How did horses cope

They coped the same as their predecessors did, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to our climate. Native ponies evolved to live on sparse scrubland on a mountainside, not be rugged upto the eyeballs and given molasses licks in their stables to relieve bordom. No wonder so many get laminitis. Horses were tougher then, because they led a more natural lifestyle, to most people, a stable was a luxury. TB's were racehorses, and they were probably the only horses that were kept in the manner we are more accustomed to today. Continental WB's were unheard off and Arabs are tough as can be too, it's pretty damn cold in the desert in winter.

When I see a fat, laminitic Section A turned out on a sunny spring day in a rug 'because he feels the cold', then I really do think that the modern day owner has somewhat forgotten that a horse is not human, it's a horse!!

Oh, and my two ponies have fantastic winter coats, no rugs needed there!!
 
This is a good thread.I was about to go to bed till I started reading it. Having had a long break from horses after working for 10 years with them when younger, I am and surprised & sometimes bewildered by some of the changes in the general care of horses. My daughter who had almost no experience of horses recently bought a native pony, I'll quickly add that she's very keen to learn & determined to her best for him. We're on a large mixed livery yard with very little formal management. The main thing that struck me is how poor and overgrazed the fields are & how much I still hate barbed wire and how messy and untidy our stable yard is. Also the fact that the horses and ponies seem to be left standing in stables for far too long (due to restricted turnout) with very little exercise. Plenty of people have chipped in with advice about what we should be doing with my daughters youngster. Daughter has listened to their thoughts, I've said what I think to my daughter, & nine times out of ten after thinking about things daughter has said that she thinks my way seems to make the most sense. I should add that she's not one to agree just to keep the peace and also that we are about to move move yards shortly to one with better grazing and stable management and additional schooling facilities(her decision) & also that pony is going for short hacks confidently, lunging nicely, and his manners are also improving so hopefully we're getting something right. One final thought is that the current trend for clipping native ponies leaves me cold (let alone the ponies) excuse the pun cos if they weren't clipped 99% of them wouldn't need rugs anyway. Daughter, however things it looks great & can't wait to get him done, oh well can't win em all!
 
Horses were rugged before the sixties. I started riding in 1949. We were a hunting family and my father's horses had canvas rugs and stable rugs - and I still have the stable rugs. When the horses were clipped out they worse a thick underblanket, then a heavy twill-type rug on top with a surcingle. You turned the top of the underblanket over the rug like a collar to stop it slipping backwards. In bad weather we exercised with the big horses wearing exercise rugs and matching head+neck covers. When the horses came out the first morning of winter that they wore them they'd have hysterics seeing their friends looking like ghosts with those big holes for their eyes, not realising they were the same. The nicest thing was that we had 'livery rugs' - ours were camel with chocolate bindings. Again I still have them and occasionally even use them - but, as others ahve said, they are heavy.

On the exercising issue, the horses hacked out every non-hunting day except Sunday. Usually an hour, mainly walking, but also trotting both up and down hills. My father'd was an MFH for over 40 years and said he wouldn't have a horse that couldn'ttrot downhill. The horses were also turned out every day for at least 4 hours. They did work hard, and were fed accordingly, but seemed to thrive on it. In my teens I hunted 5 days a fortnight on my 14.2 Connemara x TB - I'd probably be prosecuted today! Once the horses were 'made' they were never schooled per se. You incorporated anything like that into exercising (popping logs, opening gates etc).

They were 'good old days' but the thing I don't miss is tired horses 'breaking out' (sweating) again after hunting. The stable rugs were so heavy, and we used to put straw under them to provide some ventilation, but you could be in the stable half the evening rubbing them down again.We used to use human cellular blankets.
 
I don't think it's true that people nowadays are more likely to own horses without learning about horsecare first. It's been the case for a long time.

I've turned up plenty of horror stories of bad horse care, and people setting up riding schools in the 1950s without knowing the first thing about horses. By which I mean, feeding horses leftover fish and chips (yep, that was a real case, before riding establishment legislation came in).

From the 1920s onwards you get a huge increase in manuals which are targeted at new horseowners who need to learn everything from scratch, and the principle seems to be to get a horse first (after a brief course of riding lessons in your felt hat and school shoes), then learn as you go along.
 
gala said:
And back further into the mists of time...

http://www.scanorthernlights.org/results/2005/MedievalHorseKeeping.html

According to this article, horses were given freshly mown grass in the summer (aaargh!!!), or specially baked 'horse bread'. And a farrier was called a 'marshall'. Interesting stuff.
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Thank you for that!

I've also read an old manual which suggested taming a difficult horse by attaching an angry cat to a stick and poking it at the horse's balls... :eek: We've gotten a lot better with some things. Might have been Markham but I can't find my notes.
 
SusannaF said:
Thank you for that!

I've also read an old manual which suggested taming a difficult horse by attaching an angry cat to a stick and poking it at the horse's balls... :eek: We've gotten a lot better with some things. Might have been Markham but I can't find my notes.
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Good grief!!! it sounds like something out of a Blackadder sketch!!!!

And fish and chips?? Blimey.
 
I think it's a sign of the times, and while learning new methods of improved husbandry or care are to be applauded, we are told we have to buy and use things on our horses that really aren't that essential. I know someone who's just bought a £25 cat grooming tool (furminator I think it's called) to get their horses winter coat out...this is a horse barely being ridden. Someone else on the yard having seen it and tried it is getting overly excited about it too. 2 people who are always moaning on about how they have no money... What's wrong with a good old normal body or dandy brush or a £6 metal shedding blade?! Yes I am 92 and a different generation...
 
gala said:
Good grief!!! it sounds like something out of a Blackadder sketch!!!!

And fish and chips?? Blimey.
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I know! It was a fifteen year old girl with a field full of unbroken ponies.

The cat thing was Thomas Blundeville, 1560:

'Blundeville recommended "a whelp or some other loud crying or biting beast", or even an iron bar armed with prickles, suspended from the horse's tail and drawn up by the rider, whenever the horse proved recalcitrant, by means of a cord passing between the hind-legs. If this failed, "let a footman stand behind you with a shrewd cat tied at one end of a long pole with her belly upwards, so as she may have her mouth and claws at liberty. And when your horse both stay or go backwards, let him thrust the cat between his legs so as she may scratch and bite him, sometimes by the thighs, sometimes by the rump, and often times by the stones."'
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A History of Horsemanship, Charles Chenevix Trench.
 
dozzie said:
And how did they survive without all the supplements? :eek:
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They might not have had commercial supplements, but a quick glance at a few old horse management books will reveal that they used to add all sorts of weird and wonderful things to their feeds to try and cure various problems!

Whilst I do agree that a lot of today's horses are over-cossetted, and that the equestrian industry has created a lot of products which we don't really need but feel that we 'want', I also think there is a danger of looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses! I am sure if you were on a professionally-run yard then everything was hunky dory, but I know from experience that not all horses were better off then, and I definitely know of 'problem horses' who were just shot!
 
Isn't the short answer to how did they cope without rugs, supplements, etc, etc that they didn't??????

Much like us human-beans they generally died a lot younger didn't they???
 
My old loan pony (second from right in sig) was never fed any supplements and her only consentrate was about half a pound of pasture mix a day. She is 32 this year, still in fine health and does not look her age at all.
 
Considering I was born in the 90's, I know how to make a strapping pad out of hay, and we thatch the horses after a day's hunting.
We also fed straights for a while, and when preparing the horses for showing they are strapped :)
 
gala said:
According to this article, horses were given freshly mown grass in the summer (aaargh!!!), or specially baked 'horse bread'. And a farrier was called a 'marshall'. Interesting stuff.
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I read a book by Pat Smythe about her life where she talks about giving grass clippings to the ponies.....
 
VoR said:
Isn't the short answer to how did they cope without rugs, supplements, etc, etc that they didn't??????

Much like us human-beans they generally died a lot younger didn't they???
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marmalade76 said:
My old loan pony (second from right in sig) was never fed any supplements and her only consentrate was about half a pound of pasture mix a day. She is 32 this year, still in fine health and does not look her age at all.
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The supplements were just one thing, the words 'in general' mean that there will always be exceptions, but pretty sure animal care and medical provision for both animals and humans has improved since 'the old days' which leads to a longer life 'in general'!
 
lhotse said:
When I see a fat, laminitic Section A turned out on a sunny spring day in a rug 'because he feels the cold', then I really do think that the modern day owner has somewhat forgotten that a horse is not human, it's a horse!!
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Said pony is out today, in a rug, with the sunshine blazing down, whilst the TB's in the next paddock are enjoying the sunshine on their backs, total madness........
 
Does anyone else remember having to plait the straw at the front of the stable to keep the bed tidy so that it didn't follow the horse when the horse was pulled out and mess up the yard?? One of my most hated jobs of all time!
 
gunnergundog said:
Does anyone else remember having to plait the straw at the front of the stable to keep the bed tidy so that it didn't follow the horse when the horse was pulled out and mess up the yard?? One of my most hated jobs of all time!
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I've never heard of this, how was it done? Sounds like a good idea to keep a yard tidy!
 
Fairynuff said:
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!:)
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Project horses didn't exisit as they were shot. Also Parelli didn't exisit so they weren't fashionable so it was OK to eat them.
 
gunnergundog said:
Does anyone else remember having to plait the straw at the front of the stable to keep the bed tidy so that it didn't follow the horse when the horse was pulled out and mess up the yard?? One of my most hated jobs of all time!
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Yes! Used to look good with the owner's colours woven into the edge too.

kyanya said:
I've never heard of this, how was it done? Sounds like a good idea to keep a yard tidy!
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Not sure if you can do it today as the straw was so much longer back then so you won't get the same effect with this short stuff. From what I remember you'd sweep the bed back, face the front of the box (door) lay the pikel down along the length of the bed, about six inches from the front, working from left to right, kneel down on the pikel shaft and turn the outside edge of the straw under with your hands, twisting it as you go working it along the whole of the front edge; it would look a bit like a pie crust upside down and because it was twisted in, it wasn't walked out as much! I'm sure someone will give you a better description than mine though.

alligator40 said:
...after thinking about this and chatting to a few friends...

if a horse went lame, it was rested..if still lame to ride, vet called..if he couldn't cure, it was shot
if a horse had colic, it was shot.
if a horse had behaviour problems, it was shot

no companion crap in those days.
no breeding from a lame/batty mare.
a horse had a job...or it met its maker.

and IMHO the horse world was a better place...far too many useless/badly bred animals in this day and age..
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I'll agree with most of that but also remember vets tended to be far more likely to be very experienced with most animals, a horse specialist was rare although you knew who were better with horses than others and they would use many remedies that although they would still work well now, would seem too old fashioned for most clients today. They were also blessed with clients that appreciated that time was a very great healer and would be ready to see that the horse got it too, unlike so many nowadays who only want a quick fix. Colic surgery was unheard of but at the same time, with people knowing what and how to feed for the work done, it was very rare, in fact I can't ever remember being on a yard where it happened for at least the first 25 years I worked with horses although I can remember nursing a two year old winning filly with tetanus because it wasn't widely inoculated for then; a horrible death.

pastie2 said:
Your last sentence is correct, but because of that there was not the problems that we are having in this day and age of over production of crap. Horses had a job and were bred for it, for people that knew what they were doing.
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Hear hear to that.:)
 
Brandy said:
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.
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a very good point, in part. I agree, when you look at the stats regarding laminitics there has been a direct correlation with horses being mollycoddled during winter and lamintis. my horses look ribby when coming out of winter into spring, they should. Spring then puts the weight on, as it should! Rug them, stable them, and overfeed them as is the fad these days, you end up with fat horses that look 'in place' in the show ring. Naturally a horse should be showing its ribs in the begining of spring, if not the fat fest is a recipie for disaster!

True horses didn't last as long, and 12 was considered as old, but in hindsight it shouldn't have been. Well wormed and cared for, horses that live out should have no problem lasting to a ripe old age, nowadays. Actually, if you stable them and pamper them to death they probably won't make the age they could.

I am not saying stabling is bad, it isn't. It is the 'over induldgence' that we carry out, in argument that it is 'in the best interest of the horse'!!!!! Treat a horse like a horse, for it is a horse and should be allowed to function as one.
 
They coped really well!

We did also have warmbloods in UK - they were called crossbreds or hunters - remember a warmblood is derived from the crossing of a 'Cold Blood' (draft horse) with a 'Hot Blood' (Arab or TB) horse. Modern warmbloods have a large amount of TB in them - hense the silly behaviour and need for so much feed and clothing.

My first horse wintered naked and would often be found with ice covering her body yet she was comfortably warm. The first time I put a cover on was when I had my first stabled horse and that was a Jute rug with a blanket underneath if the horse was clipped.

We also gave our horses far more space to graze in - they could run around and get warm through exercise.

They ate real grass, had far less hard feed than they get now - less supplements and when they were fed they got Meadow Hay, Oats or Barley with Sugarbeet. We didn't have all these metabolic problems with them, head shaking or food allergies. Soy is one of the biggest culprits and is in so many processed feeds.

They got more exercise on the roads and less in purpose built arenas. They certainly didn't missbehave like you here of nowadays.

Horses are seriously over-rugged, underworked and overfed these days.

My three are rarely rugged, live out 24/7 on 5 acres of land - receive minimal feed in winter - they have hay on the stalk as their paddock always has plenty of grazing. They have a mineral block that they can freely access. The vet only appears for routine injections.
 
There have always been "problem" horses - you have only to look at equestrian literature to see all the weird and wonderful ways people have "cured" horses over the millennia. Even on a personal note, I knew very old horsemen when I was a kid who specialised in sorting out such horses and they had learned from people before them - I don't think they would have stayed in business if there hadn't been any problems. ;)

I will say people tended to be more accepting of problems (I remember lots of horses with bad "habits" I would now recognise as actually being physical issues) because there were fewer options, and also less inclined to look for solutions if they couldn't accept them. Certainly any horse that worked for a living didn't stick around if it didn't do the job.

As far as horses living out unrugged . . . the horse in my avatar - Dutch sire, TB dam - lived out unrugged year round in Canada, along with all the other horses owned by his breeder including his elderly TB dam. (People here are horrified at how few rugs he has. ;) )That's not at all unusual for breeding stock. And rugging does seem to be a habit! You've always rugged more in the UK than lots of places because wet is harder for horses to cope with than dry cold, so maybe it just got to be more of a habit here.

Also we now ride year 'round and show late into the fall/early spring (impossible in cold climates when fewer people had arenas or went to warmer areas for the winter) so horses are clipped and kept in work. Even in my memory of the UK scene it's changed - how many people showed in the winter 30 years ago??

Maybe horses didn't suffer the same ways as now "way back when" but they certainly suffered. When was the last time you saw horses with permanent white marks on their backs from ill fitting tack? How about "fistulas withers"? Standard fare in pony books, now hardly ever seen. Colic was almost a death sentence, horses got tetanus (although I knew a horse that died of it because the owner couldn't be bothered to vaccinate), and worm damage and who knows what else. If a horse got spavins you jacked up its heels and hoped for the best.

We just KNOW so much more now! Which also means we find a lot more problems and sometimes end up spending a lot more time and money on hopeless causes. It also means we're less accepting of "it just is", which I don't think is always a good thing. We're much more likely to expect an answer (preferably the one we want to hear) to every question now, maybe because we have more answers generally.
 
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Tarrsteps - agree with you that there were many things that modern knowledge has improved but to be honest not a vast amount is different. There are still horses getting fistulous whithers - not from saddles but from covers.

There were many horses with bad habits that a chiro would have been able to fix. I had one mare that after flipping over a Xcountry fence became a nightmare to girth & ride - the vet Stewert Hastie manipulated her and improved her no end, I wish I had continued to send her to him. He was one of the first to start manipulation. Head shakers as we see now were very very rare - and usually a result of an accident and damage to the trigeminal nerve.

Saddles were better fitted because those that fitted them were master saddlers and knew exactly how to remedy the fit. Saddles also tended to be made for the individual horse. We didn't have adjustable gullets.

Processed foods have been a major contributor to problem horses - having lived and worked through the old era of basic feeds and seeing the introduction of the muesli type feeds introduced in the early '70s.

My school horses and ponies still received just the traditional feeds and not one of them had any behavioural problems. They lived out 24/7 with no grass problems despite living on dairy pasture. They were exercised according to what they were fed and vice versa.

Insulin resistance was unheard of because we didn't feed products that can affect metabolism - such as Soy.

We have caused our horses a lot of problems by over rugging, over feeding and under exercising.
 
Evelyn said:
Tarrsteps - agree with you that there were many things that modern knowledge has improved but to be honest not a vast amount is different. There are still horses getting fistulous whithers - not from saddles but from covers.

There were many horses with bad habits that a chiro would have been able to fix. I had one mare that after flipping over a Xcountry fence became a nightmare to girth & ride - the vet Stewert Hastie manipulated her and improved her no end, I wish I had continued to send her to him. He was one of the first to start manipulation. Head shakers as we see now were very very rare - and usually a result of an accident and damage to the trigeminal nerve.

Saddles were better fitted because those that fitted them were master saddlers and knew exactly how to remedy the fit. Saddles also tended to be made for the individual horse. We didn't have adjustable gullets.

Processed foods have been a major contributor to problem horses - having lived and worked through the old era of basic feeds and seeing the introduction of the muesli type feeds introduced in the early '70s.

My school horses and ponies still received just the traditional feeds and not one of them had any behavioural problems. They lived out 24/7 with no grass problems despite living on dairy pasture. They were exercised according to what they were fed and vice versa.

Insulin resistance was unheard of because we didn't feed products that can affect metabolism - such as Soy.

We have caused our horses a lot of problems by over rugging, over feeding and under exercising.
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Evelyn
My Mum used Stewart Haste on a pony of mine who'd been in a trailer that had turned over, his back was never the same again but the treatment the vet gave him I'm sure really helped him.
This was in the late 70s & it was an unsual thing to do then.
He's getting on a bit now but he's still involved.
 
Turkana - good to know Stuart is still around - yes it was about 1978 when my mare was treated - she improved no end. Since then I've had many horses done by other chiro's - one horse manipulated under general anaesthetic as he would not relax enough to get his neck completely right. He was amazing after all my problems gone.
 
Evelyn said:
Turkana - good to know Stuart is still around - yes it was about 1978 when my mare was treated - she improved no end. Since then I've had many horses done by other chiro's - one horse manipulated under general anaesthetic as he would not relax enough to get his neck completely right. He was amazing after all my problems gone.
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Do you remember Jane Nixon? She was working for the practice at about that time, Stewart & Jane are now married & she has taken over the practice, if you google www.nixonequine.com, click on "about" & then "the team" Stewart's picture is the first one you'll see.
I still use them, I asked Jane if he was still involved & he is, despite having had a stroke.
 
Evelyn said:
Processed foods have been a major contributor to problem horses - having lived and worked through the old era of basic feeds and seeing the introduction of the muesli type feeds introduced in the early '70s.

My school horses and ponies still received just the traditional feeds and not one of them had any behavioural problems. They lived out 24/7 with no grass problems despite living on dairy pasture. They were exercised according to what they were fed and vice versa.

Insulin resistance was unheard of because we didn't feed products that can affect metabolism - such as Soy.

We have caused our horses a lot of problems by over rugging, over feeding and under exercising.
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Such a lot of sense in your post, thoroughly agree with it.
 
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