of metal that you put through a metal ringed eyelet...remember anyone??

And still have Balding leather girths in my tack cupboard.

Very few horse were in loose boxes as they were called then. Most were tied up in stalls on a log and rope. Didn't have any issues with horses not tying up then.

 

[Tnavas]

I remember buying a Christy Beaufort Ineternational riding hat that I still have upstairs in the wardrobe with the Jacatex jacket!

Those New World I think NZ rugs that had those chain bits on the legs straps and a bit of metal that you put through a metal ringed eyelet...remember anyone??

And still have Balding leather girths in my tack cupboard.

Very few horse were in loose boxes as they were called then. Most were tied up in stalls on a log and rope. Didn't have any issues with horses not tying up then.

My Christie Beaufort is still in use and has been recovered twice.

And I have a log! - I remember the ones we had at the school - we never had to rescue anyone for getting ropes over their legs - it was great.

I had it made a few years ago and everyone remarked on it when I used it at HOY last year - It meant I could leave Serenity safely tied up - she could put her head down to graze and then when she lifted her head up the rope would go tight again so she couldn't get a leg over it. Mine is rather heavy though - next time a lighter type of wood will do. I asked the local wood turning club to make it for me.

 

[JillA]

Ooh now there's a thought Tnavas - my itcher can't be left in a loose box because he would demolish it so he spends hours (and has his feeds) tied up. He doesn't get into trouble because I allow all mine to problem solve as much as they can - foot on rope? All you have to do is lift your foot, I'm not going to panic about it. But a log would be a great idea. Now, where to find one............................

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I still have a pristine log (and 3 very dented ones) for tying, used to use them a fair bit even in recent years

 

[Elsbells]

Only professionals had the luxury of a purpose built ménage, everyone else would use a flat field. Show jumps were made from crates, bits of wood found in the bottom of a hedge and old rotton fencing posts nailed together!

Ponies were ridden into the ground and only got a day off if it was raining and of course, there wasn't anywhere to ride in doors let alone lighting.

There wasn't the big shows or competitions and hacking, games or hunting was the order of the day. We would gallop over the fields racing each other bareback and in halter bridles. You really learnt how to ride then.

Ponies were tougher, uglier and much more fun and accomidating, moving onto horses was a massive landmark and a sign you had outgrown the younger riders.

Brilliant and fun days!

 

[Elsbells]

I still have a pristine log (and 3 very dented ones) for tying, used to use them a fair bit even in recent years

We need a picture of one of these logs, I for one can't remember them.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

We need a picture of one of these logs, I for one can't remember them.

I'll take some pics tomorrow night, possibly get TF to pose with one
We used to use them sometimes at PC camp at Tweseldown back in the mid 70's and often used them at home too

 

[Elsbells]

I'll take some pics tomorrow night, possibly get TF to pose with one
We used to use them sometimes at PC camp at Tweseldown back in the mid 70's and often used them at home too

Awwwwww, thanks

 

[Tnavas]

Pony Club camp!

A week of grubby bliss - inhale pony 24/7 - no sleep, no bath we were horrible when returned to our doting parents!

We went to the local stud where the breeding season had finished - the horses got the stables and the ponies were in stalls inside a barn especially prepared for the week, sheep hurdles tied together or planks suspended from the rafters separated each pony. Ponies were tied to a ring which was fixed to a thick rope that was tied from one end of the barn to the other.

Every pony/horse had back shoes removed and they were all turned out together - none of this precious behaviour we see now. Food was cooked in a mobile kitchen, the little kids had camp beds dorm style in the barn and the older kids dormed in some of the stables. The boys were in tents on the other side of the field, and guarded by insomniac parents.

We'd get night raids by other clubs who put polythene over the toilet bowls and trick soap that covered you with black in the basins. One year a couple of kids got captured and were ransomed for sweets.

It was such fun!

 

[Doris68]

I loved going to Moss Bros....got my first pair of "proper" jodhs from there. They were quite heavy (maybe?) Bedford cord and had real suede 'knees'. Also had a riding mac from Moss Bros and it was so stiff I could hardly move - it was partly lined with red felt-like material and had loads of straps everywhere....I recall it wasn't all that waterproof though!
The jodhs, mentioned above, needed a couple of people to remove them!

Aaaah, those were the days of cycling to look after a certain well-known eventer's ponies (he wasn't an eventer then), just for the fun of it and then being paid ten bob a week! Couldn't believe my luck AND I got to ride too!

 

[diamonddogs]

Oooh! Logs - how could I have forgotten logs?! I'm off too look for a suitable lump of wood to make one as my mare doesn't tie up very well.

The farm where I kept my first pony had a massive open barn, divided up into stalls. If you needed to keep your pony in the stall you'd put a scaffolding pole across the front - I feel quite ill thinking what would have happened in a panic situation!

We never had trailers - if you couldn't hack there, you didn't go!

And day rides - bliss on those long hot summer days we don't seem to have any more! My brother bought me a lovely leather saddle bag for my birthday. It attached to the D's on the back of your saddle, and it had a sealable cup for a drink and a box for your sandwiches. It had a small pocket in the front - I'd have a length of bailer twine, a folding hoofpick and five 2p coins for the phone in mine!

 

[Old Bat]

Loving this thread! The stables that I grew up helping at had logs, we called them sinkers and they were beautifully made...carved wooden ovals with holes through. I used to drool over the Jacatex advert, it was out of our reach in those days, had second hand tweed jackets and courdroy baggy breeches! Learnt to ride on half panel serge or linen lined saddles, no numnahs, cleaned the tack and strapped every evening and the hygiene meant hardly ever any skin problems. The back man or dentist didn't exist, problem horses were rested for a few months, then brought back into work and through until they could be no longer worked and then sent to the knackers. Don't remember any laminitis or sweetitch except for one Cushings pony which was a rarity and was PTS aged 17, looking like a 30 year old today. None of the school horses lived much beyond 17 or 18. Interesting memories being dredged up....

 

[JillA]

Oh, and when we had a couple of cases of strangles, we turned the horses out in a paddock to graze on the basis that any gunge from abcesses would drain, and as a result they would develop lifelong immunity. It wasn't notifiable and was considered a benefit to have had strangles before they were broken to ride - no risk for the future.

 

[Joyous70]

Pony Club camp!

A week of grubby bliss - inhale pony 24/7 - no sleep, no bath we were horrible when returned to our doting parents!

We went to the local stud where the breeding season had finished - the horses got the stables and the ponies were in stalls inside a barn especially prepared for the week, sheep hurdles tied together or planks suspended from the rafters separated each pony. Ponies were tied to a ring which was fixed to a thick rope that was tied from one end of the barn to the other.

Every pony/horse had back shoes removed and they were all turned out together - none of this precious behaviour we see now. Food was cooked in a mobile kitchen, the little kids had camp beds dorm style in the barn and the older kids dormed in some of the stables. The boys were in tents on the other side of the field, and guarded by insomniac parents.

We'd get night raids by other clubs who put polythene over the toilet bowls and trick soap that covered you with black in the basins. One year a couple of kids got captured and were ransomed for sweets.

It was such fun!

This sounds like an snippett from an Enid Blyton book

 

[applecart14]

And kissing spine, cushings syndrome, bone spavin, CVM, EIA, AHS, EVE, EVA, EMS, EHV and goodness knows how many other acronyms!!

 

[Perissa]

Has anyone mentioned Lampwick Girths? I had to get mine specially made as I could not buy them anywhere!

 

[Ditchjumper2]

..and those three fold girths that you kept an oiled cloth in to keep the folded part supple.

 

[Wundahorse]

Yep things were very simple and basic with little choice,but oh so much more time to spend with the ponies as opposed to hours checking all the latest trends,fashions and prevaricating over what we need (or actually don't need but must have)My daughter accuses me of hoarding things (she who comes from the throw away society) as i refuse to get rid of useful things simply because they don't match,or are unfashionable.We never has purpose built arenas,just cordoned of areas of the field.We hacked miles to shows and wore simple show kit bought of the peg and sometimes of Jacatex (does anyone remember that company?)but we were happy with what we had which speaks volumes.Of course technology has come on in leaps and bounds to our benefit and the horses and i could not go back to keeping my pony in a field with no facilities.Modern life must be working as our equines are healthier and live longer than ever.

 

[JillA]

Wundahorse go back a few pages and you will see a Jacatex advert posted

 

[harveysmom]

I see i have company i thought i was the only old **** here
I can remember jute rugs and those green canvas rug lined NZ i would love another jute rug but i think i will give the NZ rugs a miss.
My old TB had sarcoids back in 1984 and the vet had to do some research as she didnt know what it was.[yes i had a female vet]
We fed bran back then mollichop had still to be invented and we didnt feed haylage that was for cattle.
Back then livery yards gave you enough grazing [not turnout] rather than cramming as may horses on their land as they can.
Back then im sure we only wormed when the horses looked like they needed it, at most twice a year
Life was much simpler back then

 

[Tnavas]

harveysmom - your post brought back another memory

Worming! was done four times a year and when wormed the horses needed a week off to recover from the wormer as it didn't just target the worms - it cleaned the horse out completely! Most wormers contained turpentine, Creosote and Linseed Oil in varying doses and all given after you've starved the horse for 24 hours.

Then later when I had my own horse it was possible to buy varying wormers as powders that you added to feeds, the rigmerol of getting your disgruntled equine to eat her poisoned feed was time consuming. The first Botacide I remember came inside tiny blue granules - my mare filleted them out. I also remember in 1976 when Ivomec was first released on the market - I think it was called Genesis - the manufacturers toured the country putting on shows for people to see with films and slides of the effects of red worm on the horse.

In 1996 I had a pony with laminitic symptoms that was also underweght, and hairy etc and yes you'll know these days that its Cushings - then unheard of as such in NZ - the vet diagnosed it as a Pituitary adenoma.

 

[onemoretime]

I had the jacket and jodphurs - the first I'd ever owned they lasted well but the cut was dreadful!

The cough stuff was made by Radiol and was called something like Electra cant quite remember exactly but I remember the stuff. Also had the Jacatex jods boots and hacking jacket and thought I was the Bee's knees in them cycling up the lane to the local riding school.

 

[onemoretime]

Mine was bought for me when it was £.s.d!!
Also the only fly repellent was Extra Tail and the only shampoo was Canter.

Do you remember Bloom shampoo?

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

Just a note about the acronyms, EIA is swamp fever and been around a long time in America. Back in the 70's you had to have a coggins to go anywhere.

Terri

 

[JillA]

The cough stuff was made by Radiol and was called something like Electra cant quite remember exactly but I remember the stuff. Also had the Jacatex jods boots and hacking jacket and thought I was the Bee's knees in them cycling up the lane to the local riding school.

Electuary!!! I couldn't remember until you did half of it for me lol. But what WAS the name of the wormers that looked like pony nuts????

 

[Ditchjumper2]

When they had a cough we gave them aconite powder????

 

[Tnavas]

The cough stuff was made by Radiol and was called something like Electra cant quite remember exactly but I remember the stuff. Also had the Jacatex jods boots and hacking jacket and thought I was the Bee's knees in them cycling up the lane to the local riding school.

RAdiol was the stuff you put on splints - Bone Radiol

- but I do remember the cough paste though but not its name.

Making up a poultice was done using Kaolin, we had a missive tin of it and a seriously old saucepan with an inch layer of the stuff caked around the inside - we carefully heated it up on the hot plate before smearing it on real gamgee - the sort made with gauze and cotton wool, covering with plastic bread bags which were especially kept for poultices, they were just the right size.

Thatching - placing lots of fresh straw under the rug - we turned the rug inside out, placed the straw under the rug until the horse dried.

 

[Alyth]

What a fantastic thread!! I have just spent at least an hour reading through all the pages and they are bringing back so many memories!! Those macs!! I remember getting my first pony from a riding school in Exmouth in September 1955!!! She was an amazing pony who taught me so much. After the first months of fear....being eliminated at a school competition for 3 refusals at the first jump!.....we tried jumping a log in the woods near our home....she got stuck - fore legs one side, hind legs the other...OMG what was I to do? So I just stood there...useless human!! After a few minutes she worked out that I was not going to be any help and got herself backwards over the jump and we made our way home.....we hacked, pony clubbed, hunted, competed and rode everywhere....very seldom did we resort to a shared cattle truck to take us anywhere!!! And all on grass...no oats, no rugs (trace clipped in winter turned out during the day!) Progressed to a pony from Ireland bought at Exeter market....turned out she had not been backed....but she was amazing!! I could hunt her and ask her to walk while everyone else galloped on madly....and she did!! Such a perfect childhood....we were lucky enough to live right on the cusp of East Devon, Cotey and Axe Vale hunts so we had so many events to chose from!!...anyone on here from East Devon in the 1950s???!!!