Funniest Item from your Horsey childhood *nostalgia alert*

What a fantastic thread!

I used to make one of my brothers wear 'baby reins' and I would sit on his back holding the reins and pretend he was a horse!

My riding lessons were £1 an hour and I used to stay all day to help out and get free rides.

Jumping lessons where we jumped with no stirrups and arms folded!

Brown velvet second hand hat with cork lining and elastic chin strap.

Cream jods and a brown hacking jacket which I wore to every lesson and practically lived in away from the stables. Both were second, possibly third hand and we couldn't afford boots so I wore my school shoes. I also wore a hair net, even though my hair was quite short, just because it was the done thing!

Horse posters on my walls. My favourite was a black NF pony and I used to imagine he was mine and make up all sorts of stories about he and I.

Pullein-Thompson books. I devoured them and really wanted to be someone from those books!

Sileage. How I loved the smell of sileage!

I was sooo jealous of people who got puffa jackets. I really wanted one but had to stick with my hacking jacket.

The riding school letting me just take a couple of ponies and a friend out for the day. We packed some sandwiches and just followed our noses. We were about 12 at the time and my friend had never even sat on a horse before!

Ahhhh, happy memories!
 
Gosh this makes me feel so blimmin old!

I remember the batwing jods: I bought a pair at a jumble sale and never ever dared to wear them. They were made of cavalry twill and were horrendous!

Yes I had a pair of the Jacatex Riding Trousers and they lasted me for years and years until I was too tall for them and they were only coming half way down my calves! No wonder Jacatex went bust, their stuff was so good it just lasted forever. Yes I too had a Jacatex hacking jacket in Lovat!!! Wore it to every Pony Club rally for years!

I had nylon reins and matching nylon girth in royal blue. My pony was dapple grey and I thought he looked gorgeous! I still had the nylon reins until a few years ago - dunno what happened to them, will probably turn them out some day somewhere.

Oh and I had one of those plastic chequered browbands to match as well - everyone "had" to have one.

I can remember when you could get a full set of shoes for under twenty quid! Gosh that means I'm definately long in the tooth. Depressing or what.

I can remember queuing up to get autographs of Harvey Smith, David Broome, Alan Oliver, and going to Badminton and (almost) brushing shoulders with the Queen and whole Royal family without security having a seizure. Wonderful! I remember seeing Princess Anne competing on Doublet, have a photo somewhere; one of those instamatic things that was like carting a suitcase around the the picture came spewing out of the tray at the bottom: then you had to put it in a metal case thingey and put it somewhere warm to develop it!!! The pictures came out all pale and interesting.

I remember Pullein Thompson books, and doing Pony Club D & C tests (don't understand the current BHS standards! - too complicated).

In those days if you had something that reared, even just the once, it was a case of "get off, stay off, and ring kennels" and there weren't any other alternatives.

Martingales and strong bits were frowned upon for children's ponies, plus drop nosebands were a sign of bad hands. Plus all fat little ponies, almost without exception, wore a crupper! Plus you had one saddle which lasted you for life coz it was supposed to fit every horse you had. Golly how that's changed, and a good thing too.

We all wore jods without chaps or gaiters; long boots were strictly for over 16's or ladies classes. Hacking jackets were the norm, no-one had invented fleeces or the modern materials around now.

Hi-viz was unheard of as it was only really for motorcyclists; and there wasn't the traffic around then anyway - you could hack out without sharing the highway with lorries, cyclists in droves, noisy vehicles etc. I remember having to ride after school in the dark and all I had was a little battery-operated stirrup light! Golly, I wouldn't do it now!
 
skewbald_again said:
I still taught them until I gave up about 7 or 8 years ago.

Own up who could do full scissors? I was nowhere close!!!
Click to expand...

As a very slim 13 yr old girl who could volt on to a 15.2hh cob (impressive to me!) I could actually do full scissors! How ever I would break if I tried it now haha.

I was known for wearing my mums out of date skinny jeans (as jods) which she'd kept from the first time the were in fashion quite a few years previous! Fitted like a glove, I have the terrible pics to prove this! :eek:
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Gosh this makes me feel so blimmin old!

I remember the batwing jods: I bought a pair at a jumble sale and never ever dared to wear them. They were made of cavalry twill and were horrendous!

Yes I had a pair of the Jacatex Riding Trousers and they lasted me for years and years until I was too tall for them and they were only coming half way down my calves! No wonder Jacatex went bust, their stuff was so good it just lasted forever. Yes I too had a Jacatex hacking jacket in Lovat!!! Wore it to every Pony Club rally for years!

I had nylon reins and matching nylon girth in royal blue. My pony was dapple grey and I thought he looked gorgeous! I still had the nylon reins until a few years ago - dunno what happened to them, will probably turn them out some day somewhere.

Oh and I had one of those plastic chequered browbands to match as well - everyone "had" to have one.

I can remember when you could get a full set of shoes for under twenty quid! Gosh that means I'm definately long in the tooth. Depressing or what.

I can remember queuing up to get autographs of Harvey Smith, David Broome, Alan Oliver, and going to Badminton and (almost) brushing shoulders with the Queen and whole Royal family without security having a seizure. Wonderful! I remember seeing Princess Anne competing on Doublet, have a photo somewhere; one of those instamatic things that was like carting a suitcase around the the picture came spewing out of the tray at the bottom: then you had to put it in a metal case thingey and put it somewhere warm to develop it!!! The pictures came out all pale and interesting.

I remember Pullein Thompson books, and doing Pony Club D & C tests (don't understand the current BHS standards! - too complicated).

In those days if you had something that reared, even just the once, it was a case of "get off, stay off, and ring kennels" and there weren't any other alternatives.

Martingales and strong bits were frowned upon for children's ponies, plus drop nosebands were a sign of bad hands. Plus all fat little ponies, almost without exception, wore a crupper! Plus you had one saddle which lasted you for life coz it was supposed to fit every horse you had. Golly how that's changed, and a good thing too.

We all wore jods without chaps or gaiters; long boots were strictly for over 16's or ladies classes. Hacking jackets were the norm, no-one had invented fleeces or the modern materials around now.

Hi-viz was unheard of as it was only really for motorcyclists; and there wasn't the traffic around then anyway - you could hack out without sharing the highway with lorries, cyclists in droves, noisy vehicles etc. I remember having to ride after school in the dark and all I had was a little battery-operated stirrup light! Golly, I wouldn't do it now!
Click to expand...

Are you me?????
Actually I did wear the cavalry twill jodhs because I was thin and they were very flattering.
Nylon reins without stops so that you had to tie knots in them
Green plaited nylon reins (with knots) and yes when I was 16 I got my first pair of long leather boots. I still hve them but they need complete refurbishment.
 
I still have my Sindy Horse, Lone Rangers horse (Silver) and my Pippa's horse! Always wanted a "Thunderbolt". I have a look on ebay from time to time and they sometimes come up for sale. One day...!:D

Did anyone have a Mobo? It was a moving horse that you sat on. We left ours at our old house that was going to be demolished for development. Bad move as they are worth a fair bit now!
 
This thread is great!

I remember all the cool people had puffas!

Lots of horses had string girths and wore drop nosebands if they were naughty!

All wore jutes with blankets underneath and those heavy canvas nz rugs!!!
 
Heehee! Most of what has already been said applies!

I too had the poster of the pony looking over the stable door on my bedroom door.

Wee too used to help at the local riding school, we worked hard for our free rides and likewise if we didn't look after the ponies and buy the food they wouldn't get fed!

The most embarrassing memory is our saddles! We used to have the flat leather saddles with string girths but they all got stolen so the RS owner bought these hideous FLAT GREEN FELT SADDLES with a fixed girth strap. They were terrible, may as well have been riding bare back! So embarrassing when we would hack out or go to shows with all the PClubbers in their posh gear!
 
dozzie said:
I still have my Sindy Horse, Lone Rangers horse (Silver) and my Pippa's horse! Always wanted a "Thunderbolt". I have a look on ebay from time to time and they sometimes come up for sale. One day...!:D

Did anyone have a Mobo? It was a moving horse that you sat on. We left ours at our old house that was going to be demolished for development. Bad move as they are worth a fair bit now!
Click to expand...

I had a Mobo they had massive feet. I also had a near relation which was on springs and had enormous feet!!!
 
I used to re-create HOYS in my back garden....by setting up a course of jumps and doing them on my Space Hopper!!!! (only cos I wasn't brave enough to jump my nutty pony! lol)...

Have still got 2 of my old riding hats....complete with plastic chin guard which I used to pull into my mouth and chew on while I was riding (in lessons too!)....:eek:

My old riding instructor used to make me ride side saddle in a GP to help my balance...(this began at 6 years old...not on lead rein either...we didn't do lead rein in the 70's...you got on and rode, if you fell off you got back on again!...

Never had teeth or back men...horses were out 24/7 unrugged....hard feed and hay was for winter only....and I was always desperate for a pair of rubber reins with the orange rubber!!!
 
OMG those plastic chin cups :eek: So sweaty on a summer's day!

Between riding lessons my best friend and I used to make our own "riding school", complete with book for noting down who was riding who that day .... but you must understand that no horses were involved. Brooms, that's what we used. Brooms with skipping ropes as bridles :o We'd always fight over the brown broom because it looked more like a horse than the red one .......

When we did ride, it was hell for leather. Speed was king. Jumping anything and everything was mandatory, speeding past less confident riders with mere inches to spare on purpose was a sport. It was fab :D
 
Erm ok, i'll admit - i read to page 10 and now want to contribute!!

The only thing I can remember that hasn't been already mentioned was that I had a completely foul (fantastic at the time!!) lycra hat silk that was pink (fuschia!!) in colour with "paint splatters" all over it.

I think it was all the rage at the time.

I remember getting the robinson's catalogue and carefully filling out the order details and handing it to my parents too - don't think they enjoyed this overly much!

I had a subscription to pony magazine which I totally loved - remember they always did picture stickers of desert orchid and everest miltion.

And Julip. Had lots of julip horses, and made them feed buckets out of the corners of fruit corner and paperclips.

This might make me sound quite young, but I think I was just behind the times!!
 
Waking up every Christmas morning and looking out the window just in case this year there would be a pony standing in the garden...

WH Smith 'win a pony' competition where the winner would be presented with their pony at HOYS! I always entered but never got anywhere.

Long rubber riding boots - I had skinny little legs and bony ankles and they would rub all the skin off my ankle bones really badly so I'd have blood running down my feet, but didn't care.

Green padded waistcoat/gilet

climbing on haystacks

weeing in a corner of the stable as most places didn't have a loo

Freedom! Disappearing off to the stables all day with a bag of sandwiches and not going home till tea-time, with no adult supervision, no mobile phones, no one checking up on us
 
marragic said:
Oh! I forgot, my bicycle horse could trot and canter, I even used to rise to the trot! *Hangs head in shame* LOL!
Click to expand...

Hmm, when my parents took me to choose a bike for my birthday it had to be black. Eventually they found me a brand spanking new 'Vindec Vogue' that was jet black (Yes we are going back probably thirty years or more) and I used to ride that bike like I was the next best thing on the block, up, down, up, down, checking my diagonals and then canter and full whack on gallop. (I blame Laura Wilder on Little House on the Prairie who had a beautiful black horse, who then got caught in barbed wire and her daddy had to shoot it) so, please do not hang your head in shame, there were many of us on equine bicycles!!
 
I actually made my own scrap book of Milton and used to take it too school.

It used to be the fashion on the yard to wear muckers with chaps, even though they always got stuck in the stirrups.

I remember the first pony I rode had a string girth and cotton reins!!!

I also remember being the loser on the yard as my loan pony still had a canvas new zealand rug lol.

But im only 21 so its not that old lol.
 
OMG this post is fantastic... jute rugs, canvas NZ rug, westropp petal over reachboots, was very proud of them, colour co-ordinated stoppers, biscuits, browband, numnah etc dodgy puffa jacket with a aweful patern on it gosh someone stop me :lol:

However I am still a proud user of bandages & hock boots for travelling and feeding straights :)
 
I'm 24 but have a few nostalgic memories :)

My first riding hat was a navy one and cost about £1 from Newark horse sales. I wore it with pride with my bright green leggings and purple froggie-eyed wellies to my first riding lesson where it was only £3 for an hour's lesson :D

My walls were covered in pictures of Milton, Cancara, Guy Goosen etc all courtesy of Horse and Pony magazine :) I even had a Horse and Pony binder that said 'If this binder dares to roam, box it's ears and send it home!' inside :) Had a pair of Aigle rubber boots with the little green tab label at the top and a green lining and thought I looked the business in those :p

My Mum and Dad bought me an XC shirt and matching hat silk from Nag Rags for my 10th birthday and I was the envy of all the Saturday girls at the RS :D
Did anyone else make fly fringes for the Horse and Pony appeal? I think we must have made several hundred between us at the RS!

When I was bought my first pony aged 11 I insisted on everything in purple. She had purple head collar and lead rope, purple bandages, purple numnah - you get the drift. There is a picture somewhere of her decked out in her purple travelling gear with me clad head to foot in purple tracksuit over my show gear and even wearing purple trainers! :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top