Reminiscing, the good old days and catalogues and tack shops….

[Errin Paddywack]

bought my first saddle for 9 pounds in a sale at mount farm, later pennwood saddlery home of pennwood forge mill, it was flippin orange nearly, well strictly speaking, london colour leather

This reminds me, bought my first saddle from Tower Farm Saddlers back in 1970, it was second-hand and I paid I think £12. It was made by A E Lewins and I had seen it advertised by them in H&H. Think they were £17 new. It was a 16" half panel saddle with a serge lining that I later had redone with leather. I still have it and it was last used in 1990.

 

[Bobthecob15]

This reminds me, bought my first saddle from Tower Farm Saddlers back in 1970, it was second-hand and I paid I think £12. It was made by A E Lewins and I had seen it advertised by them in H&H. Think they were £17 new. It was a 16" half panel saddle with a serge lining that I later had redone with leather. I still have it and it was last used in 1990.

I think I went there once for a big sale...im pretty sure that is where I bought some boots that didn't fit properly just because they were a bargain

 

[Kaylum]

Getting the posters out of Horse and Pony Magazine and putting them on my bedroom wall. Hoping there was a free gift attached to the outside of the magazine that month. Along with massive horse posters I had bought from Woolworths and Athena. My favourite was Red Rum.

Getting my very first riding hat from Pooles in Leeds City Centre.

 

[Melody Grey]

I remember tack shops being useful, practical places where you could buy good, honest second hand items- practically anything you wanted. I’d bet I’m still using some of them now! Very little interest in fashion or branding, just good useable stuff.

 

[tristar]

This reminds me, bought my first saddle from Tower Farm Saddlers back in 1970, it was second-hand and I paid I think £12. It was made by A E Lewins and I had seen it advertised by them in H&H. Think they were £17 new. It was a 16" half panel saddle with a serge lining that I later had redone with leather. I still have it and it was last used in 1990.

i had a boyfriend who would call barretts of feckenham, cause he could`nt remember it, feckenham of twickenham

 

[Bobthecob15]

I remember tack shops being useful, practical places where you could buy good, honest second hand items- practically anything you wanted. I’d bet I’m still using some of them now! Very little interest in fashion or branding, just good useable stuff.

Yes they had a good second hand section didn't they?!

 

[sakura]

Another millennial here I didn’t have a horse until I was an adult so I loved the Robinsons and shires catalogues! I used to buy horse magazines religiously on my way to the school bus, and when they had a free catalogue with them ….. well that was a good day! Then I used to spend hours browsing eBay for pre used equestrian items that I’d definitely buy for my non existent horse!

Aah, memories!

 

[Fieldlife]

I've now completely given up horses but was a horse less child in the 90s/ early 2000s

*Watching Badminton and videoing it to watch again and again - used to love King William showing off up the trot up!

*Buying horse and pony magazine and reading the photo stories and putting the posters up on my bedroom wall

*Going to the tackshop and dreaming about what I'd buy for my own horse

*Gymkhanas at the riding school and pinning the rosettes to a cork board I had in my bedroom

*Helping out at the rs - there was a huge group of us who'd be up there as often as possible

*Loaning one of the rs ponies and wishing I could buy him as I hated how many lessons he had to do, and seeing other people on him

*Taking my magpie models everywhere, and setting up "hacks" in the garden or along the landing! Writing "lists" for lessons they would take part in! (I still have the models at my parents house)

*Jumping "jumps" made out of garden canes and flowerpots on foot around the garden

*Riding my rocking horse along to badminton or the racing

*Playing Mary King's riding star or Equestrian 2001 over and over on the ps1

*Reading the Robinson's catalogue and dreaming of all the tack I'd buy

*Watching chatter happy ponies (strop was my favourite) and if wishes were horses (I can still hear the theme tune in my head!)

*Want the model horses sold in the tackshop - first Julip then Breyer - it used to be exciting having birthday money to be able to actually choose one

I was very similar to this, except still horsey now.

 

[stormox]

Horse and Hound was delivered on Thursdays and cost 1s 9d.
Adverts for stallions used to say S.A.E. for stud card, I sent off for loads.
A visit to Sandon Saddlery in Buntingford was a special birthday treat.
I read all the pony books - Jill, Punchbowl Farm, Tamzin and Rissa...
I got the brush and was blooded hunting and didnt wash for a week... (yes would be horrific now but I was 13 and it was SOO exciting).....
Used to cycle with my saddle on the handlebars.....
Galloping around stubble fields building bale 'walls' to jump...
Bareback tag.....
Fun Fun Fun....

 

[Keith_Beef]

Most towns in the 60s & 70s (showing my age here!) had tack shops. I lived abroad as a child and remember visiting the tack shop in Faringdon, where my grandparents lived, and being in heaven. It was the smell of leather as you walked on the door.

As late as 2012 there was a tack shop at 187 Northfield Road, Crookes, Sheffield.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KWZ5puLS7mui8Czc8

I walked past it hundreds of times and thought "I'll pop in there one day" for no other reason than that I love the smell of leather (this was long before I took up riding).

Of course, it closed down before I ever stepped over the threshold.

It's now a Saint Luke's charity shop.

 

[Time for Tea]

I was a child in the 60s, we used to make bridles out of elastic bands joined together and gallop about wearing them. Read all the Jill and Pullein Thompson books! i don’t remember any tack shops in central Exeter, but I loved the smell and sight of the saddle room at Sherberton Farm at Hexworthy on Dartmoor where I used to pony trek, over 100 saddles on wooden racks each with the pony’s name, amazing smell. Three treks a day across the moor, each with about 25/30 ponies. Those were the days. My hero was Marion Coakes, I saw her jump Stroller at the Devon County Show and I got her autograph! Still have it somewhere.

 

[Equi]

I still have my very first ever headcollar that was bought for my black beauty horse that never actually materialised lol I remember thinking it would fit a shire and realising many years later when I found it it was pony size.

I do very much miss getting the robinsons book and sending off an order from about 3 other people to cheat the delivery cost.

 

[OldNag]

Oh gosh yes, Jacatex.
They had a shop at Crystal Palace... I loved going there!
I remember when they introduced new-fangled 4 way stretch jodhpurs. In those days they still sold riding trousers too (and riding macs, headscarves etc).

 

[dominobrown]

I am glad I started this thread… it is making me smile after bad day.
I think we often forget what excites us, or made it fun when we were younger and although new were naive, for me at least, it was what used to bring me joy… the little things that we used to be so proud of, or admire or cherish.

 

[neddy man]

As late as 2012 there was a tack shop at 187 Northfield Road, Crookes, Sheffield.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KWZ5puLS7mui8Czc8

I walked past it hundreds of times and thought "I'll pop in there one day" for no other reason than that I love the smell of leather (this was long before I took up riding).

Of course, it closed down before I ever stepped over the threshold.

It's now a Saint Luke's charity shop.

Owned by Adam's the chemist, it was a good little shop sad when it closed. In Sheff one of the earliest shops was Peter Grays inside the ski shop at the bottom of the moor, and one in a big house near Whiston cross roads, very little choice for a big city. Though Baxter's ( Throstlenest) is still going strong and very substantial stock near Barnsley, and nothing to compare for miles.

 

[SallyBatty]

Oh gosh yes, Jacatex.
They had a shop at Crystal Palace... I loved going there!
I remember when they introduced new-fangled 4 way stretch jodhpurs. In those days they still sold riding trousers too (and riding macs, headscarves etc).

That's where my Dad took me to get my jodhpurs, hacking jacket, boots and hat back in the early 60s when I was a kid. He also got me one of those long riding macs.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

I am glad I started this thread… it is making me smile after bad day.
I think we often forget what excites us, or made it fun when we were younger and although new were naive, for me at least, it was what used to bring me joy… the little things that we used to be so proud of, or admire or cherish.

I was just thinking that reading through these, I think a lot of my motivation loss was because it all got so serious. I couldn't do mad things like charge around the field or play gymkhana games for a laugh with others like when we used to loan the rs ponies when I was on livery because there were more yard rules. I used to ride through the pond, go up the bank and then round over the little log that were in one field, having a whale of a time with others. Once we could no longer ride in fields it all got a bit flat and I lost that excitement

Also the cost - when you're a pony mad child without a horse, you long for any horse time you can get! Im no longer that horse mad little girl I was for so long

 

[scats]

I remember the Christmas that I unwrapped a water bucket and feed bucket. That was my mums way of telling me we were looking for a pony.
That was a good Christmas!

 

[Kunoichi73]

I was a horse mad child/teenager. I use to get Pony magazine and the occasional H&H. I would always look at the adverts. I loved looking at the properties in H&H. I'll never own the ones I liked, which is a bit sad. The little tack shop near us is now an Estate Agents (I think). I still love looking at stuff online or when I go to anywhere than has horse stuff. I loved looking at the Breyer catalogue and the Britains catalogue!

One day my dad came back from a visit to a local market with a load of second hand horse stuff, including a head collar, brushes, a sweat scraper and other random items. I use to plan how they would all be used on my horse. I had hours of fun.

I still don't have a horse, sadly!

 

[Meredith]

Early winter 1959 I was taken to a big department store in the nearest large town. It was over an hour on the bus.
Mum bought me
a cork velvet riding hat
a pair of string and leather gloves
and a hunting crop without lash ( the only other choice would have been a showing cane)
Mum knitted me a yellow polo neck sweater.
I wore it with a pair of second hand cavalry twill and suede jodhpurs and lace up work shoes.
Mum put everything away until Christmas.
I slept with it all piled on my bedside table for weeks after.

I spent a long while gazing at catalogues and wishing I could have some many of the products.

When I eventually bought my first pony, a foal, ( I know, ignorance is bliss ) his saddle, 4 years later, a £23 London tan leather half panel came from a back street saddlers that was so hidden I was surprised it had ever made money.
It didn’t last long into the ‘70’s.
The bridle and green canvas New Zealand with surcingle came from Barretts.

I always seemed to be saving for something in the catalogues and remember the joy when the items were delivered.
I still have in use a trug purchased as one of 3 from Robinsons and somewhere in a back cupboard that pony’s reins are safely stored

 

[paddy555]

i don’t remember any tack shops in central Exeter, but I loved the smell and sight of the saddle room at Sherberton Farm at Hexworthy on Dartmoor where I used to pony trek, over 100 saddles on wooden racks each with the pony’s name, amazing smell. Three treks a day across the moor, each with about 25/30 ponies.

I was always surprised how devoid Exeter was of saddlery shops. There was Robertsons down by the river on the way to St Thomas and Farmers friend just round the corner from there.
Coombes in Newton which was a lovely old shop until they moved up to the current yuppie one. Mr George in Ashburton. Did you ever meet him? To him every saddle had "brussel sprouts" in the padding which he never felt was good enough.

 

[SilverLinings]

Most towns in the 60s & 70s (showing my age here!) had tack shops. I lived abroad as a child and remember visiting the tack shop in Faringdon, where my grandparents lived, and being in heaven. It was the smell of leather as you walked on the door.

My mother took me there to buy my first jodhs, hat, whip and boots there in the 1980s and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, I can still remember the smell. I miss the pokey old tack shops with piles of stock and a pervasive smell of leather, hoof oil and new zealand rugs, the companies that still exist all seem to have moved to bland new premises that are just like any other shop.

I loved the smell and look of new NZ rugs, but they were awful once they were wet and dirty! I still have- and use- a few parts of the first grooming kit I was bought as a child, as well as an old jute rug (cleaned but no longer used) and a few other bits and pieces from back then. I realised when riding yesterday that my waterproof exercise sheet is now 30 years old, it was a Christmas present in 1993 so a bargain.

I was always surprised how devoid Exeter was of saddlery shops. There was Robertsons down by the river on the way to St Thomas and Farmers friend just round the corner from there.

I saved up as a teenager and bought a 'string vest' sweat rug from Farmers Friend in around 1991 when we were living in Devon, I had wanted one for ages as it's what the famous riders used at the time!

For anyone who watched 'If Wishes Were Horses' in 1991 and wants the theme tune as an earworm...

 

[Blanche]

There was a fly spray way back in the late seventies, early eighties that came in a can. The can , I think, was white with green writing, I loved the smell of it. I sometimes bought Horse and Hound to read on the train from school to the airport to fly home. In those days it was it was all black and white, the only colour photo was the front cover. I loved going through the horse adverts choosing which ones I would buy for myself. One time when I was about ten I was reading H&H on the train and a couple sat opposite me. They kept looking over at the mag and talking quietly to each other. Eventually they told me that the horse on the front cover was their stallion who stood in the Newmarket area. They said they were over from SA visiting family. I think the horse was chestnut with a blaze and had Royal in his name. I wish I remembered more so I could look him up.
When we lived in Germany my Mother worked with a German man who bred horses. He was a lovely man and I remember him with great fondness. He would invite us over quite often just so I could ride his horses. They were the first non riding school horses I ever rode and were fantastic. He took us once to a tack shop in the city, I have never seen a tack shop, before or since, that was so fancy. The walls were dark wood panelling and it was full of stuff but immaculate. My mother bought me a pair of breeches with suede at the knee and nearly had a fit at the price! He also took us to the state stud at Warendorf (he was friends with the man in charge)when I was about eleven, I really wish I could remember that visit. I do remember the huge barns the horses were stabled in and he showed me a Thoroughbred stallion that they were using on the heavier mares to add quality. He was such a kind man to me and fed my horse obsession as much as he could. Thank you for everything Herr H.

 

[SilverLinings]

I remember that all the jodhpur boots were advertised in catalogues (including Robinsons) with two toe-shape options, Grosvenor and Hanover. One style had a square-shaped toe and the other a round-shaped toe- I think Grosvenor was the square one. Both styles are still around but it doesn't seem so common to have a choice of toe shape in the same style/model of boot, and the majority seem to have a round toe. Does anyone know why there were the two styles- was it just for personal preference or was there a reason (e.g. one was traditionally for girls and one for boys)?

 

[Time for Tea]

I was always surprised how devoid Exeter was of saddlery shops. There was Robertsons down by the river on the way to St Thomas and Farmers friend just round the corner from there.
Coombes in Newton which was a lovely old shop until they moved up to the current yuppie one. Mr George in Ashburton. Did you ever meet him? To him every saddle had "brussel sprouts" in the padding which he never felt was good enough.

I do vaguely remember somebody in Ashburton, yes. Not well enough to recall lumpy padding remarks though! I had no tack of my own then, but I remember buying a rope halter there. Still got it somewhere. I remember the trekking ponies saddles all had serge linings! I also remember the Dartmoor bookshop in Ashburton, fantastic for second hand horse books. Sadly gone now I think. I no longer live in Devon so Dartmoor visits are few and far between, and much missed.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Extra Tail was the fly spray in the green and white aerosol can. I loved the smell of it
Used a whole can once at pc camp, prob 74 or 75, mother went nuts as it wasn't cheap!

 

[catembi]

Oh gosh, Stormox, Sandon Saddlery! I got so much stuff from there! I was 2 or 3 when I started riding, & a massive, massive highlight was being taken to Sandon to replace outgrown jodhpurs/boots! The place was a treasure trove! So much stuff! The rocking horses! The smell!

 

[Blanche]

Extra Tail was the fly spray in the green and white aerosol can. I loved the smell of it
Used a whole can once at pc camp, prob 74 or 75, mother went nuts as it wasn't cheap!

That’s it, thank you. I have been trying to remember all afternoon.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I was always surprised how devoid Exeter was of saddlery shops. There was Robertsons down by the river on the way to St Thomas and Farmers friend just round the corner from there.
Coombes in Newton which was a lovely old shop until they moved up to the current yuppie one.

Thanks Paddy, I had been scratching my head to try remember the name of the saddlery shop by the river. Robertsons and the Farmers Friend being a short walk apart - is Farmers Friend still in the same corner premises that its always been?

Leonard Coombes in the old shop in the centre of Newton Abbot, too.

 

[SilverLinings]

Thanks Paddy, I had been scratching my head to try remember the name of the saddlery shop by the river. Robertsons and the Farmers Friend being a short walk apart - is Farmers Friend still in the same corner premises that its always been?

Leonard Coombes in the old shop in the centre of Newton Abbot, too.

Leonard Coombes is still going (and still in NA town) but in a newer building. Apparently Farmers Friend is still where it was in Exeter (or it was a few months ago when my parents drove past!).