Question for those who were horse owners in the 1970's

[scruffyponies]

My memory says chrome leather?

I still have one in the tackroom - can confirm chrome leather.

 

[splashgirl45]

i did have my horse at a yard with no turnout and used jute rugs with blankets under folded to a point at the withers and put under the leather roller..once i moved him to somewhere he could go out i first used the old canvas nz rugs and then got a chaskit rug with the spider attachments, loved it as my horse was a really violent roller and it always stayed in the right place, not over on one side like other nz rugs did. still used jute stable rug and roller for many years even after cross straps arrived as i could afford to change....

 

[paddi22]

yeah I always remember separate rollers.

 

[eggs]

I remember getting a flax New Zealand which was revolutionary at the time - about 1984? - as it had no roller and just regular leg straps but still stayed in place. It was cut much deeper than a standard New Zealand and cost me £50 which was a lot of money.

 

[Orangehorse]

I had a Kiwi New Zealand and that didn't have a surcingle of any sort. It was extra deep, fastened at the front and had cross over leg straps, and it did stay in place!

 

[paddy555]

I had a Kiwi New Zealand and that didn't have a surcingle of any sort. It was extra deep, fastened at the front and had cross over leg straps, and it did stay in place!

I had a bog standard canvas rug at the time. My friend had a Kiwi but I just couldn't afford one. I desperately wanted one.

 

[paddy555]

I remember all the jute rugs, canvas, rollers etc. The ones I hated most were the Lavenham out door rugs. Green with a dark red lining, very light and easy to put on. This was in 1974 when I was a groom (Tb types so they were rugged) The lining however was like brushed nylon and everytime you put them on they caught your finger nails.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Did anyone here have a Jacatex riding mac? I can remember reading about Jacatex on here but I wondered if it was waxed cotton or made from something else? What colour was it? I did see an old advert but it had black and white illustrations and I just cannot make out most of the wording.

When were the plaited nylon reins fashionable? I'm sure someone on here once mentioned that they had red ones to match their red numnah. Early matchy matchy?

I'd love to know more about what equipment there was for people in the past as well as horses.

 

[palo1]

I wish those were still around.

I still have 2 of these!! When I was a child it was the extent of my equine ambition to own a string sweat rug I am now living the dream lol

 

[Annagain]

Did anyone here have a Jacatex riding mac? I can remember reading about Jacatex on here but I wondered if it was waxed cotton or made from something else? What colour was it? I did see an old advert but it had black and white illustrations and I just cannot make out most of the wording.

When were the plaited nylon reins fashionable? I'm sure someone on here once mentioned that they had red ones to match their red numnah. Early matchy matchy?

I'd love to know more about what equipment there was for people in the past as well as horses.

My earliest matchy matchy memory was the petal Westropp overreach boots. All my pony club friends matched them to their numnahs (and usually XC 'colours' too). I thought I was soooooo classy because my Westropps were white to blend in with his feathers rather than bright red to match a numnah. I didn't have a bright red numnah either, I had a navy one and a bottle green one (so much more classy ) - with matching cottage craft cotton girths - the matching girth and numnah was a strong look back in the early 90s.

 

[Birker2020]

We used to use duvet covers which we rolled back over the rugs neck and fastened with a surcingle. That was late 90's. I don't remember when we had cross surcingles.
Then we had leg straps. Then someone clever invented a tail flap and later on big gussets around the shoulders and higher necks like the Rambo Wug.

 

[Birker2020]

This ad was from before decimalisation

View attachment 65282

Inedible??? I didn't know any rugs were actually okay to be eaten

 

[vhf]

When were the plaited nylon reins fashionable? I'm sure someone on here once mentioned that they had red ones to match their red numnah. Early matchy matchy?

I had yellow plaited reins. I used to have matching yellow pom-poms on my pony's plaits... (This was 70's Canada, I'm not sure the pom-pom thing ever happened over here).

 

[J&S]

I wrote about early matchy....... a red/white velvet browband, a red/white check cotton saddle cloth and red bandages with white padding. This would have been about 82/83 I think. My NF mare was very dark bay and looked so smart! Now a days I am dead boring with brown or black!
I had some white string reins on share horse, early 80's. My daughter insisted on some Yellow (ugh) rubber reins for her bay pony, I thought they were hideous. I sported white ones, probably just as bad.

 

[paddi22]

I think we only had options of plaited leather reins, or else a brown, kind of course, material, or just plain leather? girths were leather or the string one. it was the height of excitement when blue numnahs came in, before that everything was either red or green for colour options.

 

[criso]

We had coloured plaited reins - mine were green. However I had to go to a different tack shop to get them as my usual one wouldn't stock anything in green as it was an unlucky colour.

ETA the plaited reins were especially popular for gymkhana events as you could tie a knot in them more easily leaving your hands free.

 

[Rowreach]

How about string girths then? I was very proud of my conker brown one that matched my pony

 

[cauda equina]

I remember the PC Manual of Horsemanship said of nylon girths:
Coloured ones do not look good
which annoyed my mother, as you could get nylon girths in the PC colours (and plaited reins too, I think)

 

[Pippity]

How about string girths then? I was very proud of my conker brown one that matched my pony

I currently use one on my horse! And I have orange reins to go with her orange saddlecloth and overreach boots.

 

[rabatsa]

I bought my first cross circingle rug in the winter of 1978/79. It was a blue and white woven, thermal checked thing imported from America. It was advertised as never needing under blankets again, but they lied and I had to use one as the clipped horse was cold without.

 

[Sealine]

My only memory of the straps on the original NZ rugs is that the leg straps rubbed between the hind legs. Even now I remove the leg straps on rugs and replace them with a fillet string.

I have a photo somewhere of me at my first show circa 1975ish where my matchy matchy consisted of:
Horse - yellow/royal blue velvet browband, royal blue nylon reins, royal blue nylon string girth
Me - Yellow tie, royal blue v-neck jumper

I didn't have a show jacket and had hired the pony for the day from the local riding school. I don't recall if the girth, reins etc. were mine or if they belonged to the riding school or someone else. Mum worked in a boy's school uniform shop at the time which would have been where the tie and jumper came from.

 

[Maryann]

I worked weekends at a hunter livery yard in the early eighties and although we were still all jute rugs, rollers and blankets cross surcingles were a thing.

 

[Prancerpoos]

I bought a pair of plaited leather reins with my first ever tax rebate from my first ever f/t job in 1977. They seemed really expensive then. I loved them and used them on and off up until 2010 when my husband crashed my car and it was towed away. Despite many calls, I never got my possessions back, not even the reins.

I seem to remember cross surcingles coming in in the mid 80s.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I remember getting a flax New Zealand which was revolutionary at the time - about 1984? - as it had no roller and just regular leg straps but still stayed in place. It was cut much deeper than a standard New Zealand and cost me £50 which was a lot of money.

That sounds like the one I bought for my pony in late 1969. It was described as 'The Original Emston NZ Rug'. It was brown jute, cut deeper than the green ones and had leg straps but no surcingles. At the time it was about £23 against £8 for the green ones. It was double my week's wages so had to be saved up for.

 

[ycbm]

I remember getting a flax New Zealand which was revolutionary at the time - about 1984? - as it had no roller and just regular leg straps but still stayed in place. It was cut much deeper than a standard New Zealand and cost me £50 which was a lot of money.

Yup, I had one of those. I got my horse in once and someone had put a surcingle on it, it looked like he had his skirts tucked in his knickers ?

"Real" New Zealands imported from New Zealand, as I recall.

 

[Wheresthehoofpick]

Oh the joys of smelly heavy NZs ?
I did love a jute rug though - wool lined & very effective especially when thatched with straw ?
The excitement of buying an original green Rambo tho ?

Me too. Was blown away by the first Rambo. Bought for my princess TB. It's still in use!!!

 

[EventingMum]

I remember Lavenham rugs being a great new thing in the second half of the 70's. They were a revelation as they were so much lighter than jute rugs but were actually quite thin so often needed an under rug. They were all navy with red binding and had no surcingles so still needed a roller. Then the thicker Polywarm rugs came out which were much warmer and didn't require an under rug. I remember being amazed at HOYS in 1984 when I bought my first Thermatex and I was told it was a warm as two Polywarm rugs - it lasted forever until an ungrateful horse chewed it!

 

[GoldenWillow]

I 'worked' as in helped at a riding school/competition yard through the 80's and remember the excitement when the owner bought 3 red and navy quilted rugs with cross surcingles for some of their competition horses. They were also given a prototype rug and travel boots to trial by a manufacturer which was the first type of waffle cooler rug I'd seen.