How horse care has changed....

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FionaM12

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I last owned a horse in the 1970s. Then became so violently allergic it was dangerous to go near them, so with great sadness I gave my boy Bamber away and kept my distance from horses for 35 years.

I couldn't cope with reading about them, watching tv programmes about them and moved away from my horsey friends.

I can't explain why, but now the allergy's nearly gone away. So I've got a horse again. But how things have changed! Here are a few observations:

1. I don't think "haylage" was even a word last time around.

2. Where have the knee-pads gone? Bamber never went on a road without his.

3. Everyone used hoof oil, often daily, you were considered slap-dash if you didn't. Now I'm told it's useless and feet are better without!

4. Everyone fed a basic mixture of bran, oats and pony cubes then. Now I'm faced with a confusing array of feeds and suppliments.

5. One simple and brilliant "new" invention: Hoof picks with little stiff brushes on the other side. Wonderful idea. How did we cope without them?

6. My last observation: Horses are most definitely bigger... I used to spring onto a 15 hand horse without a second thought. Not now.. no, I'm sure they're much further from the ground.
 
welcome back to horse ownership:) my sister in law is allergic to horses, but i don't think she minds.

I still think a good basic mix of feed is better than all these ready mixed feeds that you buy, at least you know what you are feeding them

and yes the older you get, the bigger the horses get for sure
 
Welcome back to horses

Don't worry about the changes - you can still get knee pads but it's not so easy to find them. Feed straights if you want - I do much cheaper than all the processed feeds and your horse gets th eright sort of foods.

Haylage is useful - more nutrients than hay, easier to store and the horses clean it up - never any left on the ground.

Yes those hoof picks are great - we used to use the hoof pick and waterbrush.

It is still OK to oil your horses feet at least daily - in winter it prevents them absorbing too much water and in summer prevents them drying out to much.
 
Welcome back to the world of horses. I found all of the above confusing, as well as rugs not being jute or canvas, no more surcingles with sponge underneath, so many horses getting laminitis which was almost unheard of way back when. Saddle cleaning sprays instead of saddle soap bars. And so many other things too
 
Yey, welcome back :D

Funny isnt it how things change - new zealands ... yes thats what we called them!!!! :D

There'll be so much more you'll come across too ;)
 
Wait til you go to try and buy a bit!

My last attempt took 3 trips to the same tack shop as there were over 150 to pick from!!

Sometimes you can definitely have to much choice
 
LOL - New Zealand rugs! A waxed cotton sheet with a wool blanked sewn to the inside with a surcingle and crossed straps behind to hold it in place. Genius! One weight lasted the whole winter - they either had it on or off - simples! In the spring you laid it out in the middle of the yard, scrubbed it down with a stiff brush and painted the wax back on!

Jute rugs for the stable - hessian type material with again just a simple wool blanket sewn to the inside - usually combined with more woolen blankets pulled up round their ears!

The vet was only called if a leg was hanging off and kids thought nothing of hacking an hour or more to a "local" show.

A supplement was cod liver oil and a salt lick in the stable.

Schooling was done in the flatest field you could find ..... if ever.

Bedding was straw.

Hay was dry and cheap!

Boots were leather and had loads of straps and were only worn when you went to a show!

Hats were of the peaked variety with an elastic chin strap that was either neatly positioned over the peak or adjusted to fit with a knot in the elastic.

Oh and ponies were "the faster the better" please!
 
And jodhpurs came in cream , or white or yellow.
You used a blue bag in the rinsing water to help a white tail dazzle.
Hi viz gear was only for police.
Nosebands were cavesson or drop.
Girths were string ones.
Painting the waterproofing back on your New Zealand.

And the hacking to shows--yes, and pony club rallies and camp (parents took my gear in the car).

Times, they have changed!
 
I know exactly what you mean! Having been totally immersed in horses as a child/teenager and having a break of a fair few years, I'm back in and getting the kids a pony (today).

Everything has changed. Even buying a headcollar and leadrope yesterday - my kids ended up buying a horrendous two-tone pink job. And they've got pink and blue jodhpurs. What happened to "Putty"?! :D

Oh yes... and my first hat was a fixed peak one with an elastic chin strap (knotted for adjustment). I remember my parents bought it for me second hand :eek: and the vendor proudly telling them that it was a hat with history as it had gone through a wall at Olympia...

And the feed thing has totally got me stumped. I've only ever made up feeds using bran, nuts, oats.... happily new pony is grass kept with a bit of hay so I can avoid looking completely ignorant for a while...

Have fun with your new horse!
 
Psssst I've just bought my horse a retro string girth to go with my retro solid saddle soap, knee boots, string vest style sweat rug and beige jodhs.

Oh and the other half still believes all outdoor rugs are called new zealands! He's retro too.
 
The rise of "Natural Horsemanship" is an interesting development. Bitless bridles were very unusual then, and were severe "hackamores".

The single biggest change though is what we're doing now: the internet. If you needed advice or had a question, all that was available were the people around you, or books (Dorothy Johnson's Learn to Ride & Ride Well and the BHS manual and a few others for me).

Now, you Google a problem and find a fascinating (sometimes contradictory!) range of views and opinions. Someone uses a term or word you don't recognise and you don't want to show ignorance? Check it out online when you get home.

Someone told me the other day they you don't have to stand in the stirrups when your mount urinates any more! Is that right?

By the way, can you still BUY sacks of bran, oats and pony cubes?
 
Well iv not had a break from horse (im 21 and had them since 6) but even i see the changes since going to a new yard. Old yard very old fashioned.
This yard everyone has the physio/chiro/osteo out every 6months...old yard had back man out if horse obviously needed it (once in his entire life so far).
Straights are much better and yes you can still buy them.
Sugar beet is no longer used its all quick soak stuff...more convenient i guess
Rugs-i am a sucker for that so always had loads but do still have in garage the old fashioned jute rugs... just incase!! i still call turnouts new zealands
I will still stand in my stirrups too if horsey needs loo!!
 
I haven't had a break but I remember well the times you are talking about.

Some things have improved, some haven't.

Behavioural problem in horses seem to have increased massively. Probably due to the modern trends in feeding. Horses which in my early days would have been ridden out of the field with a handful of cubes, because they only did a couple of hours a week, are now getting enough food to feed an endurance horse.

And we all get sucked into it, you aren't a good horse owner unless you feed this, this and 100 other things.

Wouldn't want to go back to New Zealand and Jutes with blankets which slipped though.
 
im 21 and ridden since i was 6 months old but only just got a horse last year.
theres my history :)

yes we are still taught to stand if the horse needs a wee

untill about 4 years ago they were still newzealand so you only just missed that one

i still hack to my shows and camp. i dont have a trailer and i can still compete every 2 weeks from may to september through hacking.

my mare only has the vet if a leg is dropping of as i took a course in equine first aid and she is very well cared for.

weight limits have changed

saddles have changed

and i hate the bit thing, i cant work it all out for the life of me, so i went to my trusted saddler and said i want a dressage legal snaffle but shes strong and he got my the right one. but i also have a kimblewick for xc and jumping and a happy mouth gag for hacking

umm i sure there are more changes but i cant remember.

p.s the mixes are easy to work out, you just pick one the says what your horse does and then check the label for ingredients.
 
FionaM12 said:
By the way, can you still BUY sacks of bran, oats and pony cubes?
Click to expand...

Yes you can. I'm even more old fashioned and buy straight barley which I then boil on my cooker to make horse porridge for my oldie. You can still buy Linseed and boil it up yourself as well. You just need to find a good feed merchant.
 
I remember hacking to PC rallies in the New Forest and having the rally in the middle of the heathland! I'm sure the circles must still be there now!
I can't remember having teeth, backs checked or having a saddle fitter out! My DIY livery was £4.50 a week in the summer and £6 if they had a stable in the winter. (in the 80's)
Haha - they were definitely cheaper days!
 
rockysmum said:
Yes you can. I'm even more old fashioned and buy straight barley which I then boil on my cooker to make horse porridge for my oldie. You can still buy Linseed and boil it up yourself as well. You just need to find a good feed merchant.
Click to expand...

an easy way of barely porridge is crushed barely in the microwave 3-4 min, also to save on boiling the linseed, i feed linseed meal from charnwood feeds.
 
Yes! I remember how it used to be in the 70's. Our hero's then were Lucinda Prior-Palmer, Harvey Smith, David Broom, Richard Meade, etc etc.

Then, rigid treed saddles were the norm, and you had one saddle throughout the life of the horse, adjusted if needs be. Sprung trees were horrendously expensive and/or for eventers & showjumpers only! You still saw saddles with serge linings in those days; and for shows it was a total nightmare getting them white.

Horse boxes/trailers were only for "posh" people then! - the rest of us had to hack anywhere if we wanted to go. I remember hacking 8 miles to a show, doing our classes, and then hacking back again at the end of the day. Ditto hunting. You thought nothing of it in those days, and if it rained, well hey you gotta wet backside and trotted on.

Travelling boots (or any other sorts of horse boots) were rare - you did it the old fashioned way, ditto tail bandages. We all knew how to knuckle to and get bandaging.

I remember having some absolutely hideous string coloured girths and matching nylon reins (bright blue); wish they still did the reins though coz I've never discovered anything quite as nice as my old nylon reins, they never slipped and were soooo comfy.

The other thing you'll quickly realise is that breeches and joddies have got a helluva lot smaller .....!!! :)

Enjoy!
 
Aww, memories :D

Yep, the 'mitred' turnback for the blankets over the shoulder/withers - woe betide you if it was not neat.
Heavy (in comparison to now) jute rugs that had been slept in, in the wettest part of the stable. (cor, those did hum a bit by the end of winter)

Straights! Oh, yes - the good old bins of nuts, bran, maize, barley and oats. Hand chopping chaff once a week with the cutter in the barn.
Boiling up barley on a Sunday for the evening mash before day off on a Monday.

String girths - rope haynets.

Who rememembers the (dreadful) plastic-covered coloured browbands that were prevalent in the 70's? :D you were the bee's knees if you had a velvet one round here! :D

Some things I don't miss (heavy wet NZ's) - others I really do (like mixing a mash with my hands & getting bran all stick over them)
 
Your post made me smile and brought back lots of memories. I think I can explain your allergy changes, you gave up horses 35 years ago maybe aged 15 -20 ish = that time in your life!!
Enjoy being back in the horse world.
 
Oh memories sweet memories. Bran mashes. Jute rugs. Canvas New Zealands.
Anti cast rollers. Straight feeds. Boiling barley. String girths with matching reins.
Plastic coloured browbands. Shoeing at 12/6p a set (75p in todays money) Hay 10 shillings a bale (50p) and Straw at 5 bob.(25p) My brand new saddle cost me £75 and I worked all my summer holidays to earn that money. Gymkhanas and local shows every weekend. Also the days when you had to enter BSJA shows for Newcomers and Foxhunter months in advance or you wouldn't get in. Prize money for every class, even for a gymkhana race.
I'm sure there is much more but my old age prevents my memory from working! lol
 
Re. previous post about browbands, yes I remember them! They had plastic zig-zagged all around them, and we all thought we were the bee's knees with them.

Also, remember numnah's? They were GROSS. I remember having one with green material and red piping all around it, made of nylon quilted stuff. Probably comfortable for the horse though, thinking about it, but combined with bright red girths we must have looked absolutely hideous.

Of course, leather tack was all you could buy in those days too; the word "synthetic" hadn't even entered anyone's vocabulary - our poor old Pony Club DC would have had six fits, bless her, if she thought we'd all be riding around on plastic in another twenty years or so.

Ditto treeless. The only truly treeless saddles then were Western saddles, and none of us had actually seen one, only in Western films on the telly.

And gosh, the only colour jods or breeches you could buy then were shades of canary, buff, fawn, or whatever. If you were really daring you might have a pair in navy or black, but all the different colour ranges we take for granted now were not available then. It really was incredibly boring, thinking about it!

Also hi viz wasn't an issue then, probably because the volume of traffic on the roads wasn't anything like it is now ..... hey, those were the days.
 
I first learnt to ride in the mid 90s and recognise most of the stuff on this thread. All the horses I knew were ridden in some kind of snaffle or other and as someone said either a drop or cavesson and occasionally a flash noseband. Defibitely too much choice these days!
 
Jute rugs!!! NZ! I still got some deep down in the tackroom probably home to some insects!!

The Ground has got harder and i dont bounce anymore!
 
Nickel bits! Now very frowned upon, I have inherited some from the mother. Even have an old NZ that must be 25 years old, doesn't get used, but it really is a very warm rug!
 
Ponies lived out ALL YEAR with no rugs, you could only ride at the weekend in winter after brushing off an inch of mud where the saddle girth and bridle went.
Didn't hear of laminitis in the 70's
Hired a box between 5 of you too get to the county show once a year.
Saddle was bought to fit the rider, no saddle fitter to come to the yard to fit, no back man, and no dentist. Rode to the vets for yearly vaccinations.
You could hack on the local canal tow path
It was safe to hack on the roads as a child alone
Rode bare back with no worries about H&S
If you fell off in your lesson you were thrown back on and expected to get on with it
Ponies came from local sale probably straight off the mountain, can remember to dinky ones arriving at the yard in the back of a black cab....got ridden straight away
Those lovely orange rubber reins to go with the New Zealand and Jute rugs
Hacked to the blacksmiths, often with shoes missing.......

It is a wonder how our poor ponies survived

OP enjoy your new horse:)
 
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