Back in the olden days....

Mines connie x tb, reasonably oldish breeding & not suprisingly grey, hope that is ok to be at front? We can jog in traditional pony style too if required.
 
RebelRebel said:
Oh dear Adorable Alice but *sucks air in between teeth* - Selle Francais :eek: is this a new fangled breed? What will the Vanners say?
We can't have any KPWNs or Pre horses, whatever they are.
You can't look at a Selle Francais, slap your thigh and say "he looks like something I used to hunt before the war" - what ho"
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Oh god, you are right !! ok I will have to dig up my irish hunters and the cob from under the oaks in my paddock to come on the hack. You see this just shows how us oldies cannot keep up with the modern world. I searched the country for a good heavyweight hunter when I lost the boys, couldn't find one so had to settle for a foreign git. This is what the world is coming to !

I will leave him at home, for the best really, he cannot cope with being too hot, too wet, too windy, too cold, you know the type - foreign, he always has his towel out first in the paddock. The others hate him because he can't speak the lingo.

I will come on the ID x vanner I have just bred. I ride at 15st and she is 10 and half months old, very mature in mind and body. She is only 14.2, (sounds like an advert from Dragon Driving!), so I might have a chance of getting on by myself ! Or I could come on the vanner, mother of the foal, but I would need at least a gallon of pig oil to de-tangle the moose before venturing out in public.
 
littlelegs said:
Mines connie x tb, reasonably oldish breeding & not suprisingly grey, hope that is ok to be at front? We can jog in traditional pony style too if required.
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JOG - you are having a laugh, I can no longer fit into the sports bra, jogging is totally out of the question.
 
If we are truely returning to old form, please can I be with the other small girls at the back, while the bigger and more sensible girls with their hair in nets, ride at the front? Then we can hold the ponies back a bit on any trots and canter to catch up :D We will still be turned out properly though. :)
 
Oh please, please can I join in. I shall be the one in an Aertex shirt , Pony Club tie, hand-me-down tweed hacking jacket and wellington boots (parents wouldn't buy jodhpur boots as I'd grow out of them too quickly). My velvet hat is stuffed with newspaper - as recommended by the shop it was bought from. My riding crop is yellow but I've broken that little loop thing.

Pony will be sporting a felt saddle with crupper (I haven't told him yet - don't think he'll be too impressed).

This all sounds so jolly hockeysticks!
 
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!!!

OOH someone else who remembers strap and buckle jodhur boots - elastic sided ones were common and you only wore them at home. Risk taking them in the showring and you would have been asked to leave along with those wearing long boots without garter straps, as incorrectly dressed and a disgrace. Imagine how many shades of purple fits the judges from then would have now if they saw those dressage boots with the fancy tops (I hate them and they stick in the backs of your knees so hopeless for jumping) and cutaway jackets.!!
 
Will there be someone to go in in front with those that don't want to canter? The rest of us can then all stand in a big huddle and take off like a bomb together :D Anyone saying they don't want to canter will of course just be ignored if they end up in our group as they'll be sure to enjoy it when we go :D

My friend remembers a sheepskin numnah she had - her mum made it by cutting up her dad's wartime RAF flying jacket!
 
Ollies mum- those who are scared to canter will be encouraged to stay behind with false promises about a slow trot. We can then tank off en mass & add to our amusement at them falling off. And I'd like to play the all time health & safety favourites of 'race past the person doing their girth/ stirrups' & 'shove your friend off their pony'
 
I have just found my old gear my Romika rubber riding boots (far pre date stylo matchmakers) have just been polished with mr sheen my caldene jodphurs, (definitely non stretch and have to be peeled off wet after hunting) they are now a litttle moth eaten as is my Hebden Cord jacket and pony club tie is showing severe signs of wear if it turns out to very wet which i hope it isnt as the rain always seems to get down inside my rubber riding boots I have my rubberised cotton Riding Mac in putty colour. The kettle is now boiling so I can steam my hat so I should soon be ready to join in the fun:D,once I have found my millar gloves (string) and old jumping whip provided my knees dont finally seize up or my back goes:eek:
 
Loving this thread! In my mid 40's and did my AI at Millfields under the eagle eye of the formidable Ann Hammond. We made our own hay nets from baler twine. Each net was weighed for EVERY horse. No hard feeds on a sunday. Jute rugs and NZ rugs were all the yard had. Chopped our own chaff with what I can only describe as an antique piece of kit with a large wheel that had to be turned, at speed, for a considerable ammount of time, whilst another person pushed the hay tightly down the shoot. Hand sliced bucket loads of carrots. All the horses and ponies had oats and chaff. Tack cleaned EVERY time it was used and HAD to be hung up 'dressed'. Hairnets, white shirts and a navy tie was worn at all times. Hoof oil was mixed with engine oil from the tractor to make it last longer.Blimey! The list is endless!!!!! Snaffled and cavesson nosebands were used on all of the horses and ponies. Martingales, flash and drop nosebands were only worn when the horses were competing. Hard work but fun times. Makes it a breeze nowadays!!
 
I still have my mum's old Pony Club tie and badge which she used in the fifties and I used in the late sixties and seventies. I used to clean my tack with this awful yellow saddle soap that blocked the holes in your bridle. Thanked the Lord when glycerine soap arrived! Polished bits and stirrups with Duraglit.
Do you remember those bright orange overreach boots that you pulled on and off, skinning your knuckles every time? Leather and felt brushing boots, exercise bandages with gamgee underneath. Feeding oats, bran and chaff. Always wearing a hairnet under your hat, even for hacking. Quilted fitted waistcoats, worn with shirt and tie. Think they were 'Husky'?? Pony magazine in black and white, mag had a green banner on the front.
Show classes divided by height and age, so you had 12.2 and under,13.2, 14.2, then horse classes, ponies were ridden by under 16's. All local shows had Gymkhana classes.
HOYS and Royal International were at Wembley, show jumping was on BBC1 at 9.25 every night for the week, you knew all the horses and riders, horses had one decipherable name! Dear old Dorian Williams, then Raymond Brooks-Ward commentated.
Harvey Smith and David Broome dressed up as women, with Nick Skelton as a baby in a pram (with nappy and dummy :D )
Please can I join the club? I'm 53 next month, still pretty mobile though! Need a mounting block to get on but still enjoy careering round the countryside and jumping. I can provide an unlimited supply of incontinance pads (I work in a nursing home :D )
PS Jasmine has two velvet browbands, I love them :)
 
Can I join in please??? Ive laughed and laughed until.... (well it's probably best I don't go into to too many details) I had some Jacotex clothing (second handonly though), a super string girth, a saddle that had a seat and 'nowt' else and a yellow hand knitted jumper 'saved for pony club use only'. We used to hack 6 miles to a gymkhana then 6 miles back home again and if we ever needed 'proper' transport we went in a cattle wagon - 8 ponies with just a bar in between them and all us 'kiddies' in the back too!!! and you know what there wasn't a travel boot in sight and I can't remember a single injury!!!! :confused:Oh my those were the days - anybody brave enough to post a black n white photo - I will if u do!!!!:)
 
Beausmate said:
All you daft old beggars, have you forgotten those red and blue webbing overgirths? I'm bringing one, no fear of my saddle leaving the horse when my string girth goes snap :D

Going to put exercise bandages on my horsey, ones with the tape, obviously. Might put a pair of porters underneath, think that's what they were called anyway and my lovely flappy Westropps! :p
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Goodness - we'll be twins for I too have an overgirth (i fact I have two!), two set of Stubben exercise bandages and a pair of Porter polystyrene boots and loads of gamgee to go under topped off by my blue Westropps. Who's jealous?!!
 
I've got a proper, sensible looking (alas not acting!) big thoroughbred gelding in a perfectly old-fashioned shade of National Hunt Bay, tiny tiny bit of white on his head and that's it. None of this common skewbald stuff :p

kirstyl, what colour bandages have you got?
 
What happened to gymkhanas? Everything these days is a show, maybe with mounted games of some sort. Proper gymkhana, even one that went with a village fete complete with coconut shy and tombola, when did they go? Where did they go? Nice, happy, simple fun. Seems pretty rare these days.

Right ladies, we need to organise a 'proper' gymkhana in a 'Jill'/Pullein-Thompson sisters style. Who's in? :D
 
debsg said:
I still have my mum's old Pony Club tie and badge which she used in the fifties and I used in the late sixties and seventies. I used to clean my tack with this awful yellow saddle soap that blocked the holes in your bridle. Thanked the Lord when glycerine soap arrived! Polished bits and stirrups with Duraglit.
Do you remember those bright orange overreach boots that you pulled on and off, skinning your knuckles every time? Leather and felt brushing boots, exercise bandages with gamgee underneath. Feeding oats, bran and chaff. Always wearing a hairnet under your hat, even for hacking. Quilted fitted waistcoats, worn with shirt and tie. Think they were 'Husky'?? Pony magazine in black and white, mag had a green banner on the front.
Show classes divided by height and age, so you had 12.2 and under,13.2, 14.2, then horse classes, ponies were ridden by under 16's. All local shows had Gymkhana classes.
HOYS and Royal International were at Wembley, show jumping was on BBC1 at 9.25 every night for the week, you knew all the horses and riders, horses had one decipherable name! Dear old Dorian Williams, then Raymond Brooks-Ward commentated.
Harvey Smith and David Broome dressed up as women, with Nick Skelton as a baby in a pram (with nappy and dummy :D )
Please can I join the club? I'm 53 next month, still pretty mobile though! Need a mounting block to get on but still enjoy careering round the countryside and jumping. I can provide an unlimited supply of incontinance pads (I work in a nursing home :D )
PS Jasmine has two velvet browbands, I love them :)
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LOL Never mind your mums - I still have MY pony club badge with its circle of blue felt underneath, showing I passed my A certificate!!! And I can still get into the jacket even if I can't wear the jods!!! I am very very proud of that badge and felt!!! Achieved in 1960!!! And I still have ponies, and I still ride. In fact I am hoping to retire (well past official age!) soon and spend time getting fit for some endurance rides - only low distances, I'm not aiming for World Champs nowadays!!!
 
We could start a Woodstock type gymkhana - Old Farts Unite - coming together from all parts of The Commonwealth. It would have to be on Midsummer day to give us all time to hack there. Suggested venue ? How about schedule ( pronounced shed-ule not sked -ule) Starting with flag race 'cos it was my favourite ( only one flag tho' else we could spend the whole day on one event). We could make it a week long thing like PC camp with picket lines and tents - the imagination runs wild ,,,,,,,
:)
 
veronica22 said:
We could start a Woodstock type gymkhana - Old Farts Unite - coming together from all parts of The Commonwealth. It would have to be on Midsummer day to give us all time to hack there. Suggested venue ? How about schedule ( pronounced shed-ule not sked -ule) Starting with flag race 'cos it was my favourite ( only one flag tho' else we could spend the whole day on one event). We could make it a week long thing like PC camp with picket lines and tents - the imagination runs wild ,,,,,,,
:)
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LOL Great idea but I can't hack "over water"!!! Don't foreget the "thread the needle" race, the only reason my brother got into the final was because they put all the boys into one heat!!! He was about 3 minutes behind the girls!!! I can't remember the distance, but we used to hack from between Wilmington and Offwell to Sidford for Pony Club rallies and hack home afterwards....across the common....would that have been 10 or so miles? Then hacked home afterwards...wonderful days.
 
Ooh, I'd love to join in. Promise to bring my Cleveland Bay x, who I'll have brushed with bass bristle wooden backed dandy brush, then strapped for hours to get his coat gleaming, and thoroughly wisped with the straw wisp I spent hours hand crafting myself. I'll sew some plaits in, if only I can remember whether it's an odd or even number you're meant to have along the neck! I'll feed him bran, home cut chaff with oats and maize beforehand. (nuts weren't invented until I was 18). I will have brought him in from the barbed wire fenced field the night before and dragged his 10 ton soaking wet green canvas, wool lined NZ rug off, then thatched him with straw under his upside down jute rug. Once he's dry, he'll have witney blanket, folded back over the now right way up jute, with leather roller holding all in place. (Or if the weathers anything above freezing he won't be wearing rugs anyway.) Overnight, he'll be in his 15' square stable, with cobbled floor and proper drainage, with its built in stone manger, eating hay from a jute hay net. I will have spent ages sweeping the cobbled yard outside with a 12" bass broom with long rock hard bristles that are nigh on impossible to get in between the cobbles - but every strand of hay or straw will be removed!
I will drive to the rendevous point in an ancient petrol Bedford (B reg - First time round!) with no syncromesh on the gears, double de-clutching all the way.Pretty much entire lorry made of wood, to make it extra heavy- and no such thing as power steering.
I promise to wear my mushroom coloured cavalry tweed jods from Moss Bros, maybe the ones with reinforcement in the bat wings to keep them sticking out, with a yellow hand knitted polo neck jumper, Bernard Weatherill tweed hacking jacket and probably just a headscarf if we're only hacking. Oh and a pair of Millars thick knitted cotton gloves. Hunting boots with garter strap to keep my breeches from riding up. I will bring an oh so practical white gabardine riding
mac, also Moss Bros, in case it rains. Won't bother with the hoof pick - there's sure to be a boy scout around if my horse gets a stone in his foot!
Horse will wear a totally plain snaffle bridle with flat cavesson noseband, rock hard Barnsby saddle with absolutely no knee rolls and probably no numnah at all. Oh and with a 3 fold girth- of course I will have prepared it overnight by
putting oil soaked pieces of towelling in the folds. I doubt he'll wear boots, with 10 inches of bone his legs can look after themselves.
Be warned, though, he won't have been wormed, as we didn't have such a thing then, other then by a drench given by your vet. However, there was no need as fields were not overgrazed and were regularly rotated and chain
harrowed. I can vaguely remember the first wormer that came in a little pot - think it was called Multiwormer. Oh and he wouldn't have had flu jabs either - just tetanus.
Anyway, you'll be able to spot me - I'll be the one with arms like a weightlifter, from all that grooming, yard sweeping and lorry driving..
 
I'm LOVING this thread! I'm only 22, but grew up reading the 'Jill' books, and I basically learnt to ride from my Mum's pony book 'ponies and riding in pictures' given to her in 1969. I really think I've grown up in the wrong era! Everything just seemed so wholesome back in the day. Some people think I'm a little oldy worldly, I don't like taking short cuts or being slapdash with my horses, I just can't imagine taking a horse anywhere un-groomed and with uncleaned tack. My horse is always immaculate when hacking out (even schooling!), no mud, mane and tail brushed out and hooves oiled. I'm fanatical about cleaning and polishing tack, and my horses get chaff, oats and barley :rolleyes: My first pony was wore a pelham when jumping until I learnt to ride her, then back to a thick single jointed snaffle with a cavesson. Oh and my galloway had the nicest Lavenham stable rug, complete with the nice big surcingle, given to me by my aunty.

I was lucky I had a great childhood during the 90's, weekends were spent careering around the country side, getting into the local primary school and jumping picnic tables and play equipment :D I had about 50c to make a phone call if someone fell off, to call not an ambulance but Mum!
 
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sakaspuds said:
He he he!
Didnt know old people could be so funny!:D
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Bloody cheek !!! te he, I will have you know us old folk can also still move quickly if required.

I have just moved at the speed of light to avoid being marmalised by my big horse who has been in box for 8 months, he has just lost the plot and gone berserk, I was like sxxxx of a shovel out of that box.

My comment to the bright spark who wants The Farts to gymkhana, how the feek do you expect me and my learned fellow members of The Old Farts Trot On Club, to vault on and off our 17.2h hunters ? I can't vault on or off the stool I stand on the plait the said horse !
 
I want to do the gymkhana! The old farts trot on club could sit on those eternally collapsing 3 leg stools & mutter about 'how we didn't cry if our leg fell off in my day' & 'egg & spoon race cancelled due to rationing'
 
Please keep this coming, it's magical and Alyth, you would be one of the heroes I looked up to with your 'bit of felt', used to get taught by an 'A holder', she was brilliant, I aspired to be able to do as much as she did as well as she did but never sure if it quite came off!
 
As I'm only 30 I seem a bit young for this but I do remember lots of this stuff. I read all my mums Jill books, and ginny books. Ponies had NZ rugs but wow- I had a new Rambo - the green and red one. I wasn't allowed boots for the pony or a posh show rug. I hated those awful rubber aigle riding boots and had 'muckers' when they came out. I had a hat with elastic and a harness and chin strap that went over the top of the hat. White reins, blue bit guards, red saddle cloth, red white n blue velvet brow band. Didn't go to a show or hunting without plaiting up with thread! Tie your own stocks. I do use a serge lined saddle now in fact all my saddle are, but they are new types, and my mare in convinced she will dissolve in rain with no rug! ;-)
 
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