Light hearted- old yard ways

beingachicken

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As a slope off from my current thread where Esther and Milliepops questioned why I feed what I feed which got me thinking. Thinking about my first yard (where I suppose I learnt the most) I fed what I fed, or a variation of because it’s what we did there ?
Other things from that yard which I remember now looking back but now are a bit weird!
No horse was allowed to be clipped before the clocks changed, but every horse HAD to be clipped as soon as they changed (wtf?)
We weren’t allowed to buy our own feed or supplies (I’d maybe kind of like a personal shopper nowadays!) but had to tick next to products on a list which then appeared once a week In our feed space!
We all fed weird faddy things, eggs for protein, gelatin for hooves are the two that spring to mind but there were more.
All the horses (25/30 of them) went out and came in at the same time. You could of course ride at any point but if say you finished at 4pm the horse had to be turned back out til 5 ?
Another yard I remember turning up to get my horse in to find he’d been moved to the YO friends house because I looked tired and she thought I needed a break so had turned him away for a month ?
At the time I accepted it ? now I’d hit the roof!
So any weird or wonderful old yard rules/ stories
 

milliepops

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They turned your horse away? ?

My old YO had a rule that once the rugs went on in the winter, they didnt come off till spring. Even on a mild day the horses still wore their heavyweight rugs. Crazy!
 

beingachicken

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They turned your horse away? ?

My old YO had a rule that once the rugs went on in the winter, they didnt come off till spring. Even on a mild day the horses still wore their heavyweight rugs. Crazy!
Yes!! That too. No horse wore a rug between change of clocks either! Come spring every rug came off, even if we had a vile day or week!!
I admit the turning my horse away was mad! I’d just had a baby and was knackered, too tired to question it/argue but I look back and just wonder what the hell she was thinking. I mean we are talking a good few miles away. She loaded him up and took him.
 

saalsk

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A long time ago now, but I swear the sound of the YO's voice still makes me tremble.

Being shouted at to clear up my horses poo from outside his stable - before the poor old boy had even finished doing it. She had the same effect on him - he was about to wee ( in his stable, having been brought in, as was his right ! ) and she shouted at someone else on the yard. His man parts disappeared so quickly I doubt he wee'd until well into that night.

Horses got a hunter clip, regardless of what work they were in, and usually without the owners knowledge, until the horse was seen in his/her new nakie form, and the owner would have it charged to their bill. Even my old retired boy.

My front-shod 14.2HH welsh/arab mare got a full set of shoes when the farrier turned up early and I wasn't there. Farrier was happy to listen to YO when it meant more money for him. I refused to pay for the back shoes and (luckily ) with parental back up, soon moved yards.
 

Chuffy99

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Yes!! That too. No horse wore a rug between change of clocks either! Come spring every rug came off, even if we had a vile day or week!!
I admit the turning my horse away was mad! I’d just had a baby and was knackered, too tired to question it/argue but I look back and just wonder what the hell she was thinking. I mean we are talking a good few miles away. She loaded him up and took him.
I reckon something needed a companion
 

Ceifer

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Horses with full clips turned out after returning from the last hunt of the season, unrugged no matter what the weather.


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ha I had that experience too. First hunt yard I worked on, first season. I had no clue about hunting and was shocked that after spending all winter heaving god knows how many rugs and duvets on to keep them warm and try to prevent their coats coming through that after the last meet they were unceremoniously chucked out naked and that was it! I don’t think it was a common practice elsewhere
 

windand rain

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Horses with full clips turned out after returning from the last hunt of the season, unrugged no matter what the weather.


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I remember that well even a few years ago the hunt horses were chucked out on the riverbank no shelter no rugs in March and it was sleeting
One thing that happened on the riding school yard was all the larger mares were put in foal to a TB stallion they then worked in the school until they foaled and were back in work 4 months later
 

Ceifer

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Garth and South Berks hunt? I was a DIY livery on their yard.

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No a bit further north. I won’t name the yard as I hated every second of being there ?. Learnt a lot but some of the things they did were random. The head groom used to pull all the tails the week before opening meet, she used to get muggins here to hold them in the stable reverse them to the stable door, she’d stand on the other side of the door pop the tail over and pull their tails until they were bald and bleeding. A week later they did look good but the method to achieve the result was grim.
 

Fragglerock

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My old YO had a rule that once the rugs went on in the winter, they didnt come off till spring. Even on a mild day the horses still wore their heavyweight rugs. Crazy!

Heavyweight rugs? At the time I had a canvas NZ, there was no difference in weights and usually only one rug. Extra warmth was added by additional blankets.

Tetanus injection was given and lasted for life.

Farrier made his own shoes for each horse.

We used to ride the horses to their fields bareback, no hats and in halters. We used to build jumps along the way between trees and jump them on the way to the field.
 

beingachicken

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Heavyweight rugs? At the time I had a canvas NZ, there was no difference in weights and usually only one rug. Extra warmth was added by additional blankets.

Tetanus injection was given and lasted for life.

Farrier made his own shoes for each horse.

We used to ride the horses to their fields bareback, no hats and in halters. We used to build jumps along the way between trees and jump them on the way to the field.
My dad, my innocent helpful dad got me into so much cr** for that! We weren’t allowed to ride to the field, it was a fair way through other fields and my pony was seen galloping out there with me on him..... yeah guess who used to offer to turn him back out and evidently hop on when he thought he was out of sight.....
 

Midlifecrisis

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I recall being given classes of beginners to teach each weekend at the age of 16....I doubt I was insured to do so and for sure had no formal qualifications. We would ride the riding school horses and ponies to their field in head collars bareback and lead the others. We made up huge buckets of sugar beet soaked for 24 hours then fed to each horse or pony with”pony nuts”. My own horses were fed straights..with boiled at home linseed and warm bran mashes after hard work. Hay was piled into stable corners or into racks/mangers. Out hacking we would canter on grass verges with traffic passing us and jump any bit of fallen tree or ditch. I wish I was as gung ho now!
 

ycbm

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I remember only ever feeding straights when I was a working pupil at 16. Mixes were the work of the devil.


I remember buying what I think was the first commercial one, Dodson and Horrell, stuffed full of molasses, in 1986??
 

sport horse

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There was no DIY unless you had your own land. Grass kept, Part (mucked out, turned out, caught in fed and hayed daily) or Full livery only.
Yard owner knew best and she did! We all learnt loads from her.
Feed was hay, oats, crushed barley and a little later sugar beet. There were no compouned feeds at all. Amazingly we had less problems with the horses but then perhaps there were less veterinary and scientific tests so we probably just got on with it!
Stable rugs were jute with rollers. Blankets were added as needed. New Zealands (Turnout rugs these days!) were canvas with a bit of grey blanket lining.
We hacked to shows, hunts etc. - sometimes 10 to 15 miles each way plus the days activities. Easy peasy, normal.
There was not a poor horse in the yard of up to 80 horses. Nor indeed was there an overweight laminitic horse either. They were all fit, mostly sound and well. Amazingly most of the livery owners spent their time actually riding rather than on stable chores.
 

ycbm

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I was DIY forty years ago in 1980, when was the earliest anyone remembers?

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SeaLadyGrey

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Horses with full clips turned out after returning from the last hunt of the season, unrugged no matter what the weather.


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My friend used to run a livery yard - although it was probably 15 years ago now, but handsome hunter liveries who she had to deliver back home as soon as the hunting finished as they didn’t want to pay livery over the summer. They are straight off the lorry and out into the fields rugged too !
 

Errin Paddywack

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I bought my first pony back in 1969 from the riding school I had been working at. My boyfriend's father offered me grazing on his farm. I got grazing and hay for the princely sum of 15 shillings a week. Soon bought another pony and paid 10 shilings a week keep for that.
 

OrangeAndLemon

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All horses had Mondays off and no liveries were allowed to visit unless it was an emergency (ie your horse basically just about to die!!). This was 40 years ago though!

I know a yard that still does this. Bank holiday mondays don't count but its preferred if you are on your way by midday.
 

rabatsa

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I was DIY in 1966. The local vet also had his two horses in the same field and we looked after them when he couldn't. In return ours were wormed and vaccinated for us.
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

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I was DIY forty years ago in 1980, when was the earliest anyone remembers?

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I had my horse at a yard on working livery in Spring of 1981......... it was a riding school and there were two basic rules: you liked it or you didn't; the YO's word was the same thing as God's, and nobody, whether staff or liveries, argued with the dictates. No point!

Your horse was shod by the yard farrier and seen by the yard vet; no other options permitted. You liked it or you didn't. Turnout was when and where the YO dictated and with the horses she dictated. No other permutations permitted. End of.

Horses weren't clipped or rugged then; the horses on the yard were used in the riding school, then turned out again at the end of the day, sweaty or not. They then had to "walk about to keep warm". Summer or winter.

These were in the days where it was hard to find decent livery; farmers hadn't get realised in those days that they would have to diversify and invite horses and owners onto their yards in order to make ends meet, and certainly where I lived in Devon, the vast majority of farmers wouldn't have horses anywhere near their land, so you had to put up with whatever livery yard you could find, and it wasn't easy to find anywhere!
 

DabDab

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The first riding school that I was a weekend helper at still bought their ponies from the market. I was the youngest and smallest and for some reason had no fear so I was used unceremoniously as official crash test dummy. All the ponies were in one field and the horses in another. Horses had a stall or stable in the day and ponies were tied up along the arena fence or the tie up rail, having been herded into the yard in the morning. The arena was just bark over grass and was a bog all winter, but most lessons were in the beaten out, unfenced ovals in the pony field. We would lead other kids around hanging onto the ponies' nosebands (including running really fast to do canter), and parents would often give us a 50p tip. Feed was chaff, oats, nuts, sugarbeet and barley for the odd old/poor horse.

Next riding school was slightly more upmarket as it was in Windsor. But their fields were a couple of miles up the road and we used to get dropped off with bridles and head collars and would ride and lead in a big string along the main road back to the yard :eek: (We did at least used to wear hats). Hay was kept in a hay loft with a ladder, where we would crawl about filling and weighing haynets before throwing them down. For horses that coughed the haynet would be put in a bin and a kettle of water heated on the reception wood burner would be poured on top and the lid put on.

In general we used to get our reins taken away a lot, but also played lots of fun games which generally involved zooming round on ponies crashing into each other, often with jumps thrown in
 

windand rain

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Learned to ride hacking out day consisted of being chucked up on a 15.2 coloured cob and lead from the YO on her fancy TB an hour round the block with trot and canter on the track that squared off the route back so we didnt go back the same way we came. Hat was cork with a bit of knicker elastic holding it on and all tack started out bright yellowy orange like baby poo
 

teddypops

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My friend kept her horse at a diy ‘yard’ in the early ‘80’s but it wasn’t really a yard, it was more of an unused farm. They used the cow barns as stables and had a couple of fields to use. No one ran it, the liveries just did their own thing. There were very few horses or yards in the area. The riding school was a row of tiny stables crammed into a woman’s back garden. The better ponies & horses lived in all year round, the school ponies lived out in the week in winter and came in for lessons at weekends. The woman didn’t own any land but rented odd fields here & there, so riding bareback to the fields (in the pitch black in winter) was our ‘treat’ for working all day. We also weren’t allowed to go home until every set of tack had been cleaned & inspected! We hacked in the winter and had lessons in a grass school in summer. Some ponies were on working livery but they were treated the same as the rs ponies and worked as hard. Feeds were straights inc boiled barley. They all had trace clips, jute stable and canvas nz rugs. I loved the place, the woman also gave me one of the ponies because she liked me but he was a horror and would regularly jump out of his field and trot up through the village to take himself home!
 
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