For the Olds, What things do you remember from way back

And piebald and skewbald were called just that rather than coloured and were considered quite errm common and not very desirable!!:eek: And i'm not sure if it's just my poor memory but riding horses went up to 16.3hh and anything over that was almost considered a freak, :confused: Oh and kids and teens were happy to stay riding ponies much longer rather than 'needing' a 16hh tb as soon as you reach 14.
 
I never had a Jute rug- I was lucky! all the girls at my yard were borderline Jealous/hilarious when my uncle turned up with a weird yellow stable rug which had a huge tummy flap, god only knows where he got it from but my horse was considered quite cool in his "posh indoor quilt" as the y/o used to call it.

I did have canvas turnouts though- my poor pony had 2 and used to have a soaking wet half tonne rug hauled over him daily.....I wonder now looking at my horses collection of every weight and style rug how on earth i coped!
 
Making hay wisps, lampwick girths, those funny chin cup things that came in as an accessory for your riding hat. Boiling barley and linseed and making bran mashes. Doing your own poultices with bran and epsom salts, animalintex was a luxury! Most ponies just had a bit of extra hay in winter, no expensive laminitic/diet chaffs were needed or extra feed.
The only supplements we used were cod liver oil for oldies and watered down mollasses for fussy feeders.
Hay racks above head height, they were awful to fill and not brilliant for the horses.
Bits made out of awful nickel instead of stainless steel.
Long rides out for a picnic and not worrying about traffic or getting home before dark.
 
I remember when horses and yards were treated with respect and good standards were expected to be adhered to by everyone, rather than stables been used as a playground for kids and a doss house for muppets.
 
I remember helping out at the riding stables from the moment I started riding at 7, getting the ponies in (normally at least 3 at a time!), grooming and tacking up unattended, funky skull caps with the chip cup, an hour's riding lesson was £8, the riding school wasn't BHS or anything but we went there to have stable management lessons too, cleaning the tack and so on so forth.

Hardly any horses had rugs, the ones that did they were NZ rugs although one horse had a Rambo(!), we never rode in a school, just a field, taught about thatching under a rug for a sweaty horse, the string vest coolers (still got mine-love it!), no such thing as fly masks or rugs (our horse had one of the first as he had an allergic reaction and needed something to cover the sores but was going potty indoors), I think the tallest horse there was mine actually, a 15.3hh cob! Rest were all native ponies, having all manner of people ride them.

All the ponies had the same dinner regardless too!

I miss those days. :(
 
ThreeTB's said:
Being told by instructor - 'I'll send you out on a hack with pound notes between your knees and the saddle'! Have never forgotten that one (and a lot of you probably don't even remember pound notes, lol!)
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I remember coming home with blisters on the insides of my knees when we did a sitting trot lesson with no stirrups and could hardly walk the next day my legs were that stiff.
I did have a cloth under my saddle that tied with tapes under the saddle flaps, still got that:)
Why do some people still pull the horses legs forward when we don't use string girths anymore???
 
The original Lathenham(sp) quilted jackets in green or navy(daughter now wants the Barbour version!)

Jods were for best jeans for everyday
Only able to ride at weekends in the winter, very few schools or floodlights around
Pony so covered in mud that you just brushed where the tack went, 5 inches of mud 'icicles' under their belly!
No EDT's or back people, laminitis was a huge rarity, never saw a pony or horse with it during my early riding years.


and just about everything else already mentioned
 
My first pony back in the sixties - the only pony kit I had was a saddle (serge lined, half panel) a bridle (snaffle and cavesson) a rope halter and a grooming kit. I was perfectly happy with so little - didn't know any different.
Also I have a photo taken at Pony Club camp of me going down a jumping lane doffing my riding hat over each fence! There were various jumping lane challenges; another was to remove your jacket while riding over the jumps. Loads of people fell off. You were just told to stop making a fuss and get back on.
Also my mother used to get furious because i was always nicking blankets from the house to put under jute rugs in cold weather!
 
OldNag said:
Wow you mean Jacatex at Crystal Palace. I remember they had a 3 fold catalogue full of really exciting things (so it seemed to me). All their range was called "Pat". The "Pat" Hat etc... That's where I got my new-fangled 4 way stretch jodhpurs from... I really wanted their riding trousers (anyone remember them?) but had to make do with the jods....
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You beat me too it! Good old Jacatex, the Robinsons of their day! They had different straps on the jodhpur boots too so you knew when they were 'proper' boots or not (i had the Jacatex ones of course!) and their range was named after Pat Smythe or so I was told by the staff at the shop; my Dad, bless him said they named it after me. :o:eek:
Loved the riding trousers, they were so swanky (I thought) and meant I didn't get jeered at for being horsey when I went back home through Croydon. Many showing people used them too, shame they died out, they're still smart.
 
I don't remember there being many thoroughbred horses around when I had my pony. They were only ridden by jockeys. The big horses were hunter types and the rest were native ponies.
And novices definitely didn't buy TB's or big horses, anyone new to horse ownership bought a cob.
 
All of the above plus

Lorries and trailer full of straw- trying to protected the wooden floors.
And you didn't see many coloured horses competing when I was a child, my pony could not get his head around it, and the markings on the legend SJ pony Strawberry Mojo used to blow my ponies mind in the collecting ring!
 
All of the Above for the Horse and for the Stylish! Rider
Non stretch Jodphurs that had to be peeled off inside out
Leather soled Jodphur boots that continualy needed re-soling
Rubber Riding Boots that were devilish get off especialy when half full of cold rain water.
Millar String Gloves and Millar mitts with no fingerends
Hebden Cord Tweed Jackets
Putty Coloured rubberised Cotton riding Macs that kept most of the rain out and ALL The Persperation in
Quilted jackets that were as waterproof as a tea bag
 
And then going home to read all the 'Jill' Books by Ruby Ferguson. Have still got some of the original ones from the late sixties.. I longed to be Jill riding Black Boy & Rapide cantering along the endless grassy verges with not a care in the world!
 
lastchancer said:
I remember when horses and yards were treated with respect and good standards were expected to be adhered to by everyone, rather than stables been used as a playground for kids and a doss house for muppets.
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Here, here! Cannot quite believe the appalling behavior of children on yards these days, I would never of dared behave in such a manner when I was a kid! Working on the yard in cream jods and long boots, no lesson without horse/pony immaculately turned out & you in hacking jacket, oh, and the Abbott Davies Balancing Rein!!
 
Here goes! - string girths, no numnahs, beagler style hats or no hat at all or just a head scarf, jute rugs with roller, green canvas t'out rugs, hacking to shows/meets, beige jods always or breeches,velvet browbands with no bling, plaited reins, snaffle bits with cavesson nosebands only,brown heavy tweed jackets - i could go on!!!!!!!!
 
Clippy said:
Stable money £1.50 a week (and that was after decimalisation!) and jods that didn't stretch and hurt your knees! All new tack was London tan and we stained it with hoof oil to make it dark. I remember when black tack was introduced - you were really with it if you had a black bridle. Quilted jackets in green or navy and putting a sponge under the roller on your jute rug. Ah yes, the jute which seemed to go mouldy very quickly!

Who remembers metal water buckets? Hay nets caused a sensation when they were invented too! The only bedding available was straw and the farrier oiled your ponies hooves and trimmed his chestnuts too.

Goldtop riding hats with the broad velvet band, you were ultra modern if you had one of those! The elastic soon went slack so we put knots in it to tighten it up, but the daredevils would put their elastic behind the peak!
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This really made me laugh these replies are fantastic We still have a couple of the metal buckets,we use to top up the plastic ones, The elastic really made me shreak I have to say put it behind the peak !! Just thought of another who uses a whisp, think that how you spell it lol, do not even know if I could make one now. What about the games Apple Dunking with a pony that was doing its best to get the apple before you could and soaking you in the process
 
OldNag said:
Wow you mean Jacatex at Crystal Palace. I remember they had a 3 fold catalogue full of really exciting things (so it seemed to me). All their range was called "Pat". The "Pat" Hat etc... That's where I got my new-fangled 4 way stretch jodhpurs from... I really wanted their riding trousers (anyone remember them?) but had to make do with the jods....
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OMG you are soooooo right, for the life of me could not remember, do not worry I never got the trousers either
 
Felt saddles and most of the ponies I rode had a crupper!!

PS If anyone doesn't know what a crupper is, then you're much too young to be reading this thread.... ;-D
 
Riding my pony in the sea in summer!!
Dad bought me a trap we taught the dartmoor to pull it so off on a picnic with pet lambs cat and kittens no mobile no traffic and away all day.
First lorry had a canvas top so we would wind the top back and travel home from shows sitting on the luton waving at everyone.
Winning real money in gymkhana games.
Walk trot and gallop b****y dangerous sometimes.
Wearing pimpsolls when competing in the games.
I had a pony cost 90gns, who won the 14.2.hh show class at the county show then was 2nd in the jumping and finally was in the Prince Philip games team.!!!!
Happy days.
 
I remember as as if it was yesterday.Old fashioned New Zealand's which few people could afford.Shoes £4 a set,hay about 50p and straw next to nothing.Most ponies lived out all year,we had no arena's and used the field to school in,often with other ponies and horses wandering around grazing.No colour choice re jods and clothing.Lavenham stable rugs for those with a stable.But loads of fun and freedom.I would not change my 1970's horsy childhood for anything the kid's have today.I loved those times.Also The adventure's of Black Beauty,now recreated on an advert,and all the horsy books by notable author's.
 
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