MiJodsR2BlinkinTite
Well-Known Member
With apologies - and acknowledgements to - another thread on here running right now, but that one is in a different decade!
It did however inspire me to think about what "signs" there were to indicate those of us who are, shall we say, a little longer in the tooth now than we'd perhaps care to admit!!
Here's my list, just for starters:
Signs of being a horsey kid in the 1960's & 70's:
Your horsey hero's were - among others - Pat Smythe - just loved her books and wished I had kept them; Harvey Smith, David Broome, Lucinda Prior Palmer, Richard Meade, etc etc. and you can still remember the D'Inzeo brothers (think spelling correct!).
You can still remember the Pullein-Thompson sisters and their "Pony Books". Again, sooohh wish I'd kept them!
You can remember Dorian Williams commentating on virtually everything horsey.....
Your riding kit came from Jacatex; I had all their gear and it lasted forever! No wonder the company went bust, their stuff was too good, manufacturers of today take note!
Hickstead was still on the telly in those days.
Black Beauty was serialised, and the music was just awe-inspiring and always brought a lump to your throat! It still would if I were to hear it today........
You fell off? You were plonked back on again. No arguments. Tears were of no avail so you didn't even bother producing them. You just got on with it. No-one was ruled by Elf and Safety back then and we were a hardy bunch! Even Princess Anne at the Montreal Olympics did the rest of her Cross-Country round concussed, apparently, after a fall, and didn't remember much of it!
Eventing was actually called "Cross Country" in those days.
Badminton had the "Roads and Tracks" included BEFORE the Cross-Country event proper!
Saddles were mainly serge-lined and a total nightmare to clean! Short-panelled saddles were the norm, and you didn't have the luxury of knee rolls! Interestingly, short-panelled saddles seem to be enjoying something of a revival now. Spring-tree saddles were not for the masses back then, the only people that had spring-tree saddles were showjumpers and professional riders. There wasn't the care taken about saddle fitting back then, one saddle was made to fit all, and it was fairly routine to see horses with white hairs around their withers/saddle area due to a badly-fitting saddle. Treeless saddles had never even been heard of, and Western saddles were never seen here in the UK!!
Feed wasn't as complex as now, people fed oats!! plus soaked their own linseed from scratch, and hunters were always fed bran mash after a day's hunting.
Rugs were heavy cumbersome things, and were blankets, jute, or for turnout a heavy canvas New Zealand rug, which was a nightmare to put on and take off in a gale!! But they DID do an excellent job! Fly rugs and fly masks were unheard of back then!
Tack was made of leather, always leather, and there wasn't the huge selection of bits available. Back then the common choices were either eggbutt snaffle, pelham, kimblewick, or double bridle. Synthetic tack was way in the future!
Any horse that reared or "bolted" was a kennels-job: there wasn't the effort to understand problem horses that there is nowadays.
The year's treat was being allowed to stay up to watch Horse of the Year Show!! - and you had to be a well-behaved child to achieve it!!
No doubt I shall think of more!!
Anyone else??
It did however inspire me to think about what "signs" there were to indicate those of us who are, shall we say, a little longer in the tooth now than we'd perhaps care to admit!!
Here's my list, just for starters:
Signs of being a horsey kid in the 1960's & 70's:
Your horsey hero's were - among others - Pat Smythe - just loved her books and wished I had kept them; Harvey Smith, David Broome, Lucinda Prior Palmer, Richard Meade, etc etc. and you can still remember the D'Inzeo brothers (think spelling correct!).
You can still remember the Pullein-Thompson sisters and their "Pony Books". Again, sooohh wish I'd kept them!
You can remember Dorian Williams commentating on virtually everything horsey.....
Your riding kit came from Jacatex; I had all their gear and it lasted forever! No wonder the company went bust, their stuff was too good, manufacturers of today take note!
Hickstead was still on the telly in those days.
Black Beauty was serialised, and the music was just awe-inspiring and always brought a lump to your throat! It still would if I were to hear it today........
You fell off? You were plonked back on again. No arguments. Tears were of no avail so you didn't even bother producing them. You just got on with it. No-one was ruled by Elf and Safety back then and we were a hardy bunch! Even Princess Anne at the Montreal Olympics did the rest of her Cross-Country round concussed, apparently, after a fall, and didn't remember much of it!
Eventing was actually called "Cross Country" in those days.
Badminton had the "Roads and Tracks" included BEFORE the Cross-Country event proper!
Saddles were mainly serge-lined and a total nightmare to clean! Short-panelled saddles were the norm, and you didn't have the luxury of knee rolls! Interestingly, short-panelled saddles seem to be enjoying something of a revival now. Spring-tree saddles were not for the masses back then, the only people that had spring-tree saddles were showjumpers and professional riders. There wasn't the care taken about saddle fitting back then, one saddle was made to fit all, and it was fairly routine to see horses with white hairs around their withers/saddle area due to a badly-fitting saddle. Treeless saddles had never even been heard of, and Western saddles were never seen here in the UK!!
Feed wasn't as complex as now, people fed oats!! plus soaked their own linseed from scratch, and hunters were always fed bran mash after a day's hunting.
Rugs were heavy cumbersome things, and were blankets, jute, or for turnout a heavy canvas New Zealand rug, which was a nightmare to put on and take off in a gale!! But they DID do an excellent job! Fly rugs and fly masks were unheard of back then!
Tack was made of leather, always leather, and there wasn't the huge selection of bits available. Back then the common choices were either eggbutt snaffle, pelham, kimblewick, or double bridle. Synthetic tack was way in the future!
Any horse that reared or "bolted" was a kennels-job: there wasn't the effort to understand problem horses that there is nowadays.
The year's treat was being allowed to stay up to watch Horse of the Year Show!! - and you had to be a well-behaved child to achieve it!!
No doubt I shall think of more!!
Anyone else??
It was a 2 hole long drop and it stunk to high heaven. Have to be pretty desperate to use it at the same time as someone else.
