Old School Stable Management Routine

[Kat]

You shouldnt have tempted me. But thank you. I went on line and bought a copy. I am addicted.

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful! You won't be disappointed

 

[Lois Lame]

I had a quick look at Horse By Horse, by Diana R. Tuke, but it's a chatty book so goes into too much detail to quickly type up a page. I'd have to type up several.

This is a book I very much like so look out for it second hand if you like chatty books written by someone who knows their stuff.

Written on the inside jacket is:
SBN 85131 193 8

Written on the 3rd page in is...
First published in 1973 by J. A. Allen and Co Ltd
1 Lower Grosvenor Place
London, SWIW OEL

[copyright sign] Diana R. Tuke 1973
SBN 85131 193 8 Cloth bound ed.
SBN 85131 203 9 Paper bound ed.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by W and J Mackay Limited, Chatham

Me again: It's a very worthy book for any horselover's book shelf, particularly anyone who wants to learn all about stable management. This is something that the English have always done well; even my German riding instructor -- who rarely gave compliments to anyone other than his girlfriend's gelding -- said that the English were far better than the Germans at looking after horses.

Diana talks about 'choppy' which of course is chaff. But they cut their own and it was wonderfully coarse, from meadow hay. What better chaff could anyone have? And of course she used/uses (she might still be alive and keeping horses) bran, which I think is a great feed. Very tasty and great after a day's hunting.

 

[Kat]

These are descriptions of what we now call competition horses and this is their routine during their working season. Most would be roughed off and turned away for part of each year - hunters in the summer, showjumpers show horses etc in the winter.

There were also ponies and family horses who were often kept at grass or in at night, just like now. Types of food, tack and equipment were more limited back then though

This is what "Skilled Horsemanship" has to say about keeping ponies at grass:

"There is a growing tendancy to keep children's ponies at grass because it is found that they are easier to control. This, of course, is due to their vitality being lowered by hardship till their spirit is almost broken. It is preferable to keep them in the stable, clipped and groomed, on a hay diet. I venture to suggest that if the grown-ups from whom this suggestion comes were asked to keep their hunters at grass and ride them unclipped, dirty and ungroomed, they would rather give up hunting. It has always puzzled me why parents should advocate a treatment for their children's ponies different from anything they would tolerate for their own."

I think we can say that the author isn't a fan of turnout!!!

Although I think that the big change was rugs. Before decent rugs if you kept a horse or pony turned out it needed to be unclipped and shouldn't be thoroughly groomed either as this destroys the weather proofing of their coats. New Zealand rugs helped as they kept the rain off but they weren't warm and they were pretty horrific to use. Even books from the 80 and 90s talk about some clips only being suitable for stabled horses because of the difficulties of keeping clipped horses comfortable when turned out.

The riding school that I went to in the 80s and 90s would bib or trace clip the school ponies and put a NZ rug on for turnout in bad weather (they lived out at night and came in during the day to work). By the 2000s warm waterproof rugs were accessible enough that ponies could be blanket or hunter clipped and still turned out over night making management of hairy ponies much easier.

 

[Silver Clouds]

A couple of books I have from 1870's-1920 state that the groom's day should start at 5am or 5:30am, with them making a last check of their horses at 10pm! They do also state that each groom should have no more than one horse to look after if you want them to do their job properly, but if you are a bit strapped for cash then you could possibly stretch to two horses per groom. They did spend an awful lot of time grooming, strapping, walking to water, plaiting beds, drying and airing the straw bedding etc so I expect it was hard work even with one horse. One author was obsessed with cupboards, and stated that they should never be seen in a smart stableyard as the grooms will just use them to hide mess- instead you should have open shelves so that you can check everything is neat, tidy and regularly dusted (!).

 

[Leandy]

I had a quick look at Horse By Horse, by Diana R. Tuke, but it's a chatty book so goes into too much detail to quickly type up a page. I'd have to type up several.

This is a book I very much like so look out for it second hand if you like chatty books written by someone who knows their stuff.

Written on the inside jacket is:
SBN 85131 193 8

Written on the 3rd page in is...
First published in 1973 by J. A. Allen and Co Ltd
1 Lower Grosvenor Place
London, SWIW OEL

[copyright sign] Diana R. Tuke 1973
SBN 85131 193 8 Cloth bound ed.
SBN 85131 203 9 Paper bound ed.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by W and J Mackay Limited, Chatham

Me again: It's a very worthy book for any horselover's book shelf, particularly anyone who wants to learn all about stable management. This is something that the English have always done well; even my German riding instructor -- who rarely gave compliments to anyone other than his girlfriend's gelding -- said that the English were far better than the Germans at looking after horses.

Diana talks about 'choppy' which of course is chaff. But they cut their own and it was wonderfully coarse, from meadow hay. What better chaff could anyone have? And of course she used/uses (she might still be alive and keeping horses) bran, which I think is a great feed. Very tasty and great after a day's hunting.

Love the Diana Tuke books. She did a good one on getting horses fit also, literally week by week what you should be doing. I always think of it when posters ask how to get a horse fit. Noone seems to know these days. I suppose because many leisure horses are never actually out of work nowadays (if sound). Those were the days when every horse was let down at the end of the season and had at least a couple of months resting at grass every year. I can't help thinking that that approach must have helped with soundness, letting nature sort some niggles out before they become obvious and caused trouble.

 

[Leandy]

A couple of books I have from 1870's-1920 state that the groom's day should start at 5am or 5:30am, with them making a last check of their horses at 10pm!

I think that was pretty normal hours for staff in service in those days. With probably half a day off a week.

 

[Silver Clouds]

I think that was pretty normal hours for staff in service in those days. With probably half a day off a week.

Half a day off a week, what do you think they are- made of money?!! It must have been a pretty tough life, but I would have preferred work as a groom than as a housemaid (not that women would have had that choice). It was pretty hard for the horses too, a lot of the carriage horses were pretty much driven into the ground- 8yrs old was seen as 'old' for a London taxi cab horse, and a lot of them were rented by the driver so the drivers needed to get their money's worth out of them

 

[catkin]

This is what "Skilled Horsemanship" has to say about keeping ponies at grass:

"There is a growing tendancy to keep children's ponies at grass because it is found that they are easier to control. This, of course, is due to their vitality being lowered by hardship till their spirit is almost broken. It is preferable to keep them in the stable, clipped and groomed, on a hay diet. I venture to suggest that if the grown-ups from whom this suggestion comes were asked to keep their hunters at grass and ride them unclipped, dirty and ungroomed, they would rather give up hunting. It has always puzzled me why parents should advocate a treatment for their children's ponies different from anything they would tolerate for their own."

I think we can say that the author isn't a fan of turnout!!!

Although I think that the big change was rugs. Before decent rugs if you kept a horse or pony turned out it needed to be unclipped and shouldn't be thoroughly groomed either as this destroys the weather proofing of their coats. New Zealand rugs helped as they kept the rain off but they weren't warm and they were pretty horrific to use. Even books from the 80 and 90s talk about some clips only being suitable for stabled horses because of the difficulties of keeping clipped horses comfortable when turned out.

The riding school that I went to in the 80s and 90s would bib or trace clip the school ponies and put a NZ rug on for turnout in bad weather (they lived out at night and came in during the day to work). By the 2000s warm waterproof rugs were accessible enough that ponies could be blanket or hunter clipped and still turned out over night making management of hairy ponies much easier.

Ha ha - I think he's got the wrong end of the stick about ponies! - there were plenty of other writers contemporary with him that warned about treating children's ponies like big hunters because of the dangers of little tough ones 'feeling their oats' and that judicious use of turnout/keeping at grass helped manage them.
He's absolutely spot on about hay-only diet for ponies though.

 

[fredflop]

Black beauty does show throughout the story management of horses; I’d imagine it’s accurate for the period it was written. Whilst it doesn’t describe stable routines in detail it gives an idea about how different types of horses would be kept

 

[alibali]

Pleeeeease someone find a photo of a plaited straw bed. This is something I've never heard of before and I'm intrigued. For once Google doesn't seem to have the answer!

 

[SadKen]

Aside from the feed this is quite similar to our riding school yard in the 80s, early 90s.

In the summer I'd be on the yard at 6 to feed, waters after that, mucking out from 7 til 9, then grooming, pick feet and tack up for the first ride. Horses would do 3 rides finishing at 1, we would untack, wash bits, feed and water than tack up for afternoon rides at 2, usually til 5. Then groom, feed, skip out and haynets. Clean tack til 8, last checks and waters, usually finish at 9. Horses generally had one day a week off and turned out.

I like turnout, but in all honesty I think MOVEMENT is more important, however it is achieved. The horses were never ill; we had one case of colic and no lami, the rides were mostly in walk with few circles and the horses moved for 4 to 6 hours a day and were very fit. If I had time I would keep horses this way now, but turnout at night.

Skilled Horsemanship published in 1937 has the following for polo ponies in summer or non-hunting days for hunters in winter:
.

 

[Dexter]

Aside from the feed this is quite similar to our riding school yard in the 80s, early 90s.

In the summer I'd be on the yard at 6 to feed, waters after that, mucking out from 7 til 9, then grooming, pick feet and tack up for the first ride. Horses would do 3 rides finishing at 1, we would untack, wash bits, feed and water than tack up for afternoon rides at 2, usually til 5. Then groom, feed, skip out and haynets. Clean tack til 8, last checks and waters, usually finish at 9. Horses generally had one day a week off and turned out.

I like turnout, but in all honesty I think MOVEMENT is more important, however it is achieved. The horses were never ill; we had one case of colic and no lami, the rides were mostly in walk with few circles and the horses moved for 4 to 6 hours a day and were very fit. If I had time I would keep horses this way now, but turnout at night.

Thats where track systems come into their own. Constant movement.

 

[Lois Lame]

'Regularly dusted'
'Plaited straw edge of bed'
The mind boggles

I understand completely the early starts and the late finishes, the many small feeds and the frequent all-sorts-of-things, but...

Anyhow, a friend of mine went to England at the age of 20 and worked for an exceeeeeeeeedingly well-known woman. I mean, even I had heard of her. My friend worked hard but we thought this absolutely right, and, in fact, when my friend went to Germany at the age of 21 or 22 and worked in a dressage yard owned by a wealthy German, she was dismayed by the casual (compared to her former workplace) attitude to horse care. This was in the v. late 1970s. Or was it v. early 1980s... [vaguely wonders momentarily].

I find it odd to read about 'old fashioned' practises that to me are not old fashioned at all (such as many small feeds).

Love the Diana Tuke books. She did a good one on getting horses fit also, literally week by week what you should be doing. I always think of it when posters ask how to get a horse fit. Noone seems to know these days. I suppose because many leisure horses are never actually out of work nowadays (if sound). Those were the days when every horse was let down at the end of the season and had at least a couple of months resting at grass every year. I can't help thinking that that approach must have helped with soundness, letting nature sort some niggles out before they become obvious and caused trouble.

Yes, she's a great writer/author and her books have hundreds of small, clear, photos to illustrate everything.

 

[Lois Lame]

I like turnout, but in all honesty I think MOVEMENT is more important, however it is achieved.

It appears that walkers are not as rare as I would have expected them to be at yards in England. I thought they were more an American thing. I have to say I am not in favour of them but each to their own. I am in favour of horses getting tons of walk exercise, but preferably not on a walker.

Yes, movement is of course important, and if turned out with others it will be so much more likely to be achieved, especially at night. I like horses to get some 'me' time as well, standing next to mates, grooming each other, swishing flies and enjoying the scenery.

I think the only way to keep horses in a manner to which they would love to get accustomed is to have a LOT of land and not to overstock. I guess I'm dreaming again. Turnout for half of a 24 hour period would be lovely. (I mean as a minimum.)

 

[marmalade76]

I like horses to get some 'me' time as well, standing next to mates, grooming each other, swishing flies and enjoying the scenery.

I think the only way to keep horses in a manner to which they would love to get accustomed is to have a LOT of land and not to overstock. I guess I'm dreaming again. Turnout for half of a 24 hour period would be lovely. (I mean as a minimum.)

I used to keep mine like this when my children were small, on a small farm belonging to an old lady. It was very hilly, undulating, had hedges, trees, bramble thickets and had several spring fed streams so you didn't have to worry about frozen water troughs. There were little dips where the horses could get completely out of the wind. If one field got muddy, cut up and lacking in grass, I could just move them into another or just open gates and they would run three or four interconnecting fields. They'd stay surprisingly fit when not ridden so much in the winter. They loved it there.

 

[MuddyMonster]

I like turnout, but in all honesty I think MOVEMENT is more important, however it is achieved. The horses were never ill; we had one case of colic and no lami, the rides were mostly in walk with few circles and the horses moved for 4 to 6 hours a day and were very fit. If I had time I would keep horses this way now, but turnout at night.

I guess it depends why you are turning horses out? For me, turnout is just as important (if not more so) for their mental well being than physical health.

My horse isn't short on movement with me but I don't think a 4 hour hack, however much my horse appears to like it (and I think he does), is in anyway comparable to 4 hours of turn out for him.

 

[Tarragon]

I used to keep mine like this when my children were small, on a small farm belonging to an old lady. It was very hilly, undulating, had hedges, trees, bramble thickets and had several spring fed streams so you didn't have to worry about frozen water troughs. There were little dips where the horses could get completely out of the wind. If one field got muddy, cut up and lacking in grass, I could just move them into another or just open gates and they would run three or four interconnecting fields. They'd stay surprisingly fit when not ridden so much in the winter. They loved it there.

That sounds perfect

 

[MissTyc]

I have a fab book by Colonel something or other, USA, from the mid-late 1880s. He travelled to Europe to learn about European horsemanship, then wrote a book about horse care. It's pretty sensible all in all. Guy clearly knew horses! In particular he goes on and on about how bad behaviour is almost always a sign of poor husbandry and one should look to the self before shooting the horse. Progressive!

 

[SadKen]

I guess it depends why you are turning horses out? For me, turnout is just as important (if not more so) for their mental well being than physical health.

My horse isn't short on movement with me but I don't think a 4 hour hack, however much my horse appears to like it (and I think he does), is in anyway comparable to 4 hours of turn out for him.

I can see where you are coming from in terms of r&r, but I think we could break it down further again, in that 4hrs of hacking is going to be more beneficial than 4 hrs of turnout in a small segment of a paddock where again there is little movement. Good turnout in a herd with lots if freedom to move about will likely be more enjoyable and better for the horse.

For the record I would not keep my horse somewhere with no or very limited turnout, but I would like her to move more. She can spend a day moving no more than 10m by choice!

I am not suggesting that movement in a walker is a substitute for turnout (I wouldn't use one myself), or that horses don't need it for mental health, but for physical health I think the old routines aren't as bad as they seem and lots of steady work produces healthy fit horses. Mine would be out full time on a track if I had the option!