how did we ever cope !!!!!!

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PaintboxEDT

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just wondering how we coped back in the days when we didnt really get horses vetted and the vet was only called when the horse was on deaths door !!!!
i cant remember getting the dentist out and never had a saddle fitted or backs checked !!!
why has have we all become so obsessive ?
we all survived back then and so did our horses
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I think the whole industry is just more professional when i started showing 15 years ago you hardly ever saw a lorry at local shows, everyone had a trailer or hacked but now even at the smallest most casually venue there are loads and not old ones either but super smart shiny jobs! People take it a lot more seriously and spend more money.
 
I'm with paint box, there is an awful lot of money to be made out of horses and an awful lot of people wanting to make it. Our first horse had one rug, a Jute night rug that he wore if he came in wet, well stuffed with straw. Our second two had the same arrangement for the first ten years they were with us. As they got older and materials got better they did have waterproof rugs for bad weather. I think that they survived just fine, one lived t obe 33 the other to 25, not bad when you think.
 
yeh my boy had one old new zeland rug and one old red stable rug,bran and fibre cubes for tea no sups,if i remember rightly i only wormed him once a year and he lived out with our donkey lol i sold him to a young girl who wanted a confidance giver he was about 20 i think he lived till about 28ish,never did him any harm !!
 
I agree, although some things have improved for the better. It was so much simpler then.

It's just a money making exercise now, we buy all these completely unnecessary things and services to line peoples pockets.
 
I often wonder about this, I'm a newish owner and the treatments etc is mind boggling. Yet when I was a kid I don't remember the rs ponies ever being ill / injured yet most lived to a ripe old age.
 
when ever there is a problem now the first thing we all say is teeth,back,saddle !!! never thought about these things then we use to get on with the bucking/rearing and put up with it untill they stopped it was but down to spring or there feeling fit lol
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I think these days people just get totally fleeced by people in the horse industry trying to sell stuff that's not remotely necessary.
They make a fortune out of those dumb enough to fall for it every time. People fall for the pseudo -science stuff all the time.
As a biologist I would never have a person out to check my horses back as I know that a horses back is not the same as a humans back, the bio-mechanics are different.
I am also very sceptical about saddlers too. And generally a lot of other things as well like Equine massage, which strikes me as a load of nonsense, that horses seem to detest.
What wrong with a good scratch?
Also the amounts of money spent on fancy feeds and supplements ( that don't work) is astounding.
You can't eat something that will cause calmness unless you are feeding the equivalent of marajuana!!

Finally all those daft training aids that do more harm than good, and the one where you tie your horse up with bandages all over its body. Utter nonsense, bet they laugh all the way to the bank!!
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when ever there is a problem now the first thing we all say is teeth,back,saddle !!! never thought about these things then we use to get on with the bucking/rearing and put up with it untill they stopped it was but down to spring or there feeling fit lol
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Same here! - I rode all manner of "characteristic" ponies and we never thought once about the saddle or back although I do remember having one pony's teeth done - wow that was something else!

And bits - I am sure we only had snaffles, pelhams, kimblewicks and hackamores back then!

Big heavy canvas New Zealand rugs and when we bought a quilted stable rug - it was something to be proud of and admire!

We used to get someone in to clip because owning your own clippers was unheard of, we used to hire transport to shows until finally Mum bought an ancient Landrover and Rice Trailer. I must thank her for that one day!

Boy - things have progressed so far - I wouldn't begin to keep my horses now the way my ponies were kept back then, in corrugated iron stables with earth floors, tethered in the apple orchard for some extra grass, leap on bareback and gallop round the fields with a trendy hat with the chin strap over the peak! - Oh those were the days!
 
I'm afraid I have reverted on this score too. I rarely call the vet except in absolute dire emergencies, and even then I generally have to deal with the immediateness of it myself as the vet is often a million miles away. There are no back people around where I live. There are no dentists anywhere near either.

My guys work and play hard. When we go competing it must be strenuous for them zipping around a small arena chasing stupid cattle, but they never pull anything or injure themselves.

There have been a couple of "horrendous accidents" (by UK standards) happen since I've been here but to me they have just been an injury which needs tending to. I've become pretty hardened now - you have to be, living where I live, and I think it gets things in perspective really. I see dreadful neglect around here, and then when I come on HHO and see what people are complaining about when they see horses in fields who allegedly aren't cared for perfectly, I think I must be on a different planet, because most of these grievances appear incredibly trivial to me.

My horses appear to be the sort who would come into the category of "survival of the fittest". Don't get me wrong, my horses see the farrier every 6 weeks, they are wormed religiously, they live in beautiful large pastures, live a pretty chilled life here and they do see my vet if/when their injuries are something I can't deal with alone .... but otherwise no there are not the facilities to do specialised medical work here and mine survive, or they don't, simple as that really. Most do thankfully
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Wouldn't want to go back to the old jute rugs though, god they were heavy when they were wet.
Think problems today is that everything is so serious, even children are out competing not playing, peer pressure, horse next door has the new improve leg vibrating boots so your horse has to.
Your right about the bits, snaffle although was a choice of eggbut or loose ring, pelham, kimblewick or perhaps a double bridle if you were posh!! One saddle fitted all (or not). Thought nothing about jumping on pony with just a headcollar and galloping up the field to stables, which tended to be made out of old doors, pallets etc. One girl in our field ( we didn't have yards we had fields) had a pre-packed purpose built stable, gosh we were envious. No water on site or electric and rode in the field
We hacked to show, occasionally hired the local cattle truck to take us to the ones to far to hack too, as many as it would take so it was cheaper, 2 people in cab with driver and the rest squashed on the luton in the back
 
Oh PW - I think we must be the same age!

Jute rugs!! - fabulous for putting on inside out on a sweaty horse!

Cavaletti - you don't see those anymore and yet they were so versatile!

When I hit the big time (or so I thought in my little world - not even BSJA!) I actually had jumping lessons with a qualified instructor for £10 per hour!

My very first pony was a Dartmoor who would either bolt flat out across the orchard and take me off either under the branches or the swing or root himself to the spot and wouldn't budge. He jumped like a stag at home but take him to a show and IF you could actually get him into the ring, he would refuse three times at the first fence - clever bugger, but still I keep persisting! He bit and kicked and I wouldn't even dream of getting a pony like that for my kids nowadays!

Oh how I am reminiscing!
 
My first pony used to buck if anyone came up behind him in canter, spent a lot of time picking myself up off the ground until I learnt to let everyone go first.
Remember competing a friend pony jumping, in jump off, hat came over my eyes as I went over the fence, jumped the next fence blind,luckily fell off before next one and I went on to complete the course for a 2nd place. Those bits of elastic were useless!
 
LOL - but it was so trendy to have your chinstrap over your peak - I wouldn't have been seen any other way - and I had a navy hat!!
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lol these bring back so many happy memories,i had a kimblewick !!
use to ride bareback alot of the time and didnt even think of putting a hat on !!!
yep we all clubbed together to hire a lorry to take us anywhere and we had to make sure we were full so it wouldnt cost us all as much each lol
i think local shows were more organised then as well,not like now were you have the none horsey parent try to control some nutcase horse whilst the kid is haveing a tantrum !!!!!
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It was soooo much easier back then. We only ever had a snaffle bit, 1 Jute rug, never had back or teeth done. Ponies were unshod but we did so much hacking their feet were only trimmed a couple of times a year.

And no arena either for schooling in!! We managed fine!

Hats with elastic straps
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I had forgotton about those!

Just look at the choice of bits now, it madness!! All the supplements too!
 
i personaly think that the increased awareness of saddle fitting and getting ponies teeth done can only be a good thing. How many horses were labeled as problem horses or rearers when it was a badly fitting saddle causeing pain.
I've got a pony who rears when in pain, couldnt imagine he'd of had anywhere near as good a life as he has is he had been born 10 years before he was.

Im not convinced about supliments, i think a well balanced diet for them (ie good varied grazing with a little hard feed to top them up) removes the need for supliments.

The increase in knowlege has lead to horses not being pushed to early and for older horses to still be competeing at top level. It used to be that at 15 your horse was on the spiral downwards, now i dont concider 15 old. my 18 yearold is still doing everything he did when he was 10, my 25 yearold has only just stopped jumping!
 
my first pony..bought and backed at 2 1/2 yrs, had a saddle that was sold to my father for £1.75...it had come off a 14.2 TB type..my pony was an 12.3 Dartmoor type...

my Dad stretched the pommel out a bit so it would fit a bit better!!!

after he was gelded..he was entire until he was 6!!..that was the only time he ever had the vet!!!!!......no teeth checks/back checks.tet injections...NOTHING...

i sold him when he was 10....the saddle went on my next pony who was 14.1!!!!

He died at the ripe old age of 29!!!...ridden the day before... he had a heart attack in the paddock and was gone....
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think these days people just get totally fleeced by people in the horse industry trying to sell stuff that's not remotely necessary.
They make a fortune out of those dumb enough to fall for it every time. People fall for the pseudo -science stuff all the time.
As a biologist I would never have a person out to check my horses back as I know that a horses back is not the same as a humans back, the bio-mechanics are different.
I am also very sceptical about saddlers too. And generally a lot of other things as well like Equine massage, which strikes me as a load of nonsense, that horses seem to detest.
What wrong with a good scratch?
Also the amounts of money spent on fancy feeds and supplements ( that don't work) is astounding.
You can't eat something that will cause calmness unless you are feeding the equivalent of marajuana!!

Finally all those daft training aids that do more harm than good, and the one where you tie your horse up with bandages all over its body. Utter nonsense, bet they laugh all the way to the bank!!
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Totally spot on!!
 
when I was a teenager I worked with horses and because I had eight horses to muck nost mornings, all year round I became very fast at doing this. If you didn't finish before breakfast you didnt get breakfast. All the TB types lived in all year round, the turn out rugs were chaskits with the spider straps, we also never got teeth done and when something was sold it was rare to be vetted. We did have saddles fitted, but it was a "posh" yard and the owners were mostly loaded. I remember one christmas my mum gave me a whitney blanket for my horse and all the other students were green with envy!!!
Now I am back working with horses and I find students taking 15 mins to muck out one box, horses who have a rug for every weather condition, as well as for keeping insects at bay. The vet is on the yard at least once a week, teeth being rasped every six months, farrier is here once a week, back man out on a regular basis, saddles not only fitted but made to measure!!!! It's all a bit daft.
A lot of the changes are for the best, very time saving labour wise, no more pointing under rugs, and raps are so much quicker than stable bandages. But I feel lot of the fun has gone. My mate and I used to belt round the woods and jump whatever we found, we had those silly hats with elastic you put round the peak, and as soon as it got warm we loaded up would hit the beach with little more than a swiming costume fo rus and a head colar for the horses.
 
I think the trouble is, because of changing attitudes, we are made to feel guilty or irresponsible if we don't mollycoddle our horses and buy all the latest "must have" gadgetry. Naturally progress has to be made but not at the expense of good old fashioned horsemanship
 
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