How did my first pony survive life

[poiuytrewq]

The feed question made me think. He was 14.2 welsh X type.
In all the time i had him, my school days, not sure now how old but he taught my daughter to canter at 5 so a long time. He never had a sick or sorry day- other than a few lame hours when he stood on a big nail.
He ate junk. Molassed chaff, proper old sugarbeet and really sticky mix. Never had a supplement or medication or anything until his late 30's when I did buy some joint stuff!
He wore, fully clipped the heaviest but thinnest old canvas rugs with no neck and as i recall a homemade blanket over night(!)
He went out all day everyday, coming in well after dark in a huge set of fields with streams and forestry, really steep slippery fields- current horse would be injured every time i turned out for sure. They lived in a herd of 30 i think mixed mares and geldings. There were fights but no one bothered and no horses ever got injured.
They all came in over night. On the weekend in winter the yard organised their own mass super fast pub ride, jumping anything found jumpable, with almost everyone at the yard (bearing in mind most hadn't been ridden all week)
Shoes were done when they sounded to clangy to continue.


Yet he was by far the best most hassle free fun I've ever had in a horse and lived til about 37, still ridden a bit with his ears pricked and a spring in his step. I would kill for another him!

 

[tda]

I think I'm a bit older than you, but when I was a kid the ponies lived in a field, period, no hard feed that I can remember, certainly no supplements, and never rugged either. simpler times, no arenas, even a lady who "did eventing" used a farmers field to school in

 

[ihatework]

I know!
I had this most awesome 15hh Welsh x aa on loan as a teenager. A real cut n shut conformation.
But he lived out 24/7, only owned 1 rug, herd of about 20. Only got hay/grass and a few pony nuts. Got a bit thin in winter, a bit fat in summer.

Never took a lame step.
Never had to see vet apart from vaccs.
Always bright and forwards
Jumped like stink.

God I wish I had him a bit later in life when I had some funds and half a clue

 

[Dasher66]

My first pony never wore a rug and only had hard food when she was worked. We didn’t have summer fields and didn’t have to restrict her grazing because in the spring there was very little grass to be had.

 

[Kaylum]

We had a saying no work no hard feed. It was always done that way. The brood mares lived out and foaled outside no problems. We had to think for ourselves and only called the vet in an emergency. I remember when rugs with necks came in and everyone laughed at them. Only the very posh people used them.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

The feed question made me think. He was 14.2 welsh X type.
In all the time i had him, my school days, not sure now how old but he taught my daughter to canter at 5 so a long time. He never had a sick or sorry day- other than a few lame hours when he stood on a big nail.
He ate junk. Molassed chaff, proper old sugarbeet and really sticky mix. Never had a supplement or medication or anything until his late 30's when I did buy some joint stuff!
He wore, fully clipped the heaviest but thinnest old canvas rugs with no neck and as i recall a homemade blanket over night(!)
He went out all day everyday, coming in well after dark in a huge set of fields with streams and forestry, really steep slippery fields- current horse would be injured every time i turned out for sure. They lived in a herd of 30 i think mixed mares and geldings. There were fights but no one bothered and no horses ever got injured.
They all came in over night. On the weekend in winter the yard organised their own mass super fast pub ride, jumping anything found jumpable, with almost everyone at the yard (bearing in mind most hadn't been ridden all week)
Shoes were done when they sounded to clangy to continue.


Yet he was by far the best most hassle free fun I've ever had in a horse and lived til about 37, still ridden a bit with his ears pricked and a spring in his step. I would kill for another him!

Sounds similar to my first pony!! Fed on bread and veg peelings before we bought him. Fed on country mix and chaff etc when I had him. Out all day everyday in the same as yours, an old canvas rug . Fly rugs didn't exist back then ! Bombed around everyday , never schooled. Pony never saw vets apart from vaccs. Never had back done as it wasn't a thing then. Teeth done yearly. Bought him as a 10 year old. He died of heart failure at 38!!

 

[SEL]

All out in a mixed herd (ponies one field, horses another). We did have New Zealand rugs for horses but I can't remember ever rugging the ponies.

Sugar beet, mollichop and pony nuts - variations on that. I think a handful of nuts for the ponies.

Can never remember any of them being lame!

 

[poiuytrewq]

Sounds similar to my first pony!! Fed on bread and veg peelings before we bought him. Fed on country mix and chaff etc when I had him. Out all day everyday in the same as yours, an old canvas rug . Fly rugs didn't exist back then ! Bombed around everyday , never schooled. Pony never saw vets apart from vaccs. Never had back done as it wasn't a thing then. Teeth done yearly. Bought him as a 10 year old. He died of heart failure at 38!!

Fly rugs? Did flies exist? If the did my pony didn’t care
Unlike now. Intense irritation. Needs to be covered head to foot. Stabled during the day (stable in summer??)
Antsy as hell to ride. Costs a fortune in spray.

Used to just slap the odd horsefly and carry on!

 

[poiuytrewq]

All out in a mixed herd (ponies one field, horses another). We did have New Zealand rugs for horses but I can't remember ever rugging the ponies.

Sugar beet, mollichop and pony nuts - variations on that. I think a handful of nuts for the ponies.

Can never remember any of them being lame!

Because they never were lame. Mine didn’t have tendons, or feet. He was just fine!

 

[dottylottie]

no rugs, little if any feed, thrown out in mixed herds, not a lame day besides being prone to lami from bouts previous to me and one abscess in 10+ years…buy my first 2 horses and they’re pulling sickies for months within 2 months of owning them

 

[Gloi]

Yes. Lived out all year with 2 bales of hay a week in winter and stale bread, cakes and veg from parents shop. Ridden every hour it was light when I wasn't at school, all day rides each weekend,sometimes bareback with two of us riding. Shod when shoes wore to tinfoil . Horrible flat half panel saddle for the first year I had him, an instrument of torture. Apart from both him and me catching ringworm from cows in his field was never lame or ill.
1970s.

 

[eggs]

Got my first pony mid-70s. Like others the ponies all lived out in a big field that was never rested. Cold shod every 8 weeks or so. No school but hacked for hours every weekend and after school in the summer. One of the liveries was owned by a baker so the ponies got to eat a lot of bread.

 

[Indy]

I kept my first pony on an allotment (1980s), I can remember buying main ring feed. Hadn't a clue but loved every minute of it.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

It all became too serious imo, and I think a big part of my loss of interest with my own

I didn't have my own but me and a group of others used to loan the rs ponies, we'd do chase me Charlie or gymkhana games, or go out in the fields on them and mess around. I don't seem to recall us being made to school them, we'd just have fun on them. I can remember the fields were quite long we'd canter them to the top, go along the top, turn and leg them on so they'd fly back to the gate. It's where I had my first gallop, I still remember that moment now

Even when I first got mine I'd go "paddling" in the pond, or play jumping games and mess about with the new group who loaned the rs ponies. Other liveries who had a similar approach would come hacking and we'd blast over the fields, hell I've even got a photo where me and another one had hacked to the fields when it was snowy, and this had involved road work. This was only about 10 years ago.

The "blasting around" became frowned upon, criticised even, and people moved away.

I think that was part of my loss of interest (coupled with the rising costs etc!)

 

[SpotsandBays]

My geriatric mare in her early 30s has never seen a balancer in her life. She’s out on grass 24/7, lovely thick coat on her - but I do chuck a 50g on when it’s wet just to keep her dry. She’s been on just grass since spring and looks fantastic, although I have recently started giving her a small dinner of chaff and soaked grass nuts. She doesn’t really need it but she wanted it and at that age, she can have whatever she wants!
Edited to add a photo because why not

 

[Cadbury]

It all became too serious imo, and I think a big part of my loss of interest with my own

I didn't have my own but me and a group of others used to loan the rs ponies, we'd do chase me Charlie or gymkhana games, or go out in the fields on them and mess around. I don't seem to recall us being made to school them, we'd just have fun on them. I can remember the fields were quite long we'd canter them to the top, go along the top, turn and leg them on so they'd fly back to the gate. It's where I had my first gallop, I still remember that moment now

Even when I first got mine I'd go "paddling" in the pond, or play jumping games and mess about with the new group who loaned the rs ponies. Other liveries who had a similar approach would come hacking and we'd blast over the fields, hell I've even got a photo where me and another one had hacked to the fields when it was snowy, and this had involved road work. This was only about 10 years ago.

The "blasting around" became frowned upon, criticised even, and people moved away.

I think that was part of my loss of interest (coupled with the rising costs etc!)

I completely agree, I remember messing about and just having fun with ponies years ago the way you describe but how serious it seems to be now has definitely lost me a bit of interest. The other thing that has is the fixation with wearing certain brands and having matching everything!

 

[scats]

Me and my mum were talking about this last week.

But I do have some theories. One is the range of feeds now being marketed and the increase in equine obesity, putting strain on joints and soft tissue. I do think feed companies have played a part in the equine obesity epidemic with their shiny colourful bags and feed for every occasion. Also the range of rugs now encourages people to wrap animals up like eskimos. Horses no longer follow the natural weight loss and weight gain during the seasons.
Another is the increase in traffic has lead to less roadwork being done and more circles on surfaces. We also rode a lot more. We thought nothing of hacking to a show for an hour, doing six classes and hacking home!

I also think people road more regularly when horses were in work, and if people knew they had a busy few months coming up, they turned the horse out. When I was a kid, a large number of horses got turned out for winter. This gave them a natural rest and if any niggles were starting to happen, they were sorted by the time the horse came back in spring. Also, hay was actually rarely supplemented when horses went on a winter break. Horses went to large fields and as the grass naturally depleted, it wasn’t the done thing to chuck tonnes of hay out. They grazed on what was there and lost a bit of weight but came back in spring ready to gain weight on the spring grass. Laminitis was very rare. But equally, owning natives wasn’t really much of a thing, so most horses had a bit of blood in them and weren’t a metabolic disaster waiting to happen.

Although awareness of lameness and issues is a great step forwards, I do teeter on the edge of thinking that we go looking for problems now, because we can. When I was a kid, barely anything ever went lame, and if it did, it was chucked in the field for a few months and generally came sound again of its own accord.

They were much simpler, happy times!

 

[DabDab]

I do think that the biggest change is moving away from the 'turn it out for a bit and see' philosophy. Vet investigations for lameness usually resulted in a treatment plan of rest and turnout, but it was also just much more habitual in other ways - horses were turned out for a holiday after the season of whatever they were doing had ended, if they displayed behavioural problems or seemed to be getting a bit sour they were turned out, if the rider wasn't willing and able for whatever reason they were turned out, a youngster having a growth spurt or not responding so well to training was turned out etc etc.

It was just considered normal, rather than the implication that it sometimes feels like there is these days that if you don't get everything investigated, don't find a cause, don't fix it 'in the moment' then you are somehow failing as an owner.

That being said, I'm very grateful for 'modern' inventions like horse physiotherapy and well fitting tack

 

[Smogul]

Yes, but horses were considered veterans at 16 and were usually past work by 20! Horses that were turned away frequently didn't come sound and were shot. People forget that side of things when they idealise the "good old days". We started riding as adults and were shown this amazing horse that was still doing cross country at 16. No one would find this worthy of note now.

 

[TPO]

I agree with scats and dabdab.

I've said it many a time about hooves/shoeing but "back in the day" when there were indoors and lit arenas horse got more of a break. Competiton/ leisure horses had winter off with shoes pulled and hunters had the summer. Now it's 24/7 12mths of the year.

I think moving away from straw had an impact too. "Back in the day" you could give a good doer a couple of sections of hay knowing that they could pick at their (clean) straw bed. Now on all the other beddings when hay is gone they stand empty.

 

[Glitter's fun]

As in so much of life, the extremes get headlines and are attractive to believe in but the truth lies in the grey area in the middle!
Start with what your Grandad did then add selected pieces of genuinely scientifically backed modern knowledge & you won't go far wrong.

 

[tda]

Fly rugs? Did flies exist? If the did my pony didn’t care
Unlike now. Intense irritation. Needs to be covered head to foot. Stabled during the day (stable in summer??)
Antsy as hell to ride. Costs a fortune in spray.

Used to just slap the odd horsefly and carry on!

I used to tuck a sprig of elder in the browband did it help...probably not

 

[humblepie]

Our ponies did get feeds. I think bran, maize and linseed I think it was A huge container of very sticky stuff. Had a 14.2 who was fed oats. Eek. One of the little ponies had a pair of brushing boots specially made by the local saddler. They wouldn't had had supplements though just veg peelings and Guinness at Christmas. They would I imagine (can’t remember as a long time ago) have the winter off other than weekends as wouldn’t have been able to ride schooldays.

 

[humblepie]

I used to tuck a sprig of elder in the browband did it help...probably not

There was a fly spray called Extra Tail. That and iced buns takes me back to late 60s/ early 70s pony club camps.

 

[SEL]

As the owner of two ponies (one is straight out of Thelwell) they are much, much more resilient than horses.

If humans vanished tomorrow little miss Thelwell would be fine. Any of the horses I've owned would be in dire straits the first time tea didn't show up.

 

[twiggy2]

Me and my mum were talking about this last week.

But I do have some theories. One is the range of feeds now being marketed and the increase in equine obesity, putting strain on joints and soft tissue. I do think feed companies have played a part in the equine obesity epidemic with their shiny colourful bags and feed for every occasion. Also the range of rugs now encourages people to wrap animals up like eskimos. Horses no longer follow the natural weight loss and weight gain during the seasons.
Another is the increase in traffic has lead to less roadwork being done and more circles on surfaces. We also rode a lot more. We thought nothing of hacking to a show for an hour, doing six classes and hacking home!

I also think people road more regularly when horses were in work, and if people knew they had a busy few months coming up, they turned the horse out. When I was a kid, a large number of horses got turned out for winter. This gave them a natural rest and if any niggles were starting to happen, they were sorted by the time the horse came back in spring. Also, hay was actually rarely supplemented when horses went on a winter break. Horses went to large fields and as the grass naturally depleted, it wasn’t the done thing to chuck tonnes of hay out. They grazed on what was there and lost a bit of weight but came back in spring ready to gain weight on the spring grass. Laminitis was very rare. But equally, owning natives wasn’t really much of a thing, so most horses had a bit of blood in them and weren’t a metabolic disaster waiting to happen.

Although awareness of lameness and issues is a great step forwards, I do teeter on the edge of thinking that we go looking for problems now, because we can. When I was a kid, barely anything ever went lame, and if it did, it was chucked in the field for a few months and generally came sound again of its own accord.

They were much simpler, happy times!

I agree with it all except the '..owning natives wasn't really much of a thing..' in the 70 and 80,'s nearly everything I rode was native, part native or cob, my first horse was Welsh cross, the riding school I worked at in the 80's only had one tb, a handful of wb, pretty much everything else was native.

 

[tda]

I agree with it all except the '..owning natives wasn't really much of a thing..' in the 70 and 80,'s nearly everything I rode was native, part native or cob, my first horse was Welsh cross, the riding school I worked at in the 80's only had one tb, a handful of wb, pretty much everything else was native.

Agree

 

[Indy]

I agree with it all except the '..owning natives wasn't really much of a thing..' in the 70 and 80,'s nearly everything I rode was native, part native or cob, my first horse was Welsh cross, the riding school I worked at in the 80's only had one tb, a handful of wb, pretty much everything else was native.

I can remember my riding school in the 80's was predominantly Welsh and Connemara crosses and a very exotic Arab. Coloured cobs didn't seem as popular back then

 

[Gloi]

Got my first pony mid-70s. Like others the ponies all lived out in a big field that was never rested. Cold shod every 8 weeks or so. No school but hacked for hours every weekend and after school in the summer. One of the liveries was owned by a baker so the ponies got to eat a lot of bread.

It's amazing how many ponies used to live on bread

 

[SEL]

I agree with it all except the '..owning natives wasn't really much of a thing..' in the 70 and 80,'s nearly everything I rode was native, part native or cob, my first horse was Welsh cross, the riding school I worked at in the 80's only had one tb, a handful of wb, pretty much everything else was native.

Everything I rode until we went to Germany was Shetland or Welsh types. Then we rocked up in Germany when I was 10 and they were 14h warmblood types.