Funniest Item from your Horsey childhood *nostalgia alert*

Oh, I'd forgotten about white string girths! Also had a white halter and a numnah that my dad made from a sheepskin. I had a lovely pair of leather jodhpur boots with straps that fitted really well around your ankles - they were second hand of course!
 
Love this thread!.

I started riding in the mid 80's and remember wearing a choice of beige or black jodhs, normally Caldene make. My friend had corduroy ones, which looked real great and I can remember wanting a pair!. In that little fob pocket on the inside of the jodhs would house a polo mint for pony, a hoof pick, piece of twine and a 10p peice to phone dad to pick me up from the stables at the end of the day!.

String gloves, in cream which got caught in the girth buckles. Waxed jackets that smelt. Long rubber boots, Aigle or Stylo Starts with that burgandy lining that made them a monster to remove without the talcum powder method!.

Riding hats with the chin cup which was handy for chewing on!. The colourful jockey silks with the tie straps.

The ponys wore red furry numnahs, or navy, maybe black. Those velvet browbands and matching reins and bit rings crept in during the 90's. The saddles had rigid trees with half panels, sometimes serge. They had suede covered knee flaps and safety stirrups.

Stabled horses wore duvets with pink witney blankets fastened with an anti-cast roller. Outdoor horses wore NZ rugs, green with a white leather surcingle around them.

String vest rugs with straw stuffed under for 'thatching' to dry off a sweaty horse after hunting.

Feed consisted of barley, sugar beet and a teaspoon of salt and steamed hay (kettle of boiling water chucked over a dustbin of hay).

Riding crops with the hands on the ends!!

Stockholm Tar for seedy toe!!!
 
Oh this is brilliant and it's really cheered me up after a long, hard week at work - thanks everyone for posting.

I had the bright orange saddle that my mum and dad bought for us. It was so hard and we oiled it and oiled it but it never got softer and then my dad had a brainwave! He wasn't the world's greatest diy person (bless him) so he broke the wrapper on his brand new Black and Decker drill, put the circular sheepskin attachment on and buffed our saddle till we could see our faces in it. It didn't make it any softer but it proved a brilliant slide for young backsides to slide straight off as our pony Rusty went into a trot.

And no rugs for our pony! Mum bought us some old army surplus grey woollen blankets and even though me and sis hated sewing, we put baby blue blanket stitch all the way round. Then we cut two holes in the front (with the aid of an adult of course) and used the webbing strap that you used to put round the outside of suitcases to thread through and form the buckle - remember the bright yellow and orange webbing strap.

Then just for fun, we'd plait him up - one plait with a pale blue rubber band and the next with a bright yellow rubber band and take our beautifully co-ordinated pony out for a walk in his matching plaits and stitched blanket.

And I remember soaking (nowadays we call it marinading) carrots in treacle on Christmas Eve to give Rusty a treat on Chrismas Day (still do that for our horses even now).

And standing in the muck heap to warm our feet whilst eating potted meat sandwiches.

Found this and it brought back a few memories - enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWd_r2sOPhs
 
lurobsam2 said:
Love this thread!.

I started riding in the mid 80's and remember wearing a choice of beige or black jodhs, normally Caldene make. My friend had corduroy ones, which looked real great and I can remember wanting a pair!. In that little fob pocket on the inside of the jodhs would house a polo mint for pony, a hoof pick, piece of twine and a 10p peice to phone dad to pick me up from the stables at the end of the day!.

String gloves, in cream which got caught in the girth buckles. Waxed jackets that smelt. Long rubber boots, Aigle or Stylo Starts with that burgandy lining that made them a monster to remove without the talcum powder method!.

Riding hats with the chin cup which was handy for chewing on!. The colourful jockey silks with the tie straps.

The ponys wore red furry numnahs, or navy, maybe black. Those velvet browbands and matching reins and bit rings crept in during the 90's. The saddles had rigid trees with half panels, sometimes serge. They had suede covered knee flaps and safety stirrups.

Stabled horses wore duvets with pink witney blankets fastened with an anti-cast roller. Outdoor horses wore NZ rugs, green with a white leather surcingle around them.

String vest rugs with straw stuffed under for 'thatching' to dry off a sweaty horse after hunting.

Feed consisted of barley, sugar beet and a teaspoon of salt and steamed hay (kettle of boiling water chucked over a dustbin of hay).

Riding crops with the hands on the ends!!

Stockholm Tar for seedy toe!!!
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Think I must have started riding at the same time as you... as this was exactly what I remember... apart from the riding crop with the hand on the end. Mine was a green thing with a loop on the top end which was not for looping round your wrist apparently - it was hanging it up afterwards! I've still got that whip somewhere. Must be about 28yrs old now!!
 
My friends and I used to play ponies all the time with hobby horses made out of socks on which I had made a mane out of wool and stitched eyes and nose and made a bridle out of plaited wool.Then we would show jump round the garden. The sad thing is we must have been about 12/13.
My riding lesson was 10/- which is 50p, at a proper BHS school. Heels down.I had a book in which a wrote down all the ponies I rode.
All I ever wanted was a bay pony and a green Rice trailer. I now have the bay pony pulled by an old Rice, so old its retro, complete with the very old landrover. Its only taken 40 years.
 
I used to get Horse Sense magazine with a free poster every month. My ceiling and walls were covered in them.

Me and my friend learned to ride together. Our mums knitted us matching horse head jumpers, with manes that hung down like proper manes. Her's was red with a chestnut horse and mine was blue with a grey. We thought we were the bees knees :D:D
 
MinskiKaii said:
I used to get Horse Sense magazine with a free poster every month. My ceiling and walls were covered in them.

Me and my friend learned to ride together. Our mums knitted us matching horse head jumpers, with manes that hung down like proper manes. Her's was red with a chestnut horse and mine was blue with a grey. We thought we were the bees knees :D:D
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ah I forgot the Horse Sense magazines!!!!!!!! I've got the full set somewhere with the ringbinders as well :D and my pair of Stylo Start rubber boots with burgundy lining, plus a wax jacket my Dad has run off with
 
ok I amit.. Had a pair of bat wing jods,they were my sisters and I use to wear them even when to big (much to her annoyance) around the garden jumping over flower pot jumps with canes with the poor dog on a lead,jumping them too.
When started riding wore them with great pride with me school shoes lol
Think I was the only one in them though,did get an up to date pair for Christmas.
Them were the days
 
skewbald_again said:
don't know about sad, a blooming cheek!
I am still amused by riding schools who 'let' people take care of their ponies as 'their own' apart from the fact that they are used umpteen times a week in their riding school!
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A friends daughter does this, and her parents pay £100 a month for the privilege!
I remember my first pony getting a new bridle in the orange leather, I was mortified when the very owner at the yard where I kept him oiled it and it turned dark brown. I also had the wonderful elephant ears jodhs.
In later years I had matching string girths and nylon reins, blue for the grey pony and yellow for the chestnut.:o
 
My first pair of jods were cavalry twill and came from a jumble sale! The second pair were stretchy with leather kneepatches and were hand me downs. i was so excited when I got my first new pair of jods, plus show jacket, and boots when i turned 16. I had waited a long time! I think mum was worried it was a phase I was going through! :D I think she still lives in hope!:D
 
MinskiKaii said:
I used to get Horse Sense magazine with a free poster every month. My ceiling and walls were covered in them.
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My mum got me those and collected them in two big lever arch files and gave them to me one Christmas. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven as I pestered her for them when the advert came on TV. I still have them and have given to my daughter. Brought back memories looking through them together!
 
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Oh gosh! YES! I had a pair of the "Pat" riding trousers from Jacatex and wore them night & day for about five years until they'd gone way up my leg and I was too big for them. I really grieved their loss, what a lovely little garment they were, and on the day I had to part with them they looked at nifty as they did on the day my mum bought them for me. I'm not surprised this firm ceased trading, their stuff was good old fashioned hard-wearing stuff. I had a pair of their joddy boots too, and a hacking jacket, and yes, in those days we wouldn't ever have dreamed of going for a hack not wearing a hacking jacket, summer or winter, rain or shine!!!

I had a pair of bat-wing jods too, tho' was too embarrassed ever to wear them!

Plus had brightly coloured nylon girths (always had to be mending the damn things I remember - and just wonder if they were very comfy for the horse as they always seemed to cut in - our poor ponies!!); and nickel bits & stirrup irons - yuck!

On the plus side you could go for a hack without being frightened to death by busy traffic; and go hunting ........ properly! Ah those were the days.
 
I haven't laughed so much in a very long time. My sister and I both had Jacatex jods (bat wing style) We had to wear them as they were all we had. The cork lined hat stuffed with newspaper to make them fit, knicker elastic under the chin, short black jod boots that I bought from a friend for 10 shillings (50p) strings girths, and kaolin poulices. In fact, everything that you've all mentioned. Great fun and wonderful memories. My sis and I used to "ride" on the back wall of our house. The wall was about 13.2 and the washing line post was the head of the pony. We had that plastic covered clothes line for reins and stirrups, shared the first proper riding lesson as mum couldn't afford one each. We then started "working" at the stables, leading ponies on rides and taking them to the field, bareback. All the saddles were very flat seated and serge lined. They had to be brushed vigorously to get dirt and sweat off. The riding school ponies didn't have straight feed except if we bought it when we were going to shows. We would perk them up with whole oats and pidgeon beans. as reward for our "work", our instructer would give us a "schooling ride" in the field. Very happy days.
 
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  • showjumps made of flowerpots and bamboo canes in the garden
  • secondhand jodhs and riding mac (cream, of all colours) from my riding school
  • bizarre lace-on leather strap for attaching secondhand riding hat. Vaguely S&M, in retrospect
  • my mum's old BHS guide to organising your own gymkhana, which includes a game of tying balloons to one pony's tail and having the rest of the field give chase with pointed sticks. The suggested "disclaimer" is pretty hilarious...
  • entering Horse and Pony's Win a Pony competition every year and NEVER winning
  • my dad built me a starting stall for my Sindy horses out of Meccano :D
 
remember rainbow coloured reins so that you knew your reins where the same length.
how about the first type of cub saddles,
and the first syn saddles, they didnt half sqeek
and when libbys tack become popular
oh i can remember when chaps first come out, you where posh if you had them down my RS- hehe

Does any one remember a mag that had lots of stories of horses in a cartoon form?
 
My sister and I used to dream of the day we would have our own pony (it never happened). While we waited, we designed show-jumping courses with the jumps made out of coke cans and beanpoles. We would jump these on our spacehopper. I was always Liz Edgar and my sister would be Caroline Bradley. If my grandad was about he'd pretend to be Dorian Williams and do the commentary :D
 
I have to confess to still having all my toy horses, (which if you are of the era when the only fly spray that was available was called Extra Tail and came in a green and white aerosol can you will work out that my horse is not the only one needing supplements!). These comprise of Sindy's horse, Patch her sister's pony, a horse called Thunderbolt and numerous others whose names I forget now but still have all their tack and home made rugs! I also have my toy riding stables which last time I looked still had straw in the boxes and an entire showjumping course partly made by my brother. I don't have kids so don't ask why I have never got rid, just didn't have the heart as they gave my hours of pleasure as a child before the real thing came along when I was 11! We are hoping to move house soon so I think it will be time to find them a new home but I don't think anyone is interested in that sort of thing any more??
 
i am only 16 but the things that stick in my mind are:
corduroy jods that were awful to get on and off (had to have them pulled off)
long rubber riding boots that you couldnt bend your legs in
bronte jackets/wax jackets
canvass new zeland rugs that used to freeze solid if left out wet in the middle of winter
the multi coloured reins that all the riding school ponies wore
jumping lanes
thats just off the top of my head i could go on and on given half the chance
 
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