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

Fly by Night. I have a copy somewhere at the back of the cupboard, I must dig it out and have a read.
I miss the smell of jute rugs. Infact, the smell of an old headcollar that I was given aged 7 still takes me back to my childhood. The headcollar is still going strong too!
 
I must be old then and only in early thirties, as I remember most of this! Strongest memories are:
- boiled barley with molasses cooking in stable yard. Was yummy and I'm sure we nicked most of it before the horses got their share!
- hats with chin cups
- hacking out for hours without telling parents where going/when back, or having hi viz. Washing ponies off and cantering around afterwards bareback sitting on a towel - to dry them off of course! No hat either!
- catching 'naughty' ponies from another horse cowboy style (much fun, so not safe but was quite effective!)
- body protector - what was that????
- saddleries that actually MADE tack. Bits of leftover leather being given to us to make bridles and saddles for our model Julip ponies.
- knotting haynets from baling twine.
- all ponies living out 24/7 and only coming in to stalls just before work. Only horses had loose boxes.
- colic was the only illness I met when I was a child - it was rare but often fatal.
- only horses got 'feed'. Ponies had grass and the odd carrot.
 
I'm only 25 and I remember most of the things mentioned......Jute Rugs and NZ rugs, String girths and Matching Reins, Gymkhana's, Only bits used were snaffles or pelhams, as interesting and 'gadgety' as a bridle got was a drop noseband, hacking to the forge for the farrier (Oh the smell of the forge....it was gorgeous!), Feeding straights, Thatching with straw, Anti-Sweat Rugs being BIG string vests, Bandaging instead of Booting......Being Taught EVERYTHING and not just turning up and riding (and if you didn't do it properly you did it again and again til you got it right!), Around the world, thread the needle and backwards rolls from horseback, jumping lessons using cavaletti and of course falling off was a talking poiunt where you'd get dunked in the water trough not rushed to A&E!

I also totally agree with those who mentioned names and temperements, all of them were 'spirited' in some way or another (Biters, Kickers, Buckers, Rearers and Bolters were all known as 'full of character' at my riding school) and all had such lovely sweet names (Chester, Briar, Duke, Copper, Arkle, Merry, Minstral, Candy, Bobby (Bobby 2 and Bobby 3 as this was a very pouplar name!), Kizzie, Nutmeg, Lady, Lizzette, Boris, Blackjack, Dacron, King and much later Mishka are some I remember very fondly!)

I'm so thankful to the horses, ponies and people at the riding school I learned at as they really set me in good stead for owning my own (I've got 2 now...one of which I've owned for nearly 14years)

I could go on forever lol
 
I know how you feel, I sat in tears watching those!!

I think the big change came about around 1990/91. Suddenly everyone had quilted rugs, and jute rugs became obsolete. Businesses popped up selling all manner of horsey things in all sorts of colours. Masta made a turnout that had leg straps front and back instead of a surcingle (I still have one somewhere, and it was the best fitting turnout rug I ever used on my old mare). Dodson and Horrell pasturemix became the mainstay of feed, and the art of feeding straights soon became a thing of the past for many people.

I would love to transport some of today's modern-day horseowners back in time to see how they would cope!!
 
MizzPurpleKitten said:
I'm only 25 and I remember most of the things mentioned......Jute Rugs and NZ rugs, String girths and Matching Reins, Gymkhana's, Only bits used were snaffles or pelhams, as interesting and 'gadgety' as a bridle got was a drop noseband, hacking to the forge for the farrier (Oh the smell of the forge....it was gorgeous!), Feeding straights, Thatching with straw, Anti-Sweat Rugs being BIG string vests, Bandaging instead of Booting......Being Taught EVERYTHING and not just turning up and riding (and if you didn't do it properly you did it again and again til you got it right!), Around the world, thread the needle and backwards rolls from horseback, jumping lessons using cavaletti and of course falling off was a talking poiunt where you'd get dunked in the water trough not rushed to A&E!

I also totally agree with those who mentioned names and temperements, all of them were 'spirited' in some way or another (Biters, Kickers, Buckers, Rearers and Bolters were all known as 'full of character' at my riding school) and all had such lovely sweet names (Chester, Briar, Duke, Copper, Arkle, Merry, Minstral, Candy, Bobby (Bobby 2 and Bobby 3 as this was a very pouplar name!), Kizzie, Nutmeg, Lady, Lizzette, Boris, Blackjack, Dacron, King and much later Mishka are some I remember very fondly!)

I'm so thankful to the horses, ponies and people at the riding school I learned at as they really set me in good stead for owning my own (I've got 2 now...one of which I've owned for nearly 14years)

I could go on forever lol
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You must have ridden at murton? Unless all riding school ponies had the same names lol
 
Health and Safety - what was that? Cavaletti with arms folded, cavaletti with arms folded and no stirrups, cavaletti with eyes shut...ditto grids; same as others on NZ rugs (anyone remember the one that was self-righting - £80)? bran - eek! Does ANYONE still feed it? Hacking to the farrier, gloopy feeds, burco boilers, Spillers H & P cubes fed with oats and bran etc. etc. Oh and going out with the riding school hacking and pretending to let your pony graze so that you could GALLOP to catch up with the leader!
 
:eek: Thick, scratchy, (? serge) yellow hunting breeches. :o

Being in the country and able to ride wherever I wanted for as long as I wanted.
 
Standing in my Mum's kitchen, with my sister, tack cleaning in readiness for a gymkhana the next morning. She always complained that the house stank of "horse stuff". Hacking to shows, sometimes miles away, taking a packed lunch and a few shillings!! Very flat saddles, "brush the serge vigorously with as stiff brush to remove sweat and hair". Yes, I remember Jacatex and those jods with balloons on your legs. I started riding in brown lace up shoes until I saved pocket money to buy a pair of black Joddy boots with straps. I thought I looked fantastic in them. Great times and lots of good memories, thanks owed to lots of ponies who taught us so much.
 
Oooohhhh, this is a trip down memory lane, luvvin it!!

Yes remember Jacatex and their "lovat" checked hacking jackets; they also did a range in "riding trousers". I had a pair of these trousers, and they lasted me incredibly well - I literally wore them out and they were the only pair of riding breeches I had (couldn't afford more than one pair in those days!!). Its no wonder Jacatex ceased trading :( - they were a nice little company and their stuff was good, albeit basic. But you didn't get the choice then that you do now!

Also remember plastic dragon-teeth browbands - looked awful, thinking about it in retrospect, but we didn't think so then. The aim was to get thoroughly colour-coordinated and match up with nylon girths AND reins. Hideous!!! I've still got a pair of royal blue nylon reins somewhere, and a brown pair. There was nothing like them; you could ride in the wet and they'd still stay grippy in your hand. Wish someone would start doing them again.

Also remember hacking 8 miles to a show (or hunting, or pony club); doing a couple of competitions plus the clear-round jumping and then hack back again. We thought nothing of it then; unlike today's cossetted generation!

If you had a horse that reared; we were taught religiously in pony club to "get off, stay off, and ring kennels"; nowadays you'd call in an equine behaviourist and spend god-knows-what on every sort of dental and veterinary notion.

Also can remember getting sent out of class at school for reading one of the Pullein Thompson books in class! (think this happened more than once!!!). Our idols then were Pat Smythe, Marion Mould, David Broome, Harvey Smith, Princess Anne, Lucinda Prior-Palmer, Mark Phillips. In those days you could go to Badminton and literally brush shoulders with the Queen without hindrance. Where the hell did it all go wrong????

They were such happy, carefree days; Elf & Safety would have had a seizure at what we used to do.
 
I remember Jacatex well but am still embarrassed by my jacket which looked cheap compared to Harry Hall.We used to hack miles to shows,compete in lots of classes and hack back,often at a gallop as our ponies knew the way home.Not sure if I'm looking back with rose tinted specs,but i do reckon our ponies were bombproof and had no nasty habits while riding.In fact few people then had problem horses.I used to ride my friends Arab Stallion bareback.Who would dare do such a thing now without elf and safety intervening.One thing i have noticed is that today's kids are far less agile.They almost need mounting blocks,and i have seen no kid who can vault on a section A bareback let alone the 17.2 we used to shin up.My aforementioned friend also used to rescue lots of young ponies from sales,mainly Welsh,and with her brilliant training they all turned out to be fabulous riding and competition ponies.Her Arab was a prime example of a well trained and very kind horse.
I'm loving the threads about White Horses,this was the first horsy programme i ever saw.Also who remembers Champion the Wonder horse,Follyfoot and Horse in the house.
 
What a trip down memory lane! I remember all of this from my days at the riding stables. All the marvellous horses and ponies, and what happy times we all had.
 
farriersmum said:
Health and Safety - what was that? Cavaletti with arms folded, cavaletti with arms folded and no stirrups, cavaletti with eyes shut...ditto grids; same as others on NZ rugs (anyone remember the one that was self-righting - £80)? bran - eek! Does ANYONE still feed it? Hacking to the farrier, gloopy feeds, burco boilers, Spillers H & P cubes fed with oats and bran etc. etc. Oh and going out with the riding school hacking and pretending to let your pony graze so that you could GALLOP to catch up with the leader!
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Was it the Chaskit which had the spider thingy that went from the front clips under the belly then around the back legs and did up ? With my first job saved up and got one but I know it cost alot of money back then !!
 
Im only 16 and even from being a wee girl things have changed. We used to go riding at about 7 or 8 years old galloping around the stubble fields and if we fell off our ponies ran home and if we werent home within a few minutes someone would come out looking for us. We used to do "backies" so whoever didnt have a horse went on the back of the biggest horse going out and held onto whoever was riding on the saddles belly. We used to throw people in the muckheap or in the water baths on their birthday but now its all about health and safety. My shetland pony used to have a tiny wee new zealand rug and when he'd been wet we put straw under the rug to dry off.
 
Hehehe
I didn't grow up in the UK but yes, string girth on a very flat saddle but only for "good" days like shows ... On ordinary days it was bareback :)
Loved to ride out with my uncle, sitting in front of the saddle on his reeeeaaaaallly big horse going reeeeaaaaallly fast .
Until very recently I would have said to everybody we always wore hats as children. When going through my mums stuff and old photo albums of us as children I realised we never wore hats! Shocking!
 
ebonyallen said:
Was it the Chaskit which had the spider thingy that went from the front clips under the belly then around the back legs and did up ? With my first job saved up and got one but I know it cost alot of money back then !!
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I remember a Chaskit my friend had for her horse...we thought it was very flash and clever...but I couldnt get to grips with all the different places to do it up with when I had to do her horse!!!
 
Most of the above but I'd have to add I think things are better in some ways now.

I remember sewing bits of sheepskin onto the shoulder of my pony's green NZ rug as he would have been rubbed raw otherwise.

It was quite normal to see horses thin after winter, it was expected in fact and assumed they would get fat quickly over summer.

No one had a trailer or horse box if you couldn't hack to a show you usually couldn't go.

Vet work was carried out at the yard by a vet that would be fitting you in between cows or other farm animals.

There was "a" farrier who did the yard/region and you accepted his word as gospel and he came when he came not at a pre arranged time.

horses did not eat garlic!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Oooohhhh, this is a trip down memory lane, luvvin it!!

Yes remember Jacatex and their "lovat" checked hacking jackets; they also did a range in "riding trousers". I had a pair of these trousers, and they lasted me incredibly well - I literally wore them out and they were the only pair of riding breeches I had (couldn't afford more than one pair in those days!!). Its no wonder Jacatex ceased trading :( - they were a nice little company and their stuff was good, albeit basic. But you didn't get the choice then that you do now!

Also remember plastic dragon-teeth browbands - looked awful, thinking about it in retrospect, but we didn't think so then. The aim was to get thoroughly colour-coordinated and match up with nylon girths AND reins. Hideous!!! I've still got a pair of royal blue nylon reins somewhere, and a brown pair. There was nothing like them; you could ride in the wet and they'd still stay grippy in your hand. Wish someone would start doing them again.

Also remember hacking 8 miles to a show (or hunting, or pony club); doing a couple of competitions plus the clear-round jumping and then hack back again. We thought nothing of it then; unlike today's cossetted generation!

If you had a horse that reared; we were taught religiously in pony club to "get off, stay off, and ring kennels"; nowadays you'd call in an equine behaviourist and spend god-knows-what on every sort of dental and veterinary notion.

Also can remember getting sent out of class at school for reading one of the Pullein Thompson books in class! (think this happened more than once!!!). Our idols then were Pat Smythe, Marion Mould, David Broome, Harvey Smith, Princess Anne, Lucinda Prior-Palmer, Mark Phillips. In those days you could go to Badminton and literally brush shoulders with the Queen without hindrance. Where the hell did it all go wrong????

They were such happy, carefree days; Elf & Safety would have had a seizure at what we used to do.
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Ah Marion Mould. I remember writing in to Jim'll Fix It - asking for a riding lesson with Marion Mould. Not sure if I asked if I could ride Stroller too :D Never did get a reply...

Pullein-Thompson, Ruby Ferguson et al were fab. I've just dug out a box full of them for my daughters to get stuck in to. Not sure they'll understand all the references as things have changed so much! I even found myself re-reading "Black Hunting Whip" last week. I remember yearning to live somewhere like Punchbowl Farm.

Happy days ...
 
MiJodsR - I too remember going to Badminton and watching the vets parade in the yard when the Queen would just walk in through the crowd.

I also remember chaff in hessian sacks.
Orange and white checked browband - yeukk
Shoes at 10/6 per set (1968) thats 52.5p for the young'uns.
Were the beige rubbery riding macs Jacatex?

Mentioned before but can anyone else remember when Anne Moore and David Broome got engaged - did not last!
 
I haven't lived in Lancashire for many, many years....but I do remember the farrier, Jimmy Vickers, who used to visit (wearing his orange shirt) on his bike and cold shoe! You could have hot shoe if you hacked over to his forge in Bispham Green!

Anyone remember him............???

PS I believe Jimmy had that same shirt for more years than anyone cares to recall!
 
I am loving this post,I will add thatching my Shetland after hunting with straw a old bran sack held on by a piece of string then my parents bought me a jute rug for Christmas I was in heaven. He was unclipped I would hack him home lead him last 2miles then thatch him give him a bran mash with treacle in ( he loved that it was the only hard food he got ) in an hour or so he would be dry we took of his thatch and out he went very happy.
the smell of cod liver oil and malt that the hunters got
My little whip which was black and White plaited stuff.
Sore calfs from hunting for hours in jodphur boots the sweat soaked though the fabric and irritated your skin. No half chaps back then.
My amazement the first time I saw a horse lorry rather than a cattle lorry with horses in it.
Standing martingales on young horses ( still do that)
The smell of the oat bin just after freshly crushed ones where put in. could go on and on but won't bore you all to death.
 
In 20 years time we'll be looking back and saying "God, do you remember leather or synthetic saddles that weighed a ton, my new carbon fibre/kevlar/moondust saddle is a fraction of the weight" "different weight rugs with cross under buckles and leg straps, rather than today's one-size-fits-all vacuum fit with sun/wind/temp sensors" etc etc. ;)
 
The national outcry when Harvey Smith stuck his two fingers up

Commentary by Dorian Williams / Raymond Brookes-Ward

National Velvet

Green quilted riding jackets. (Only the "posh" people had a Puffa)

Children's jumping ponies who didn't need half a ton of ironwork in their mouths

Show hunter ponies that had actually been hunting
 
The White Horses - just watched the you tube clip and so nostalgic - goose bumbs on my arms - loved the music.

Anyone remember the wormer that came in tiny blue bead like tubes made of plastic. I think they dealt with bots. Trying to get my mare to eat them was a nightmare, I swear if there were 100 grains in the feed I'd find them all carefully sorted.
 
scotlass said:
The national outcry when Harvey Smith stuck his two fingers up

Commentary by Dorian Williams / Raymond Brookes-Ward

National Velvet

Green quilted riding jackets. (Only the "posh" people had a Puffa)

Children's jumping ponies who didn't need half a ton of ironwork in their mouths

Show hunter ponies that had actually been hunting
Click to expand...


You're right about the ironwork. I've just bought my kids a copy of "Pony" Magazine. You should just see the lorinery on display!

I swear that if you got hold of a 1970's copy (I think I have one in the loft, will have to have a look!) you'd only ever see a snaffle, perhaps a pelham at the most.

Mind you at least they all wear riding hats in the pictures these days!!
 
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