Back in the olden days....

McNally

McNally

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I'm looking for a light weight turn out for my horse- he has one already but i "need" a better one, for the days its a little cooler/wetter and he's not wearing his top of the range fly rug- you know those days!

Then i started thinking, I'm not that old (early 30's) but life was so easy with my pony! yard rules stated no horse wore a rug after mid march til they were clipped (imagine trying to enforce that these days! I owned 2 canvas turn outs and a yellow quilted stable rug! (not because i was posh- its just that my uncle found in his shed and i didnt have a jute one with a roller ;-))
When it snowed he had an old blanket off my gran folded under his yellow rug (which evryone was v jealous of as it had x surcingles and everything!)
He NEVER wore boots or martingales or anything other than a snaffle and cavesson nose band.
Now i feel the need to search for the best bit, the best boots, and the top rugs...because im sure my ID x is really really delicate and wimpy!

Either i molly coddle my current horse WAY too much and seemingly have money to burn or my poor old pony was neglected....mmmm, i wonder ;-D
 
McNally said:
ither i molly coddle my current horse WAY too much and seemingly have money to burn
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When searching for the truth one need look no further than this statement.
However, you do fit right in with 90% of horse owners.

Ps I started riding in 64 so know what those times were like. :eek:
 
I am a lot older that you, I have pictures of my ID in the depths of winter wearing a real yorkshire blanket under his jute rug and leather breast girth and surcingle. The yorkshire blanket was folded into a 'V' at the front and then folded back and secured under the surcingle - wonderful memories, I think modern young horse owners would be agast at the weight of such a set up now.

Thirty years on I my horses have every rug imaginable I can protect them from monsoons, artic snowdrifts, sunstroke and of course mud wellingtons to protect his legs.

I am still using 3 original Rambo's, the green ones with red edging, I covert those rugs because they have a cotton lining which keeps the skin in lovely condition. They are more patches than rug now.

How things change.
 
I actually purchased a Witney blanket and they weighed it - it was £1 per pound! I was so proud of it and THEN MY HORSE ATE IT :o

It was so exciting when cross surcingles came in and then you had new fangled rugs that didn't need leg straps :eek: and then nobody called them New Zealands anymore :)

I rode my stallion his whole life in a jointed D rubber snaffle - go to put it in his daughters mouth and it looks awful - it seems now poor old rubber snaffle is tossed aside and shock horror she absolutely must have a Neue Schule tranz lozenge, I mean she will surely drop down dead if I put a rubber snaffle in her mouth.
 
RebelRebel said:
I actually purchased a Witney blanket and they weighed it - it was £1 per pound! I was so proud of it and THEN MY HORSE ATE IT :o

It was so exciting when cross surcingles came in and then you had new fangled rugs that didn't need leg straps :eek: and then nobody called them New Zealands anymore :)

I rode my stallion his whole life in a jointed D rubber snaffle - go to put it in his daughters mouth and it looks awful - it seems now poor old rubber snaffle is tossed aside and shock horror she absolutely must have a Neue Schule tranz lozenge, I mean she will surely drop down dead if I put a rubber snaffle in her mouth.
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I would have been putting a knitting needle down it's throat and retrieving the blanket !! I still have mine, neatly folded and on the shelf in the tack room, never to be moved again as it will fall to pieces but it has not faded !

I have just realised I do still call the outdoor rugs New Zealands. I still use leather brushing boots, real sheepskin numnah's, leather 3 fold girths, leather cavesson, leather anti cast roller. Amouricane, not sure if thats the right spelling, but there will plenty who don't know what it is !

What the heck is Neue Schule tranz lozenge ? does she need antibiotics for it !!
 
AdorableAlice said:
What the heck is Neue Schule tranz lozenge ? does she need antibiotics for it !!
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Not quite, you just need a sedative when you go to pay for it!

I also remember amoricaine (I think it was Poudre Armoricaine) magic stuff we used to slap it all over the horse's legs - think IceTight is the closest now.

Ahh those were the days *drifts off whilst writing cheque for £1,000,000 for a Neue Schule*
 
Witney blankets! could never afford one of those, I had to muck out the whole yard almost to pay just for my stable and grazing (i think i was taken for quite a ride tbh!)
My farrier cost about £22 including road nails. We were in a mountainous area and actually needed them.
Pony slept on straw, ate hay, nuts and sugar beet and was perfectly happy and healthy. Not a supplement in sight.
He was also turned out in a mixed herd of 26 horses and never was there a problem.
They were out every single day what ever the weather forcast. We did have HUGE fields with streams and foresty bits. It was sometimes quite a job to find said pony!
Very different to my last (literally my last, never going back to them) livery yard where we had miserable postage stamp size paddocks to be used individually and only when it was bone dry- but not too dry- we need to save grass.
 
Adorable Alice- what is the Amouricane you mentioned?

Scrub that ive just seen!- I dont think i realized horses had tendons let alone ones that needed cooling
 
I bought Hippo a hackamore - haven't ridden in it yet but plan to - that didn't have a bit hobble. I made my own out of plaited baling twine (from my hay:D) and attached it using two wire loop key holders (the little circle things). Does the job, and doesn't look too bad either.

This thread does make me want to have a clear out mind you...
 
AdorableAlice said:
I would have been putting a knitting needle down it's throat and retrieving the blanket !! I still have mine, neatly folded and on the shelf in the tack room, never to be moved again as it will fall to pieces but it has not faded !

I have just realised I do still call the outdoor rugs New Zealands. I still use leather brushing boots, real sheepskin numnah's, leather 3 fold girths, leather cavesson, leather anti cast roller. Amouricane, not sure if thats the right spelling, but there will plenty who don't know what it is !

What the heck is Neue Schule tranz lozenge ? does she need antibiotics for it !!
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And you claim to be a novice LOL! We didn't use dentists, back people or saddle fitters much either!,
 
I think we need to set up a 'Old happy hackers club'

We could get our old gear out and go for a ride, half hour max, anything more I need paracetamol and the day off work to get over it.

I will bring the extra tall mounting block for getting on -and off, the port in a flask on the saddle (big one) and one of those seat savers. Proper hunting boots only, not those high cut jobs, they are more appropriate for pole dancers not aged hunting folk.

No members allowed who use sparkly browbands, coloured saddle cloths or girths, orange rubber reins. Non of those strap em up,winch them closed nosebands or training aids that make the horse look trussed up like an oven ready chicken..over to you to think of other rules for golden oldie horse keepers.........
 
I rememeber when strong ponies had a kimblewick or pelham, or if you were able, a double. The first dutch/bubble/continental gag had us puzzling over its use. It hung in the tack room for ages!
 
AdorableAlice said:
I think we need to set up a 'Old happy hackers club'

We could get our old gear out and go for a ride, half hour max, anything more I need paracetamol and the day off work to get over it.

I will bring the extra tall mounting block for getting on -and off, the port in a flask on the saddle (big one) and one of those seat savers. Proper hunting boots only, not those high cut jobs, they are more appropriate for pole dancers not aged hunting folk.

No members allowed who use sparkly browbands, coloured saddle cloths or girths, orange rubber reins. Non of those strap em up,winch them closed nosebands or training aids that make the horse look trussed up like an oven ready chicken..over to you to think of other rules for golden oldie horse keepers.........
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LOL!!! :) luvvin this!

We could all dig out our old horrendously coloured nylon reins & matching string/nylon girths; bat-wing breeches & Jacatex lovat-checked hacking jackets. We could get Elf & Safety all worked up by riding in our old velvet hunting caps (my one still fits and looks fantastic), plus nickel bits & stirrup irons - none of this new-fangled stainless steel stuff or "happy mouth" trendy stuff.

No fancy bits while we're on the subject: only bits allowed would be double bridles, kimblewicks, pelhams, or eggbutt/loose ring snaffles. And every pony attending would have to wear a totally ill fitting saddle complete with a crupper!

Saddles to have serge linings not leather. No teccy cool-down rugs either, it would have to be the good old fashioned "Lavenham" string vest types.

Footwear to be either as stipulated, i.e. hunting black boots OR joddie boots (not elastic, the ones you have to buckle up) and definately NO chaps!!!

Also, sorry, no offence!, but no equine dentists, physio's, back experts, or "behavioural experts". Every rider to carry a whip and damn well use it if in doubt!!! ;) - no touchy-feely stuff permitted.

Everyone to sit the old fashioned "hunting seat" way in the unlikely event that the pace gets beyond an extended walk.

Oh, and nearly forgot, let the horses go forward naturally and no "collection" unless for the drinks fund at the end!!!

Oh happy days.
 
Te He, ok you can have a girth, but can only be 3 fold or atherstone.

We could manage half an hour if we had a paracetamol 4 hours before we start and another 2 when we get off.

I still have a lavenham string vest and a puffa jacket. My jody boots are lace-up, the elastic ones don't keep the 3 times broken ankle in place !

I have yorkshire boots for the horse in my box of tricks, sadly the ties have broken.............next
 
I'm 31 but can I join? I'd like a lively ride tho, i'll be the olden days kid tearing round bareback in a rope halter or leather headcollar & leadrope. Still have my ponys witney blanket in the loft & the red & blue stable rug that was the height of modern to replace the jute one. I've experimented with lots of new ways of doing stuff but found the old way is often the best. I'm also bringing daughter up the same, mean mummy rarely let her ride in a saddle till she was 5. Also all horses to have pulled manes & tails, none of these short cuts. Or synthetic stirrup leathers.
 
This thread is a blast from the past! At nearer 60 than 50, and after 20 years looking after hunters in the 70s to 90s, and owning my own from the eighties, there are some things here i had forgotten about. Like Yorkshire boots, so simple. Three fold girths, great when kept supple. I still have my very first girth, a balding. The stitching has gone now, but the leather is still good. My first quilted stable rug, not very thick, with matching quilted surcingle. Still got it. That one was for best though, I had a jute rug and leather roller, but not an anti-cast, saw a horse who insisted on rolling damage his back once. Canvas bright green New Zealands with surcingle. Armouricaine powder, used a lot of that with polo ponies...http://www.horsefair.co.uk/product.php?productid=380. I used kaolin on brown paper from a feed sack when I needed a poultice, later I got some re-usable ones, very posh. Made dozens of haynets from baler twine....they were expensive you know. I was the first person (apart from the lady I worked for) to have a French link snaffle for my mare, now tack rooms are full of them.

One thing I can't get the hang of is rubber matting and thin beds. I'm trying!

Think I need a lie down now.
 
Stitched on exercise bandages, not boots. Daughters pony has a lovely balding girth even now. And if your skint, those awful pig skin orangey brown leathers will be allowed.
 
Ah, yes - this is EXACTLY what i was moaning about to my feed place the other day - the old uncomplicated carefree lifesetyle :o I think Ive even still got my New Zealands in the garage lol


Please please please can I join this club :D:D
 
Ooh Jacatex jackets - that's a blast from the past! I really wanted one but my parents could only just afford for me to have lessons never mind a tweed jacket. I had cavalry twill jods with suede knee patches - no stretchy stuff back then. And remember the old riding hats secured with an elastic and with a button on top fastened in with a screw that would have skewered your head if you'd landed on it?! :eek:
 
Hurrah, can I come too :) I'm struggling with this new fangled lark - having had a break from ownership for over a decade I've found it's all changed. My last pony had a new zealand, a jute rug with a roller and a blanket underneath in the winter. We also had a string sweat rug and a cotton summer sheet for best. That was it.

I feel very out of date - my horse apparently requires 10 different rugs and we're no longer meant to use haynets - can't quite get my head around that because if it goes on the floor surely he'll end up eating the shavings that get mixed in!?

My yard seems to think horses need boots for everything - including turnout in tiny individual paddocks?! At a livery meeting the other day I suggested that the horses could be turned out overnight to increase grazing opportunities and everyone looked at me as if I was crazy and were all like 'really, you'd want your horse out over night? With no one to supervise him?!'. Errrr, yes, as far as I'm aware horses are quite used to being in fields and don't require constant supervision and in the good old days everyone stuck there horses in the field at every available opportunity...... I think they were about ready to stab me when I said that if he was stupid enough to get himself stuck in the very well maintained post and rail fence I had limited sympathy :p
 
Ghostie Did you also want to put him out NAKED? You know it is far too cold, might rain next week, and a fly might land on him so you need a fly rug at least, and a veil, and probably boots and overreach too!

I can't wait to get mine turned out. There is a lightweight rug waiting if he needs it, ie horizontal rain. I am always first to disrobe and last to rug in winter, though he is not clipped, but hasn't much coat.

And what is this thing with hoods? It seems I am a cruel person because I don't have one to ruin his mane and make him hot if the sun comes out!:eek:

I had Jacatex jods with sticky out thighs and joddy boots with a buckle. Thought I was the bees knees.:D
 
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