Do you remember when........

[Silent Knight]

Reminiscing over a bottle of wine last night, we were talking about the horsey 'good old days'.
Do you remember when.......
you would go out riding all day, dawk 'til dusk with 60p for a bag of chip and a
10p piece for an emergency phone call..... Not panic that you had forgot a mobile phone...... Jump over anything including park benches without doing a risk assessment first....... Put carrie rbags in your riding boots because you coudln'tget them off at night The list goes on!

Ahhhhh the carefree good old days ...........What were yours?

 

[Mildred]

We used to be the irritating children who spent hours dragging branches and logs across the bridleways through the local woods and blocking the path for everyone else. Once we spent a whole day building jumps over a track of about 2 miles, with some fences we were very proud of. I got home, got on my pony and went out and jumped it but nobody else managed, because a local man decided to jump on his horse, it ditched him, broke his face and he ended up being lost in the woods for hours until he managed to summon help. We were tracked down and reprimanded for our naughty fence building ways, and warned not to do it again!

 

[appylass]

I remember coercing my little (non horsey - to this day ) brother into building jumps using anything we could find - buckets, milk crates, feed troughs, chairs, broom handles, the list goes on but certainly nothing resembling today's jumps!

I did the hacking thing too - every Sunday I would go out first thing, meet an elderly man who used to walk our local lanes and go for miles, my parents had NO idea where I was, can you imagine a small girl (9 or 10)doing this today! I also used to meet a lady who had won an olympic gold medal, I can no longer remember who she was but remember feeling very 'proud' to have a 'friend' who'd been in the olympics

My brother and I would also often 'leave home' to set up our own 'house' in a field about half a mile away. There was a falling down barn in the corner and we would move in. We always ended up going home in time for tea though

Then there were the calves we used to try and 'break in'......

I'll stop there, life growing up on a farm was fab!

 

[Jesstickle]

we used to tie a tractor tyre to the shetland and make her tow us around, poor pony wasn't even broken to drive. How cruel! And no risk assessment!

 

[lara b]

oh yes...sitting on my pony in a field with NO tack at all, just a forelock to steer!

Jumping the railings of the church car park ...cantering up verges..taking our ponies out for the whole day with a back pack with sandwiches, headcollars, 10p and a hoof pick!! Parents had no idea where we were and didn't worry unless it was getting dark!

Also getting up at 5.30 in the winter to cycle to yard with equally mad friend at 12yrs old.

Please note I do NOT condone any of this behaviour, how I never ended up in A&E or got killed or abducted beggers belief!

 

[Ibblebibble]

oh the good old days, i remember our farrier only used to come out to us in the summer, in the winter we used to take the ponies to the forge and have them shod there! used to love sitting in there waiting for them to be done We used to ride out on the Quantocks and go looking for the wild ponies, get lost and not get home for hours, but no one would be worried because it was normal for us to be out for hours lol, no way would i let my daughter disappear off for hours like that without a mobile and possibly a tracking device implanted in her

 

[Honey08]

We taught our ponies to jump ditches by going to the local roman fort! Nowadays its all excavated, fenced and full of info boards.

I used to hack 8 miles to pony club after school, and to shows - hardly anyone had a box or trailer in those days.

 

[joeanne]

Bringing our ponies in we used to ride back in headcollars, no hats, and jump the x-country jumps in the field.

 

[soulfull]

oh dear I am really old I remember 2p not 10p

 

[Firewell]

Jumping through an open water jump at pony club camp bare back.

Playing cow boys and Indians bare back, a great excuse to go galloping around.

5hour hacks, trespassing over a XC course, jumping all the jumps and when someone noticed and started shouting at us my friend and I galloped away and had to jump a dyke to get off the property. My fat 12.2 couldn't make it and got stuck in the middle of it, I had to get off and pull her out with my friend screaming that we were going to get caught. We managed to get away just in time

Going exploring, getting lost, falling off, just the usual!

 

[Flame_]

We used to hack to a sold off school field to have races. We got told off by a lot of dog walkers but we learned just not to stop and let them catch us. The council ended up building a kids playground right in the middle of it, but we didn't take much notice. I wonder if people are still doing it. I expect so if its not fenced.

 

[GlamourPuss86]

I bough a super long lead rope and would clip it to itself to make reins and ride ginger pretty much everywhere with them and a head collar. Jump anything that didn't look like it'd blow away, terrorise the guys fishing around the resevoir (yes i know i can't spell!), it's not a golf course

Hacking to shows as there was no box, racing up verges.

I'm still a sod of dragging a branch to make a jump! Someone had taken the iffy looking branch off one of the trees in the park a few weeks ago, it soon found itself in the middle of the path! Onlt 25 and still acting like 12!

 

[maggiehorse]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

 

[lara b]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

That is very funny! At least she got back ok

 

[Flame_]

My friend was just telling me the other day she knew a horse which swam out to sea, rider couldn't turn it round, had to swim back without it and it drowned. Its something to be aware of if thinking about taking horses swimming in the sea.

 

[lcharles]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

Lol....trying to be sly on here at work and that made me spit my tea everywhere!!

I can imagine it now!! you'd have a face of pure panic not knowing how to get your horse back while the horse happily keeps swimming on!! lol x

 

[bexcy-bee]

My friend was just telling me the other day she knew a horse which swam out to sea, rider couldn't turn it round, had to swim back without it and it drowned. Its something to be aware of if thinking about taking horses swimming in the sea.

After reading the above thread, I was just thinking how lovely it would be to go to the beach and swim aside the horse, instead of on it. Maybe not! eeeek

I remember going into the local parks, racing round with my best mate, ruining football pitches, cricket pitches haha. My mum told me she used to work at a yard, and when bringing horses up from the field to the stables, she used to ride 1 bareback, lead 2 on each side, no hat, nothing but headcollars, and racing friends with the same up the fields. Health and Safety would never allow this nowadays, booo!

bexcy-bee x

 

[suestowford]

oh dear I am really old I remember 2p not 10p

So glad you said that Soulfull - I too remember 2p for the phone!

 

[Hippona]

So glad you said that Soulfull - I too remember 2p for the phone!

Yeah....me too

Any random bit of grass was fair game for a gallop.....park, verges, golf course, playing field, cemetary

Oddly enough I can never remember lame ponies either....never worried about laminitis because a) never heard of it and b) ponies were ridden that much they never had a chance to get fat anyway!

PS I still do the carrier bag thing in winter- easier to get the old wellies off

 

[Ally_F]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

My boy tried to do this! I didn't worry much until I felt his legs leave the floor! (16h worth is deep enough!) - Luckily he let me turn him quite quickly - but I didn't half panic!

The silly thing was, the next time we went to the beach he wouldn't even paddle in it! maybe he shock of swimming put him off lol

 

[nikCscott]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

Fantastic!!!!

Like all the other farm kids out there I have loads of funny stories but this one trumps them all!

 

[quirky]

I remember having pillow fights on horse/pony back , and yes, the idea was to knock each other of our mounts .

Happy days

 

[Ibblebibble]

i tihnk the best part was not getting nagged to wear a body protector ... cos they didn't exist! And no harness on your hat just a piece of elastic

 

[POLLDARK]

Used to go & fetch the eggs on the pony, Carried bales of hay across his withers to feed the sheep (bareback), carried a ewe across his withers through flood water, used to gallop him back down the road side verge to his field, nothing on him at all, & turned him by reaching down to his muzzle & turning his head the way you wanted. Just sit up to stop. All with no hat I might add, didn't get my first hat until I was 12 !!! I was the first weight on his back when he was 3 & he was doing all this by the time he was 5. Looking back it was lunacy but such fun, a real education. I've never met a pony like him since & will miss him forever.

 

[Maggie2009]

Going out all day on our ponies,playing hide and seek in the woods,swimming in the river,and not a parent in sight.We used to canter along all the grass verges,the ponies being totally bombproof and little traffic compared to today.We hacked miles to show's,competed all day to hack back at dusk,proudly bearing our rosettes.Shoes cost £4 a set,and we had to hack to the forge,there being no mobile farriers then.Hay about 75p a bale and straw next to nothing.Oh,and endless sunshine and long holidays.Scrumping apples,plums and strawberries on hacks and at times galloping away when the farmer caught sight of us.(think we may qualify for an ASBO now).The top show jumping riders had personalities and the courses were more formidable.The horses had character too.The tack shops and feed stores had basic ranges so no being in a quaundry about colours,feeding etc.(not sure if thats a good or bad thing).Oh my,what have we progressed to.That was the 1970's without accounting for tastes in music,food and fashion.Halcyion days,what bliss and no responsibilities.Wish i could travel back in time to savour those wonderful times.

 

[Dirtymare]

aged 8 i decided to take my pony swimming off herne bay beach , i was swimming happily alongside her when she decided to head off for france!! i swam back to shore and phoned the coastgaurd they didnt believe me , i had to drag some random bloke into the phonebox to tell them i wasnt having a prank and there was a small grey pony at least half a mile out!!
inshore lifeboat attended and swam her back to shore for me , i thought i,d not tell my mum lol , the following week there was a double paged spread in local paper and i got my bottom smacked

That is soooo funny. The tears are rolling down my face. x

 

[hayinamanger]

I used to ride out in a hacking jacket and headscarf

 

[marmalade76]

That was the 1970's without accounting for tastes in music,food and fashion.

Nothing wrong with 70's music I love it!

 

[Chico Mio]

Come live in rural Spain! The only thing that has changed is we have mobile phones

My YO's daughter has a broken arm at the moment and to save time taking 7 horses to the paddock she tied each one's lead rope to the headcollar of the horse in front and jumped on the Welsh A to lead them all down there

 

[Becca-84]

Come live in rural Spain! The only thing that has changed is we have mobile phones

Which is precisely why I hate it!!! Blooming backwards country and uneducated people who think they always know best So glad I'm moving back to UK in 8 days....

OK, rant over...

I remember hacking out with my sister on our bombproof ponies, just letting them take themselves round, us twisted in the saddle chatting away, cantering up grass verges, ponies never had fancy gadgets, shoes etc. Also jumping on my little pony in the field with no tack or headcollar and cantering up the field over makeshift jumps, with no hat or anything. She was an amazing little pony - I used to hack 3 miles, have a rest, then an hour lesson, then a rest, then hack all the way home again. We'd be out all day in the pouring rain but we loved it...wasn't until she passed away (10 years later) that we realised she was actually almost 40 bless her cottons!