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

AndreaB71 said:
I remember my first riding hat of my own in the early 80s was a Jofa, does anyone else remember them? Flipping ugly!
Click to expand...

I remember them, weren't they Swedish and looked a bit like a moped helmet?

My best hat - about the same time - was a Lionel Dunning, it had a really comfy harness. However it had a double shell so looked huge compared to most hats at the time. I got laughed at for wearing it.
 
OldNag said:
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!!
Click to expand...

I've just bought a set of 1950s Pony Magazines, and the editor sounds off about .... the junior jumping ponies and the bits and the martingales and the total lack of style exhibited by the riders! Am going to do a post on it soon. I am the author of the Jacatex etc blog mentioned earlier. I am going to do another post on horsy wallpaper (it's amazing what I find to write about) as I've just found an advert for it. If anyone actually has any real, life examples of horsy wallpaper they could photograph and send me you would be contributing to the sum of equine knowledge. Really.

I have more posts on the way things were:

jodphurs http://booksandmud.blogspot.com/2010/02/it-seemed-like-good-idea-at-time.html

toys (for rider, not horse. No such thing way back when) http://booksandmud.blogspot.com/2009/06/another-trot-down-memory-lane.html

and a politically incorrect gymkhana game http://booksandmud.blogspot.com/2011/04/politically-incorrect-gymkhana-games.html
 
why did things have to change :(, i had such fun on my pony, parents wouldn't think of nothing as you start to plod down the road on your pony in early teens, and not worry if your not seen for hours on end.

shows were for fun and nothing more, winning wasn't the must, it was the poor child that managed to stay on board while pony had bucking fit that got the most attention and 'wowed'.
 
xTrooperx said:
why did things have to change :(, i had such fun on my pony, parents wouldn't think of nothing as you start to plod down the road on your pony in early teens, and not worry if your not seen for hours on end.
Click to expand...

Just can't imagine that now can you.

I never had my own, but can remember a place we rode where we often stayed on hols, it was a small hacking stable. The owners were lovely and used to let me and my friend take ponies out on our own - we were only about 12 - - and we could ride them bareback to their fields too. Just wouldnt' happen these days.
 
Glad to see that you've joined us, JB! (Ooh, have just noticed that you've been reg since 2006! :o )

janebadger said:
I am going to do another post on horsy wallpaper (it's amazing what I find to write about) as I've just found an advert for it. If anyone actually has any real, life examples of horsy wallpaper they could photograph and send me you would be contributing to the sum of equine knowledge. Really.
Click to expand...

I have a photo with some early eighties pony wallpaper in the back ground, will have to get my sister to scan it. Before that (70s) I had Thelwell wallpaper along with a Thelwell duvet set and curtains, sadly I have no pics of these :(
 
Last edited:
Brown bread poultice to fix nearly any lameness.
Wearing my posh barbour jacket and new hunters all year round - still got the hunters 25 years on.
Jumping the ponies bareback out of the field - saved doing the difficult gate.
Feeling like a prince getting a lift to a show in a brand new Fourtrak.
 
Being a 60's (early) child I remember all the above but the thing that really sticks in my mind is
Being more afraid of the riding instructor than any pony they could force you to ride. :eek:
 
I remember so much of this :D

I still have a canvas NZ and a jute rug, and string vests somewhere. I still thatch now and again.
I didnt like those nylon plaited reins though, theyd take your skin off your hands like nothing else if you happened to forget gloves!
I disagree about the bits though! I dont agree that it was always a simple snaffle or pelham, sure they were very common but there were other options even in the good old days :D There have always been vast amounts of different bits around, looking at old tack books and pictures, and I have a few weird and wonderful antique bits still (not in use).
 
"Being a 60's (early) child I remember all the above but the thing that really sticks in my mind is
Being more afraid of the riding instructor than any pony they could force you to ride."

Ditto,which is why I lost all confidence,so glad I learnt that not all people are like that :D
 
OldNag said:
I remember them, weren't they Swedish and looked a bit like a moped helmet?

My best hat - about the same time - was a Lionel Dunning, it had a really comfy harness. However it had a double shell so looked huge compared to most hats at the time. I got laughed at for wearing it.
Click to expand...

I had one of them! I hadn't thought about it in years.
FDC
 
Jiggle said:
I remember so much of this :D

I still have a canvas NZ and a jute rug, and string vests somewhere. I still thatch now and again.
I didnt like those nylon plaited reins though, theyd take your skin off your hands like nothing else if you happened to forget gloves!
I disagree about the bits though! I dont agree that it was always a simple snaffle or pelham, sure they were very common but there were other options even in the good old days :D There have always been vast amounts of different bits around, looking at old tack books and pictures, and I have a few weird and wonderful antique bits still (not in use).
Click to expand...

I know what you mean - those bits were certainly around - but I don't think you saw them so often on ponies?
 
Talking about the old days here, not exclusively ponies, but I remember lots of bits on lots of ponies tbh.
I can remember as a child (and im not that young) :D , cherry rollers, bauchers, full cheeks of various types, Dr bristols, waterfords, kimblewicks, magenis, cheltenham gags, twisted snaffles etc.

Just making the point its not just the current market that has loads of bits, and really it wasnt exclusively a simple snaffle or a pelham 'back in the day' :)

OOh, I found my old flapper boots in a drawer recently, remember the westrop petal boots when they came in in the 80's :D Loved making a racket with those on the XC, thought I was the bees knees haha
 
This is making me giggle :D

Hacking to the fish & chip shop for lunch or anywhere that you could get away with
Riding school ponies that ate pound notes if you weren't careful
Taking ponies to the top fields 5 miles away on mass (3 each) and going bareback as we all used to cram into one car on the way back (normally 6 of us plus driver), gotta love travel via footwell :p
Those damn NZ rugs!!!!
County shows that seemed to be huge
Tripping over Harvey Smith at HOYS when I was little and being mortally embarassed :o
Managing to bag a pair of Navy (yes Navy) harry hall jods and wearing them to death
Being stripped at the back door after a day at the yard by my mother as I 'smelt like a horse'
Eating lunch on the muck heap as it was the best way to keep your feet warm :D
Pony games :D
No martingales or anything like it, plain snaffle or pelham bridle and a saddle, it was all you needed (unlike the plethora of stuff we have now)
Having 10p stuck down my boot incase something happened while out hacking (shame there was never a phone box nearby :p)
Jumping with no saddle no bridle no eyes :eek:
Hacking to the farrier 2 villages away and boiling by the forge in summer
Grass reins made out of baler twine :p
Barrowing straw and hay from the farm up the road as deliveries didn't exist
 
I am 77. I have hunted since the end of the war (hacking 9am - 5pm), had hunter liveries, riding school and still have 3. I went to a horse open day on Saturday and was aghast at the complicated feeds available. I have only ever fed hay/haylage in the winter with 1 pint of oats or barley, am & pm, with chaff until the cutter broke. My soil was analysed so minerals were only provided if there was something lacking. My horses did long days and looked better at the end of the season than when they came in.
Some were cobs, some hunters and a few were pointers. There is an army of rip-odd merchants eyeing young horse owners.
 
Digger66 said:
Haven't had time to read them all but ...........who remembers posh, female pony club instructors who swore like troopers at everyone including little children and chain smoked.:eek:
Click to expand...

Nearly all the instructors at the equine college I went to chain smoked. I remember spectating at a Lucinda Green xc clinic years ago and she had a fag on the go almost constantly!
 
Last edited:
I love these nostalgia threads!
Hacking miles to shows (and gymkhanas), PC rallies and hunting, then having to hack miles back again! Every now and again, being allowed to go further afield and use the 'transport man'. Usually, the whole yard would go, about 8 ponies and 3 times the amount of people crammed into his cattle truck. It cost a fiver each pony, he'd pick us up early, dump us at the show, then come back whenever he thought we'd be finished! Ponies all travelled tacked up, bandaged not booted, and they always loaded fine. Our 'transport man's' son has now taken over, maximum of 4 equines, nobody travels in the container and it's £30 return per equine for local shows. Although the 'lorry' part is only about 5 years old, I swear the container is the same one from the 70s/80s!
Only rich/posh people had there own transport, usually a trailer pulled by the family car, that was only rear load/unload!
DIY yards would also take unaccompanied children/teenagers (thank God or I would never have been able to keep mine). First yard I was at was £7 per week, stable and grazing with storage for tack, feed etc. No menage, but we had a roped off area, on a slope, called 'the ring' where we had barrels and poles to jump. Grazing was very, very rich but nothing ever got laminitis and strip grazing didn't exist. That yard is still going, no kids there now, but, adults with small in hand show ponies, all having restricted grazing and looking very overweight!
 
One of the other main things i remember from shows - was that almost every type and make of small car seems to be able to pull a horsebox! There was very few range rovers around then - our family car pulled our box, as did all the other liveries little cars!
 
"Fistulous withers" and "Poll evil"!!! I have not heard either of these used in about 18 years!! They have some posh name now i suppose :D
 
Im sure these will have been mentioned a thousand times, but this is what i remember too...

Chin straps on hats that had like a plastic 'chin cup' on. and the strap fastened with a little metal circle lying over a hook.

When hat silks came out in a multitude of colours with POM POMS! Amazing.

Riding bareback down the road to the field after lesson/hack and once in the field, having a good gallop- how i miss my balance from back then!

New Zealands. String girths. velvet browbands- i know we still have them now, but only really see them at shows.

Riding with a whip between my shoulders to keep my back straight.

Ridiculously fast gymkhana games that definitely wouldnt pass health and safety nowadays.

Hacking to shows.

Laughing when riding the 'cheeky' pony (which nowadays wouldnt be ridden)

Jumping the hedge because you could and it was fun.

Instructors in shorts and bikini tops....owww my eyes!

Riding under the sprinklers.

Non safety concious stirrup irons.

If you fell off, the instructor laughed, and then helped you up once they had composed themselves. And you fell off a lot more often, but that was part and parcel of it all.

'own a pony day' you paid the YO to clean out THEIR stables, sweep yard, clear paddocks, cleaned tack and maybe got a ride out of it if you were lucky- i loved them!

tack cleaning parties- bar of saddle soap, bucket of warm water and a good old gossip.

Camps. I.e, ride your ponies to a field, set up camp, fence them a paddock and have a ball.

I have memories of horses being fed all manner of things at shows.... there was one pony partial to a chip or too!

Building your own jump out of whatever you could find in the barn.

if you won a rosette in a two player game, both riders would get on the pony and do the lap of honour together.

hacking with your mates regardless of how old you were or whether any adults were present.

I know nowadays its all health and safety (and for good reason too) but writing this down, I realise what a good time i had back then!!
 
Chin straps on hats that had like a plastic 'chin cup' on. and the strap fastened with a little metal circle lying over a hook.
Click to expand...

Those flippin' chin cups always gave me spots on my chin! I was so pleased when they disappeared. And the strap always came undone from the metal hook, mostly when you were airborne, heading for the ground...
 
Sorry if these have already been mentioned;

Watching International Velvet over and over again...

H&H was about the only horsey mag.

Velvet hat with no chin strap was a hand me down.

Riding in green rubber wellies.

Two black plastic water buckets in the stable every night.

Hacking never involved walking...ever...
 
Orchardbeck said:
Those flippin' chin cups always gave me spots on my chin! I was so pleased when they disappeared. And the strap always came undone from the metal hook, mostly when you were airborne, heading for the ground...
Click to expand...
AAAaH but did you never work out that you were supposed to undo the popper on the other side first before putting the ring over. No wonder the strap was loose!!!:D
 
marmalade76 said:
Glad to see that you've joined us, JB! (Ooh, have just noticed that you've been reg since 2006! :o )



I have a photo with some early eighties pony wallpaper in the back ground, will have to get my sister to scan it. Before that (70s) I had Thelwell wallpaper along with a Thelwell duvet set and curtains, sadly I have no pics of these :(
Click to expand...

That would be great marmalade, thanks.

Yes, I've been registered for a while, but don't contribute very much, as you've probably spotted! Lurker in lurkerville, that's me.

I'm sure someone must have mentioned these already, but I remember those metal feeding and water bowls that used to be very common. I was a bit of a wimpy, wispy child, and the only way I could move these was when they were empty, at which point I had to roll them. Can still remember that metal-on-concrete racket. My neighbour now uses her old metal bowls as planters in her garden.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top