Funny memories from the past...

BlueSocks

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Was just moonlighting on the your horse website and saw an interesting thing they had done about your memories from the past 30 years of being around horses. Brought back loads of funny things that we use to do and don't do anymore!! For instance riding the ponies bare back to the field only in head collars even on the road (shock horror)!! Holding back for a canter ha ha we all ended up on someones front garden once!! Rubber chin cups on your jockey skull, blankets or duvets under rugs folded into the triangle & held on with a surcingle, riding total nutters of 4 years old at the riding school & not thinking twice about it, full & half scissors & round the world, jute rugs, stinking wax jackets, no poo picking, fly spray, supplements blah blah blah, hacking to shows & pony club first thing in the morn with your rucksack & packup come rain or shine, bits of cloth instead of numnahs, baler twine haynets (& draw reins!!!!)...sure theres loads more to think of just made me giggle to think we were all getting up to the same stuff in them days, if you fell off you fell off limited health & safety but boy we all had sooooo much fun & learnt to ride anything & PROPERLY!! Whats yours for a laugh & how many remember all mine?!
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

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Oh gosh! So many things........

OK, so hacking 8 miles to a show/meet/Pony Club rally, and then hunting/competing, Pony Clubbing, and then hacking 8 miles home again, and thinking nothing of it.

Going to catch my pony amongst a herd of cows in a 100 acre field; and then riding him back to the gate in just a headcollar (no hat!!), with cows stampeding all around:)

Being able to get a full set of shoes for less than twenty quid (OK, so AM showing my age here).

And yes, remember full and half scissors and round the world. Today's generation won't have a clue about that coz of health and safety will they???

If you fell off you were immediately scooped up from where you'd landed and shovelled straight back into the saddle again. If they needed to call the ambulance for you, by god you were either already dead or expected to do so imminently:)

No hi viz in those days.

No bleddy cyclists pelting up your @rse either......... OK so there were some, but not like the plagues of them you get nowadays.

No synthetic saddles. Our old DC, god rest her, would have had a seizure if she'd ever thought we'd all be riding around on plastic one day.

If you came back from a ride and your pony was hot, you'd just bung it out in the field and let it get on with it and move around to keep itself at optimum temperature.

Clipping was only for hunters and TB's; no-one else did it.

Ditto rugging up; my old pony never possessed a rug - he lived out quite happily his entire life.

You'd have ONE saddle which fitted you but not necessarily your horse. You'd think nothing of slapping it on other horses as needed.

Horses lived quite happily (somehow!) without equine dentists, chiropractors, or natural horsemanship afficionados. Dunno how they did it, but they did:).
 

BlueSocks

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Ha ha love it - are we all just to worried about everything these days? Dont seem to remember hirses being anything like the drama they are now. Anyway think im regressing - decided to ditch rip off fly spray this summer - mainly cos it just doesnt flippin work!!! Still going with the fly masks though so cant claim to be going that old school he he! :)
 

Madam Min

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Around the world and half scissors, my mate tried to do that a few years ago, for old times sake, on her 16.3hh WB, she was facing his tail and he took off!

Aww I use to love seeing all the riding school horses wrapped up in duvets with the old surcingles round 'em!
 

Lolo

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At junior camp this year they all did round the world/ half/ full scissors. And then did trotting while sitting backwards on their ponies. The kids all know how to do them, and are bloomin fast :D

My sister and I used to go out blackberry picking and stand on our ponies' backs to get the highest blackberries (cos they were the best ones!). And we hacked in and out from the field bareback in headcollars because walking was so slow :D We'd still do that, but as the horse's turned out more than a 30 second walk away are 17.1hh and 18.3hh respectively it would take more time to climb on than just walk!

Madam Min, ours still wear duvets! With specific duvet covers... The ex-racer gets race cars and rockets :D
 

BlueSocks

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Do they still do jumping with no stirrups or arms? Used to love that... also how mad did riding school horses used to be? Well they did where i learnt anyway - i remember we had one that used to try & get down to roll every time we crossed water hacking out - our instructor used to come flying diwn from the front on her horse screaminf at the poor kid sat on him while failing her schooling whip wildly at the pony!! Hilarious aahhh those were the days!!
 

ebonyallen

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Just love these threads, agree with all that has been said along with New Zealand rug and a Jute rug with a roller, blankets folded underneath. My first hat just had elastic to go under the chin, which we never used because that was not the thing to do. No choice of colour unless you wanted beige or white / canary for special events. Rode to all shows, out all day on rides no mobile phones just got on with it. Hardly any tack shops around, we live on south coast and had to go up to Crystal Palace to the one place that sold bits, can not think of the name at the moment. String girths not like the stubben but that sort of thing, I remember the first time was able to buy a electric blue one for my pony was so chuffed to have a colour. Thatching when horse was hot, strapping with a home made whisp. Could go on those were the days .......................
 

Silvermiyazawa

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Canvas NewZealand rugs lined with blanket. I'm sure I've done the blanket/duvet thing into this century, my horse once spent a fine night shredding the blanket into teeny tiny pieces. The only mixes were Main Ring Red and Blue and they were a bit fancy so all feeds were straights. Plastic chin cups on riding hats (they were very nasty).

I once did an own pony type day at the RS and one girl had a new waxed jacket (we were all very impressed/jealous). She said she could not possibly muck out as if she got poo on the jacket it would fall to bits!

Edited 2nd time due to atrocious spelling.
 
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BlueSocks

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OMG Main Ring yeah you were very posh & forward thinking if you started feeding Main Ring!! Also how about your first aid kit - doesnt everyone know that you can fix pretty much any injury with purple spray, wound powder or sudocrem - if the going got really tough green oils could be unleashed...!!! Also don't forget your emergency 10p whilst out hacking. Thats for the phone box by the way any youngsters reading this!
 

Jaycee

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Oh the days of canvas New Zealand rugs that took forever to dry out, jute rugs, yep with the blankets underneath folded back and held in place with a surcingle, sweat rugs that looked like string vests! Thatching horses after bathing or after a hard days hunting. Feeding straights, barley, flaked maize, crushed oats oh and the smell of cooking linseed by the bucket load!
Coarse mixes were the first new feed to appear on our yard, followed by shavings as an alternative to straw Oh and the shock of the extravagance of one owner who splashed out on one of those new quilted rugs...caused quite a stir that did, as did a turnout rug with cross over surcingles and no leg straps! Now how on earth was that going to stay in place? lol
 

Moomin1

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Was just moonlighting on the your horse website and saw an interesting thing they had done about your memories from the past 30 years of being around horses. Brought back loads of funny things that we use to do and don't do anymore!! For instance riding the ponies bare back to the field only in head collars even on the road (shock horror)!! Holding back for a canter ha ha we all ended up on someones front garden once!! Rubber chin cups on your jockey skull, blankets or duvets under rugs folded into the triangle & held on with a surcingle, riding total nutters of 4 years old at the riding school & not thinking twice about it, full & half scissors & round the world, jute rugs, stinking wax jackets, no poo picking, fly spray, supplements blah blah blah, hacking to shows & pony club first thing in the morn with your rucksack & packup come rain or shine, bits of cloth instead of numnahs, baler twine haynets (& draw reins!!!!)...sure theres loads more to think of just made me giggle to think we were all getting up to the same stuff in them days, if you fell off you fell off limited health & safety but boy we all had sooooo much fun & learnt to ride anything & PROPERLY!! Whats yours for a laugh & how many remember all mine?!

Haha!! Oh god yes, I remember those days! Lol!!

Also, shavings bales were the new rage in the horsey world, and only cost £2.00.
People didn't get 'back people', dentists, podiatrists, chiropodists out. They simply called a vet.
Body protectors were also a new fangled idea for the every day rider, and just had one single elastic strap on either side, and then running under the crotch area!
Kids went hacking alone for miles and miles, and they didn't have mobile phones. Coming to think of it, neither did anyone, unless you really were 'someone'.
Any grass verge along side any road would make do for a canter.
 

Jaycee

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Ooh now we had shavings quite early on (go us!), we used to go and bag them ourselves from the wood yard - they were FREE!
I think one livery bagged her own for free another paid £3/4 approx. for a bale which 25 odd years ago was a lot money when straw I think was 50p a bale! Oh and hay was £1.00 a bale no such thing as haylage back then
 
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mytwofriends

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An hour's riding lesson used to be 99p back in the early/mid 70's, then they had the audacity to put it up to £1.50 which was daylight robbery!
 

JustMeThen

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I was going to put jumping with no reins/stirrups/bareback! We used to play cushion polo too; no rules except every team member had to touch the cushion before you scored... people falling/being pulled off all over the place :)

Canvas NZ rugs with no surcingles, those blue and red Polywarm rugs, jute rugs, chase-me-Charlies, jumping with no thought of strides or balance, just kicking all the way... and yes, those waxed jackets did stink!
 

ridefast

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Me and my step sister had a rather old fashioned childhood I feel, probably helped that we were farming stock. Rugs - why? We would jump on our ponies and ride them in from the field, sometimes without even a headcollar (had differences of direction on those occasions) we would go riding for whole days with picnics in our saddle bags, we would whisp off any sweat and turn the ponies back out wet. We had saddles that looked like they fit, and the most adventurous our tack got was choosing between a drop noseband or a flash noseband for one of the ponies? Didn't realise there was a bit other than snaffle. We fed a handful of cheapest chaff and nuts if the ponies had worked, in winter they were turned out on a hill and given hay. And when we went to pony camp we had washing up bowls and sawn off oil tubs for water and feed bins, one grooming brush each and one gp saddle, while suddenly all the other kids had matching feed bowl, water bowl, grooming kits, rugs (in summer??) and the ponies were fed buckets of colourful mixes. With different saddles and nosebands and bits for jumping or flatwork. I'm only 24 now, think I belong to a different generation
 

BlueSocks

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DWe used to get a free ride & £5 for a weekend which was from 6am till 6pm Sat & Sun at the age of about 12!! There was usually 4 of us & the head girl was about 15 i think - looked after the whole riding school all weekend you'd get shut down nowadays! We loved it though! Lessons were £4 an hour back then! When i first got my own horse i had one of the eatly nz rugs which were just a thick canvas sheet, no padding, with this single leather strap that dug in so i had to cover it in foam. Masta was the only make - that rug did all winter every day for years! Just imagine only 1 rug...
 

keeperscottage

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Mytwofriends - my riding lessons back in 1963 at the "posh" riding school were 11/6d per hour and you had to pay for a school term of lessons. Heaven forbid you went to the local downmarket stables (where I occassionally went and in fact bought bought my first horse in 1970 for £95!) where you paid 5/-d (25p) for an hour's ride!

How about this?...........just had an arena put in at my yard and turned out the contractor's mother-in-law was my riding instructor back in 1963-66!!!! Small world, especially since I'm miles from the area where I grew up many years ago!!
 

BlueSocks

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Me and my step sister had a rather old fashioned childhood I feel, probably helped that we were farming stock. Rugs - why? We would jump on our ponies and ride them in from the field, sometimes without even a headcollar (had differences of direction on those occasions) we would go riding for whole days with picnics in our saddle bags, we would whisp off any sweat and turn the ponies back out wet. We had saddles that looked like they fit, and the most adventurous our tack got was choosing between a drop noseband or a flash noseband for one of the ponies? Didn't realise there was a bit other than snaffle. We fed a handful of cheapest chaff and nuts if the ponies had worked, in winter they were turned out on a hill and given hay. And when we went to pony camp we had washing up bowls and sawn off oil tubs for water and feed bins, one grooming brush each and one gp saddle, while suddenly all the other kids had matching feed bowl, water bowl, grooming kits, rugs (in summer??) and the ponies were fed buckets of colourful mixes. With different saddles and nosebands and bits for jumping or flatwork. I'm only 24 now, think I belong to a different generation

I love this - 24!!! - brilliant! Keeping it real girls... :)
 

Silvermiyazawa

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DWe used to get a free ride & £5 for a weekend which was from 6am till 6pm Sat & Sun at the age of about 12!! There was usually 4 of us & the head girl was about 15 i think - looked after the whole riding school all weekend you'd get shut down nowadays! We loved it though! Lessons were £4 an hour back then! When i first got my own horse i had one of the eatly nz rugs which were just a thick canvas sheet, no padding, with this single leather strap that dug in so i had to cover it in foam. Masta was the only make - that rug did all winter every day for years! Just imagine only 1
rug...

Just imagine your bank balance with only one rug :)
 

WelshD

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I remember reproofing rugs with a tin of highly flammable liquid!

Cantering on grass verges is something i remember so vividly
 

Arizahn

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Ha, string vest sweat sheets, cantering on verges, polo mints were allowed, sleeping six to a trailer at pony camp, free shavings from the timber merchants provided you bagged them yourself, riding without stirrups/reins, round the world, scissors, red telephone boxes, cleaning tack after every ride mandatory, feeding straights, body protectors unheard of!
 

bamby00

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Riding bareback is still great fun! I was cantering around the field today with a headcollar and leadrope, lost track of the number of times I fell off (just cant get my pony's bouncy trot!) ;) Myself and my sister do all sorts of mad stuff around the yard, we set up jumps around 80cm's in the field and jump them with the ponies, bareback and holding our hands out :)

We do scissors and around the world like its going out of fashion :p and the best is standing up on the pony and seeing how far we can get when they walk, or sitting sideways, backwards etc. ;) To be fair though, all this has quietened my mare an awful lot, when I got her she was terribly nervous and headshy and wound up like you wouldnt believe, she didnt know how to walk! Now I can ride her (maybe not always in control ;) ) in a headcollar no bother and she lets me rub her face and vault on to her which she was terrified of when I got her :) So maybe all the messing helps out in the long run? :) And even if it doesnt, why shouldn't you go mad every once in a while with the horses ;)
 
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