HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
I had forgotten all about those lovely wool rugs that had three stripes down the middle which we used as under rugs. They were so warm and once (human) duvets arrived people just threw them out.
Ladies of a certain age.....
- Thread starter littleshetland
- Start date
Alan's mum
Well-Known Member
Remember when Coloured horses were either Piebald or Skewbald !!
julie111
Well-Known Member
Hi, two of my best horses I've ever owned were bought from the meat man at Southall! What an awful place it was
hobo
Well-Known Member
Lovely memories, another fan of Steve of Folly Foot and loved White Horses. I will confess that I bought Folly Foot box set. I am just humming White Horses.
I used to skip school and go to Southall market and come back crying on the bus.
I used to skip school and go to Southall market and come back crying on the bus.
VickyP
Well-Known Member
Brilliant thread! Jute and new zealand rugs.. When jodhs were beige or beige, I remember being state of the art in about the late 70s with a pair of nylon poo browns!! they were amazing, they'd go bobbly and I used to snag me nails on them but they were so cutting edge at the time I didn't care! Elastic chin straps and string gloves that when it rained was like riding with both hands in a plaster cast because of them absorbing every rain drop..
dreamcometrue
Well-Known Member
Horses shied. Where did this word 'spook' come from?
Dressage? Never heard of it!
Lessons? No, you just got on and did it!
All your horsey knowledge came from books written by Army captains.
Ooops! Am I older than I thought?
Dressage? Never heard of it!
Lessons? No, you just got on and did it!
All your horsey knowledge came from books written by Army captains.
Ooops! Am I older than I thought?
NZJenny
Well-Known Member
Used to ride bareback, in shorts, no hats and horses in halters down to the beach to take them swimming. On the roads.
magicmoose
Well-Known Member
I'm a couple of years too young for Follyfoot, but I have fond memories of Champion the Wonder Horse!
My parents were quite safety conscious, so I had a webbing harness with a plastic chin cup to go over my velvet cap. Very high tech!
My parents were quite safety conscious, so I had a webbing harness with a plastic chin cup to go over my velvet cap. Very high tech!
VickyP
Well-Known Member
Awesome the way you could just wrap a headcollar like thing around your shoddy old hat and be all safe!! I had the same thing and thought I was invincible!!
Coblover63
Well-Known Member
I have White Horses as my ring tone.
A horse was "old" if it was over 12 and if it lived to twenty it was positively ancient! Those awful green New Zealand rugs.... string girths, string gloves, jute rugs with rollers, chin cups on hats, jodhpurs that had "wings" on your thighs!!! WH Smith's annual Win-a-pony competition.... happy memories....
A horse was "old" if it was over 12 and if it lived to twenty it was positively ancient! Those awful green New Zealand rugs.... string girths, string gloves, jute rugs with rollers, chin cups on hats, jodhpurs that had "wings" on your thighs!!! WH Smith's annual Win-a-pony competition.... happy memories....
Pally
Well-Known Member
I know this has been posted on the forum before but here it is again.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hWd_r2sOPhs
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hWd_r2sOPhs
Wundahorse
Well-Known Member
A spot of nostalgia with hot flushes.Lol.Amazing how so many youngsters have no concepts of the hardships of having no arena,little choice,old fashioned rugs and straight feeds.All pales into insignificance compared with the freedom we had to roam the country with barely the traffic of today and just enjoying the simple things.
Selkie
Well-Known Member
Riding back to the field with only a head collar and lead rope
riding bareback in shorts and a sun top
leading ponies from a bicycle on the main roads
Spending all the summer holidays riding and our parents never knowing where we were but knowing that we would turn up at some time
Riding out in all weathers - I even had one of those lovely rubber riding macs!
small ponies didn't have rugs so saddle went on even if the pony was wet
Riding to local shows or if they were too far away clubbing together to hire a cattle lorry!
riding bareback in shorts and a sun top
leading ponies from a bicycle on the main roads
Spending all the summer holidays riding and our parents never knowing where we were but knowing that we would turn up at some time
Riding out in all weathers - I even had one of those lovely rubber riding macs!
small ponies didn't have rugs so saddle went on even if the pony was wet
Riding to local shows or if they were too far away clubbing together to hire a cattle lorry!
Red-1
I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
Ha Ha, laughing out loud now. I wanted Peter Pan, but sadly had a Jigsaw. Having said that, after a time being out of control I grew into my Jigsaw, and kept him until he left us at well the wrong side of 30.
Remembering the rugs, the Poo Brown Jodhs, the harness attachment for the hat with elastic, the string girths and the relief when Cottage Craft brought out their ones.
What about the trusty old Bedford TK, with wood sides that needed Yachting varnish? We would hire one between us to go to shows.
I also remember when a well to do livery brought the first video camera I had ever seen, the amazement when I saw myself on film.
I also regularly rode for up to 2 hours to get to a show, and rode home with pockets stuffed with rosettes. We made makeshift XC courses of anything, the best fence was the kitchen table!
I had orange rubber reins, that went sticky and gooey.
The amazement when the first corduroy jodhs came out, to replace the poo brown ones.
My favourite was the old fashioned back protector, it was a piece of white polystyrene that you stuffed down your knickers and had a piece of elastic to hold it to your waist.
Remembering the rugs, the Poo Brown Jodhs, the harness attachment for the hat with elastic, the string girths and the relief when Cottage Craft brought out their ones.
What about the trusty old Bedford TK, with wood sides that needed Yachting varnish? We would hire one between us to go to shows.
I also remember when a well to do livery brought the first video camera I had ever seen, the amazement when I saw myself on film.
I also regularly rode for up to 2 hours to get to a show, and rode home with pockets stuffed with rosettes. We made makeshift XC courses of anything, the best fence was the kitchen table!
I had orange rubber reins, that went sticky and gooey.
The amazement when the first corduroy jodhs came out, to replace the poo brown ones.
My favourite was the old fashioned back protector, it was a piece of white polystyrene that you stuffed down your knickers and had a piece of elastic to hold it to your waist.
VickyP
Well-Known Member
The amazement when the first corduroy jodhs came out, to replace the poo brown ones.
My favourite was the old fashioned back protector, it was a piece of white polystyrene that you stuffed down your knickers and had a piece of elastic to hold it to your waist.[/QUOTE]
My favourite was the old fashioned back protector, it was a piece of white polystyrene that you stuffed down your knickers and had a piece of elastic to hold it to your waist.[/QUOTE]
Meems
Well-Known Member
Excellent, I couldn't agree more!! A pony would only ever shy, no such thing as 'spook' (unless talking about ghosts maybe)!
cauda equina
Well-Known Member
All of the above ; also saddles with serge or linen linings, and cutting your own chaff, with a hand cranked chaff cutter
lawa
Well-Known Member
Not quite the 70s i was an early 90s rider. Riding bareback from the field, cooking linseed for feeds and mixing straights a flash was exotic!
Doing round the worlds and full scissors in the school, jumping no reins and stirrups.
Doing round the worlds and full scissors in the school, jumping no reins and stirrups.
Spot_the_Risk
Well-Known Member
Round the world, scissors and half scissors (not that I can remember the difference), cavaletti. I had some fabulous riding holidays in Cornwall, I think my Dad picked the place purely because it was the cheapest, we galloped at every chance, certainly every single field we came to. Ponies seemed to have very traditional names, Dandy, Bunty, Silver and often a Nobby too!
As for chaff cutters, we deliver horse feed to a few customers who still cut their own chaff...
As for chaff cutters, we deliver horse feed to a few customers who still cut their own chaff...
Hexx
Well-Known Member
80's for me....... Win a Pony - used to enter that every year, believing that I would ABSOLUTELY win.
I was a helper at the local Riding Stables and boy did we did work hard - catch 40 ponies each day in the summer holidays, apart from weekends when they stayed in, but we had to then muck them out on a Sunday, which was a mammoth task. Groomed, tack up/untack, swept acres of concrete, raked two indoor full size schools, did the gravel in the main yard twice a day.
We rode the ponies bareback (and sometimes the big horses!), helped with the haymaking - I am sure 13 year old girls shouldn't be chucking tonnes of hay up onto large wagons, cleaned 70 sets of tack every Saturday and Sunday.
However, we had a fab grounding in horse care and how to be responsible. We were given little projects to do such as bringing various horses back into work which meant hacking out for hours on hour own, at 14(!) with no phones(!).
The kids nowadays just don't seem to have a clue or any horse-sense. There's nothing like being sent out to catch a pony that kicks to learn how to avoid feet, but still get close enough to put a head collar on.
I was a helper at the local Riding Stables and boy did we did work hard - catch 40 ponies each day in the summer holidays, apart from weekends when they stayed in, but we had to then muck them out on a Sunday, which was a mammoth task. Groomed, tack up/untack, swept acres of concrete, raked two indoor full size schools, did the gravel in the main yard twice a day.
We rode the ponies bareback (and sometimes the big horses!), helped with the haymaking - I am sure 13 year old girls shouldn't be chucking tonnes of hay up onto large wagons, cleaned 70 sets of tack every Saturday and Sunday.
However, we had a fab grounding in horse care and how to be responsible. We were given little projects to do such as bringing various horses back into work which meant hacking out for hours on hour own, at 14(!) with no phones(!).
The kids nowadays just don't seem to have a clue or any horse-sense. There's nothing like being sent out to catch a pony that kicks to learn how to avoid feet, but still get close enough to put a head collar on.
diamonddogs
Well-Known Member
OMG getting covered in hair and dust brushing those old flat riding school saddles with a dandy brush! And I'd kill for one of those chaff cutters now!
Getting up at 7.00am to get a lift to the stables in those long summer holidays and getting home just before 10pm in early summer when it was just light. My parents did the sums and worked out it was cheaper to buy me a pony than give me money every day to go to the pictures, on day trips and other stuff that my non-horsey friends did. It was 75p a week grazing and £1 in winter when they put the hay out.
Hacking to the old blacksmith (made his own shoes in the forge and made and sold beautiful wrought iron gates) in the next village. We went via a disused railway line and they were building a new housing estate either side. Oh what fun we had cutting the wire the builders put up to stop us riding through! There were mobile farriers but it was cold shoeing only so not many people bothered. He was an ancient old man (probably in his late fifties!) who wore a cloth cap in winter because he was bald. And we discovered one summer visit when he'd ditched the cap because it was too hot he had a dent in his head where he'd been kicked by a wicked black stallion.
Having lessons in a field with four oil drums to mark the corners.
Pony magazine, with all those stuck up little kids on their show ponies. And good old R S Summerhayes's column!
And my reins and girth were royal blue! I had a royal blue and black velvet browband for shows.
Oh yes, and I had my hair cut like Dora's, but it looked nothing like hers because it was always windblown out of shape.
littleshetland
Well-Known Member
Hi, two of my best horses I've ever owned were bought from the meat man at Southall! What an awful place it was
Horrible horrible place - thats one thing from the past that I'm glad is gone.
micramadam
Well-Known Member
Riding and jumping bareback with pony in just a halter. Disappearing for the full day with my cousin and my 2 ponies and our parents never used to worry. Riding in a blizzard and having to slide my hands off my orange rubber reins cos my hands had frozen in my string gloves. Having to dig my way through huge snow drifts to the stables.
I still have an original yellow string girth from the 70's, a NZ rug and piles of horsey mags from the late 70's and early 80's.
I still have an original yellow string girth from the 70's, a NZ rug and piles of horsey mags from the late 70's and early 80's.
littleshetland
Well-Known Member
Bunty comic (this was read before you graduated onto 'Jackie') they always had a spoilt rich kid with a pony that couldn't ride, and a nice, but poor kid that could ride but didn't have a pony.....
Fun Times
Well-Known Member
Your bit choice was limited to snaffles, kimblewicks or pelhams and no horse had ever decided it needed a bit made with space age technology. And if you opted for a pelham you had to learn how to use two sets of reins - no "d rings" in those days. You were truly cool if you had those petal over reach boots that went clickety clack when you cantered. And when jumping you were taught to hold hold hold until two strides away and then launch like a rocket, occasionally vertically.
exmoorponyprincess1
Well-Known Member
I think (and it has been a loooong time!) that the following applies...obviously there should be no one holding on to your pony and hard hat is optional!!
Half scissors:
1. From sitting astride, swing your right leg over the front of the saddle to meet your left leg so you are sitting on the saddle with both legs together
2. Turn your whole body from sitting facing away from your pony to having your tummy against the saddle
3. Swing your right leg over the back of the saddle so you are sitting astride again
4. Repeat the opposite way!
Full scissors:
1. Lean back and bring both legs together (straight!) above your ponies neck
2. Cross your legs and twist your body so that you are lying face down on your saddle
3. Swing your legs down so that you are in sitting position in the saddle but facing your ponies tail
4. Repeat until you are facing the correct way again!
Happy to be corrected but I am pretty sure this is how we used to do it at my yard!
littleshetland
Well-Known Member
Exmoorponyprincess - I think we should all try that on our horses tomorrow and see how we get on.............
(allowing of course for bad backs, creaky joints and nutty warmbloods!)
(allowing of course for bad backs, creaky joints and nutty warmbloods!)
exmoorponyprincess1
Well-Known Member
What a great idea!!!
DW Team
Well-Known Member
Yes Shires still make anti cast rollers I only know as my big ID has to wear one as he gets cast if he does not wear it and at 18hh he is had work to roll over!!
samleigh
Well-Known Member
Ha ha...
No smell as good as the smell of boiling barley in winter & the fun building dens in the bales, the hours of walking being a helper in the riding school, riding 2up bareback from the field, planning picnic rides in the summer holidays, didn't think twice about a 6 hr hack, how those ponies must have sighed with relief when we went back to school after the summer holidays lol