How did horses cope

Ah, the good old canvas New Zealand, couldn't move the b*****y thing when it was wet, it was so heavy!

I don't remember life before the New Zealand but horses weren't normally clipped in the winter then, or if they were, they were thatched (remember that?) and stabled (so my dad told me!).
 
I think native ponies coped fine - just as they do (or could do) now.

A lot of horses in hard work would probably not have been turned out at all in winter.

Wussy warmbloods were unheard of in this country :D
 
all the above is correct. Warmbloods wernt here thoroughbreds,anglos etc were stabled and usually in work ,in fact if it wasnt native it didnt live out in the winter. Horses were given more exercise then I think, I have some old horse books including "Teach yourself horse management" circa 1960 and that had quotes from older publications in it. it recommends a minimum of one and half hours exercise a day[ morning] with half an hour in the afternoon for a horse hunting 3 days a week and preferably up to 3 hours a day, all mostly at walk. it quotes from the army and polo pony exercise and stable routine in India. its a facenating read. Basically the grooms lived and breathed horses.
 
rosiefronfelen said:
before the onset of rugs, especially in winter?They were unheard of in the 60s until the good old New Zealand appeared. Im talking of turn outs now.
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There wasn't a huge leisure industry in the 60's. Most horses, I imagine, were working - so hardy and stabled at night. Or hunters - again stabled - and yes rugged, as indeed the race horse. But obviously not turned out - so not needing waterproofs.

You can't really compare the 60's with now, as things were so very, very different in the horse market.
 
pastie2 said:
I want the 60s back!! Even muck sacks that you carried on your back. No horse left its stable untill it was dressed over, groomed feet oiled and manes damped down.
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I don't want the sixties back Pastie2! I'd have to learn to walk and talk again and it's hard enough as it is :D
 
If using muck sacks, and not leaving the stable without oiled feet and tidy manes is from the 60s, then I've worked in a couple of good event yards that never left that era!
 
paisley said:
If using muck sacks, and not leaving the stable without oiled feet and tidy manes is from the 60s, then I've worked in a couple of good event yards that never left that era!
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i dont think our yard has left the era and we dont turn out in winter
 
Doesn't really matter how they coped, does it? If people nowadays want to spend money on lots of rugs - let them. What's the problem? I certainly can't see my clipped TB wintering out rugless, that's for sure :rolleyes:.
 
Nocturnal said:
Doesn't really matter how they coped, does it? If people nowadays want to spend money on lots of rugs - let them. What's the problem? I certainly can't see my clipped TB wintering out rugless, that's for sure :rolleyes:.
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Its obvious i asked a stupid question cos its heading for the usual bitch fest, so i'll say no more.
 
rosiefronfelen said:
Its obvious i asked a stupid question cos its heading for the usual bitch fest, so i'll say no more.
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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across as bitchy :confused:. I was merely making the point that rugging up etc isn't a bad thing unless taken to extremes. I just feel its best to let people get on and do things in whatever way makes them happy, without criticising.
 
I don't remember the 60's but I remember the late 80's/ early 90's and our TB's had their canvas NZ's! They had wool day rugs, jute rugs and the very first 'lavenams' sp? Quilted stables rugs. They used to have to wear 3/4 heavy jute type rugs under their NZ's as there wasn't l/w, m/w, h/w turnout rugs then or neck rugs!
If anything our horses wear less rugs now and they are thicker and much lighter.
I had a new forest pony in the early 90's. It didn't have shoes, rugs and was never fed and she never got lami or was sick. The TB's were just as pampered as our boys now though. They used to eat old fashioned mollychop, spillers pony nuts and milkweeds sugar beet. The event horse had maize and oats lol. Codliver oil was the fashionable supplement.
I also remember lice powder! The stuff that was banned as it was so toxic.
 
and horses with 'problems' were a rarity! I do believe that 'project' horses didn't exist. I cant remember them anyway! Horses were treated as horses and were worked, not pampered. Bring back the mentality of the sixties!:)
 
that is so untrue. When I was a child, horses were few and far between. Horses were IN WORK and ponies were hunting or in Pony Club. Horses were not a 'leisure tool'. Horses were just that-horses. Todays equine population is worse off than those of the 60s. If you have any doubts, PM me, I will give you my phone number and we can talk about it.
Horses are not treated like 'horses'. they have been made into the equiv of 'poodles.':(
 
In answer to the actual question, I think the horses coped 'less well' than they do these days. It was pretty normal for them to lose condition over the winter, which doesn't happen as a matter of course these days. Fat horses were far less commen.

Horses also didn't last as long. 12 was getting on. Harder life I'd say, work wise and management wise.
 
Years ago it was common practice to be given a new saddle for your 21st, this was expected to fit every horse you ever rode.

My equine vet told me when he was growing up and riding in pony club there was lots of one sided ponies no one every thought it might be a tooth problem.

Horses are very stoical and must have just coped or were passed on but I have to have a wry smile when I see hairy cobs & native ponies rugged up to the eyeballs. I have no problem with them wearing lightweight rugs so as to keeping grooming to a minimum but heavyweight rugs used in this instance is overkill imo.
 
Nocturnal said:
Doesn't really matter how they coped, does it? If people nowadays want to spend money on lots of rugs - let them. What's the problem? I certainly can't see my clipped TB wintering out rugless, that's for sure :rolleyes:.
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This ^^^^^^ if someone wants to spend their money on rugs then that is their choice. I buy as many as needed for my lad but my mare has a cooler, 1 very light turnout from when she was poorly and a fleece. Each horse should be treated as an individual.

I really get fed up with these horses should not be rugged, it was better years ago threads. No, it was not better in the 60s, I know I was there. Saddles were often poorly fitted , horses died earlier from things that are now easily cured or treated and those NZs were bl**dy awful, smelly and incredibly heavy when wet.There was little choice of tack, clothing, oh god those beige jods or boots. Also there was not the scope of competitions there are now.
ETA- OMG anyone remember those awful string sweat rugs? Would anyone really swap one of their coolers or fleeces for one of those? And most people who hunted turned away for the whole summer, no hunter trials! And moss for bedding! And stalls not lovely large stables. Never again, I hope.

For what it is worth there is no way I would go back, it was very hard work and back breaking as well. We are much better off now imho.

FDC
 
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SusannaF said:
Captain Horace Hayes (19th C horse expert) has an entire chapter on "clothing" for horses in one of his books:

http://www.archive.org/stream/stablemanagement00hayerich#page/284/mode/2up/search/285

Hayes mentions "waterproof" clothing which can be put over rugs when a horse is transported by train or in wet weather, and suggests you waterproof it using beeswax. Early precursor of the New Zealand?
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Thanks for the fascinating link, I am reading through it and it is great.

If you go to page 304 of the above link you will see the precursor to the Parelli rope head collar! And page 327 shows the extent of grooming kits then, actually there was not a lot more in the 1960s.

FDC
 
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