Just for fun... your oldest in use item

[poiuytrewq]

I’ve just poached this question from Facebook as I thought it quite a good one for fun.
What’s your oldest item of horsey equipment that you still use?

I’m not sure on the answer personally but it won’t be anything at all exciting as I buy and sell constantly so nothing hangs around long enough to get old!
I’m sure there are some really old items still in use though so let’s see who has the oldest and what it is!

 

[Meredith]

Me!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

A 24yo shetland saddle & a 22yo small black show saddle! Both in really good nick! They have had bits and bobs done to them over the years - girth straps - but both are still in good show ring condition!

 

[poiuytrewq]

Ah actually my retired horses saddle is probably pretty ancient! I got it with him. Like yours it’s in pretty good condition still

 

[Follysmum]

Still use a 47yr old bridle and a 36yr old saddle that’s still in excellent condition

 

[SEL]

I've still got a body brush my parents bought me as part of a grooming set 35 years ago! They found it in a box full of old rosettes and other childhood horsey stuff cleaning out their attic. Kept it for sentimental reasons!!!

 

[dotty1]

My stirrups!!!, had them 40 years, used them on every horse I've had. Plain stainless steel ones, they weren't new when I got them either.

 

[chaps89]

My Symonds saddle must be 10-15 years old now and still in really good condition. I just wish I had something it fitted so I could still use it again, one of the comfiest saddles I've ever sat in.
I have a Rambo heavyweight that must be a similar age, it has 1 or 2 patches but is otherwise still going strong.
Nothing too exciting!

 

[Highflinger]

I still ride every spring & Autumn in a padded waistcoat bought from C&A 39 years ago !! A little faded but zip still works perfectly

 

[catkin]

My black jacket.
1950s Harry Hall. I got it from my aunt.
Not used everyday obviously but has been to many competitions over its lifetime. Its also been press-ganged into being a formal non-riding jacket on occasions too as its so beautifully cut.

 

[Hack4fun]

Dressage whip - given to me about 40 years ago.

 

[Mrs B]

A body brush which still has one of those punched name stickers you used to be able to make, with the name 'Mustard' on it. Mustard died when I was 17 in 1984 and we'd had it a few years by then, so am going to guess ... nearly 40 years? Still one of my main brushes. And a leather head collar with brass buckles, about the same age.

I love using them both: a magical, tactile link to my past with my horses and my parents.

 

[splashgirl45]

my body brush which i bought when i got my first horse over 50 years ago. also my clippers which i also bought for said horse prob about 45 years ago. rambo wug, which i also bought for first horse must be similar age as cant remember how long i had owned him, when i bought it....there must be some other bits and pieces around, am currently sorting everything out as i have now given up horse owning.....

 

[Surbie]

Folding hoof pick and plastic plaiting comb circa 1980-2.

Both were free gifts in a pony magazine for pony-mad pre-teens. The chrome plating has just started to flake off the hoofpick. My body brush and dandy both date from around the same time and are still perfectly good. I love using them.

 

[JFTDWS]

Last year I decided to finally retire an old fleece jumper. I remember wearing it on an RS trip to Olympia when I was 11. I'm now in my 30s. Around the same time, I also retired my brother's primary school PE jumper which I had also been wearing on the yard.

This is also a fair response to the current "looking homeless on the yard" thread

 

[Puzzled]

A grackle noseband...bought it secondhand 36 years ago!

 

[fidleyspromise]

A schooling whip bought when I was about 14 ish so 20 years old (has a horse head on end)

 

[Shooting Star]

Probably many items but I know my sweat scraper is at least 30 years old.

 

[DressageCob]

I have a 23 year old crop. And some pieces of grooming kits which are a similar sort of age. From when I first started riding as a child. A lot of my stuff otherwise I bought at the same time as I got my little cob - 9 years ago.

 

[Snowfilly]

Day to day stuff, a probably 35 year old bridle that my Mum used on her welsh pony, then my Shetland, her son, and several other short term ponies in between.

Some 20 year old brushes that came with Pony mag in the late 90s.

Special occasions, I have some vintage heavy horse show harness because I can't afford new stuff. My breeching and cart saddle are probably 1930s by style, I have a ribbon collar top decoration which was made in 1954 by the grandfather of the lady who gave it to me, and a plough band with an award brass from a show which was last held pre-WW1. Putting them on my horse never fails to make me shiver - the Clyde who won that ploughing award probably ended his life on the battlefields. It's like having guardianship of a little piece of history.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I have a piaffe whip my mum bought when I sent her out to buy a schooling whip about 20 years ago...

Have just stopped using a roughly 20 year old bit as realised it's actually too small for the current horse. And we have some knee boots of around the same age still going if Granny goes out for a walk on the roads.

Nothing much older. I still have a pony club jumper I occasionally wear though.

 

[Nudibranch]

I have a curry comb which must be over 30 years old. I tried to use my sister's first cub saddle for Baby NB recently but it was synthetic and left black stains on his trousers where the material started to disintegrate. It must have been about 40 as it wasn't brand new when we got it!

 

[ycbm]

I've got a twenty seven year old wheelbarrow still with its original pan and frame, nothing replaced, just a couple of welds and a new tyre.

My tack room was built in the 1600s sometime, does that count 😁

 

[honetpot]

I treated my self to a leather backed body brush in about 1979, its still my favourite brush as it shapes to your hand and the small metal curry comb I bought to go with it. I have all my tack from the 70's which was really hand stitched with double needles and made to order for me, which is amazing I could afford when I only earned about £150 a month,

 

[Remi'sMum]

My grandparents lived in a beautiful old house with Victorian stables. I used to play in the stables for hours, taking care of a yard full of invisible horses, attending to their every need. One day I found a big old leather backed body brush in one of the feed mangers. The leather had been half eaten away by mice but all the bristles still intact. I was so excited to have found a physical reminder of the horses that had once been there. My dad repaired the back of the brush by trimming away the remains of the old leather and filling the back of the brush with some sort of filler. I kept the brush all through my horseless childhood (even though it was too big to hold comfortably in my hand as a child, it was one of my prized possessions) and now I have horses as an adult it’s in daily use.

There hadn’t been horses in those stables for at least 30 years, and I was probably 8 when I found it. Which makes it at least 63 years old if not older. A daily reminder of my grandparents, my dad, the magic of those old stables and my dreams of owning a horse when I was little 😊

 

[Steerpike]

I think the oldest thing I have is my leather head collar, my Mum have it to me for my 21st over 20years ago pretty young compared to others items!

 

[scrat]

My faithful wooden boot jack bought in 1979. Heavy horse harness that we have cobbled together for our shires which is pretty old but still usable. When the cart pad was recovered with checked wool fabric it had four previous layers of moth eaten wool in various checked patterns. The pad had the original straw stuffing.
I bought a set of brass hames for the collar made in the late 19th century.
I think a lot of heavy horse harness is original old stuff, barn finds that end up on a pub wall which is a shame. We also have an old project tip cart which we think is 1940's. It's fascinating to think of the horses that were used in this harness.

 

[Red-1]

Leather boots I got in 1994, so 24 years old. Only worn for best and still looking good. I am selling them along with their solid wooden boot trees, they are probably 100 years old or more!

17 year old Rhino Wug, still waterproof.

20 year old Sprenger bit, good as new.

Kate Negus bridle is 14 years old, still in good heart. 2 Stuuben comp bridles even older and clean up like new.

I have an old Ansur saddle, I bought it second hand in about 2004. It was already old then. That is occasional use now though.

20 year old leather headcollar. Was once for best, is now for everyday.

I got my clippers when I was 18. 33 years ago! Never missed a beat, never even serviced.

Feed bins also 33 years old (black plastic).

Tack room radio is even older, possibly 35 - 37 years old. It is a bit crackly now though.

Tack room table was new when I was 3 years old, it was secondhand from a tea room that was shutting so already secondhand and for many years was our kitchen tale, been in the tack room since 1998. That tale is over 50 years old easily.

Tack room chairs purchased in 1976 to match the table when we moved to a bigger house, 42 years old. I painted them in 1998, but they are still looking good.

 

[Quigleyandme]

My bonkers sidesaddle canes of which I have a small collection.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Prob much around my yard lol
But, prob oldest things in regular use are:
Shetland felt Willis pad, re-furbished in 76 and again in 92 and still in use as Tiny Fuzzy uses it.
Sweat scraper, I took to PC camp in 75 & 76, still in use today, metal hoop not plastic. Been re-labelled twice as daughter took to camp with her in 90's.
Bridlework, stirrups etc too.
Various other items but none are as in 'regular use' as the 2 main ones above