Carlosmum
Well-Known Member
My first lead rein outfit was a yellow hand knitted polo jumper baggy brown jods and brown lace up shows. I thin I was 3 (mid 60's)
Signs you were a horsey kid in the 1960's/1970's
- Thread starter MiJodsR2BlinkinTite
- Start date
GreyMane
Well-Known Member
I've just realised - "wellies" not willies.
We were more carefree then but don't remember anyone riding commando!
(unless you count the instructor whose not-very-stretchy jods burst at the seat with a loud BANG as she leapt aboard a Shitland during the RS gymkhana!)
Am 55... like someone else said, how did that happen.
Tihamandturkey
Well-Known Member
I had a purple hobby horse with a white star - travelled for miles on him 😅
Merrymoles
Well-Known Member
I grew up near where Follyfoot was filmed and we used to ride in many of the places shown "on the telly". When it finished, the farm itself was empty for quite a while and we used to cycle there and hang about in the stables. I also rode one of the horses that had been in Flambards.
Everything on here is a memory - rope halters, string girths, 2p for the phone etc but the main thing was the massive amount of freedom we had. I used to walk two miles to the riding school, work hard all day hoping for a free ride which didn't always happen and was a life-lesson in things not always being fair, and my parents didn't see me for days on end in the summer.
I think horses have a better life now in some ways - they were elderly in their teens and the knackerman was the first port of call if they could no longer work for any reason. Tack was badly fitting and a bucking pony was always "naughty" rather than in pain and "ridden through it". However, keeping horses in 24/7 was virtually unheard of, as was individual paddocks, so I think their quality of life was different. I was looking at our horses yesterday and wondering "how did we manage without fly masks" and the answer was that they were horses and just had to put up with it...
So I would love a return to the 70s with the freedom and lack of traffic but would want to know what I know now.
56.5 here in case anyone's wondering.
Everything on here is a memory - rope halters, string girths, 2p for the phone etc but the main thing was the massive amount of freedom we had. I used to walk two miles to the riding school, work hard all day hoping for a free ride which didn't always happen and was a life-lesson in things not always being fair, and my parents didn't see me for days on end in the summer.
I think horses have a better life now in some ways - they were elderly in their teens and the knackerman was the first port of call if they could no longer work for any reason. Tack was badly fitting and a bucking pony was always "naughty" rather than in pain and "ridden through it". However, keeping horses in 24/7 was virtually unheard of, as was individual paddocks, so I think their quality of life was different. I was looking at our horses yesterday and wondering "how did we manage without fly masks" and the answer was that they were horses and just had to put up with it...
So I would love a return to the 70s with the freedom and lack of traffic but would want to know what I know now.
56.5 here in case anyone's wondering.
SpringArising
Well-Known Member
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1634530536690763
Look at the trial facilities Douglas had!
Just watched all the way through - look at a lame Beethoven being lunged!
Look at the trial facilities Douglas had!
Just watched all the way through - look at a lame Beethoven being lunged!
TRECtastic
Well-Known Member
Not strictly a horsey program but I loved the opening titles of this when I was a child in the 70s
I imagined myself galloping across country, while sitting on our rounded wall as my imaginary horse
Anyone else remember ' The flashing blade '
Teajack
Well-Known Member
ln Scotland we only saw the first few episodes of the serials because our holidays were earlier :- ( Racing from unheard of places like Uttoxeter was on though
Wish you could get White Horses on DVD.
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
57 and a quarter ðŸ˜
windand rain
Well-Known Member
65 and a half
Never had a lesson we were plonked on an appropriate or not sized horse and taken out hacking at all paces initially on a lead rein but eventually under our own steam fell of regularly as there was no concession for beginners you rode at the pace of the ride from day one. No one ever knew where we were as it was kids leading the rides. was bought my first horse in 1970 as a bribe to sttle into a new home 500 miles from the one I was used to. The idea was to help me make friends and not be as shy as I was it sure worked I spent the next 6 years with dozens of friends mostly boys so I still prefer male company. Their girlfriends were funny they couldnt understand that our friendship would always out live their "relationships"
Never had a lesson we were plonked on an appropriate or not sized horse and taken out hacking at all paces initially on a lead rein but eventually under our own steam fell of regularly as there was no concession for beginners you rode at the pace of the ride from day one. No one ever knew where we were as it was kids leading the rides. was bought my first horse in 1970 as a bribe to sttle into a new home 500 miles from the one I was used to. The idea was to help me make friends and not be as shy as I was it sure worked I spent the next 6 years with dozens of friends mostly boys so I still prefer male company. Their girlfriends were funny they couldnt understand that our friendship would always out live their "relationships"
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jules9203
Well-Known Member
52.10 yrs old...... I remember so much of this. I went to a RS and went on a hack. The string girth was very loose and I was told that I would have to make sure my balance was ok. It was but only 'cos the mare had very high withers! I loved that mare to bits - she was called Scrappy.
I remember so much of this. I went to a RS and went on a hack. The string girth was very loose and I was told that I would have to make sure my balance was ok. It was but only 'cos the mare had very high withers! I loved that mare to bits - she was called Scrappy.
HappyHollyDays
Slave to 2 cats and 2 ponies
This thread is making me feel very nostalgic, old and reminding me that both of my current ponies are spoilt rotten and I spend far too much money on them.
The Fuzzy Furry
Getting old disgracefully
57 and a half 😜
Summit
Well-Known Member
sjb10
Well-Known Member
Blimey, my brother would never have been so co-operative!And attaching rope to my brother’s waist and making him pretend to be a horse
Remember the Flashing Blade, and also the Silver Brumby, which others have mentioned. Loved Silver Brumby. My mum tracked somedown for daughter a few yearsago, I must find and re-read them
Surbie
Well-Known Member
Did anyone else have their own private fantasy yard?
I had a notebook with all 'my' horses names, colours, breeds (lots of fancy prancers there, courtesy of my 'horses of the world' book), drawings of the stables, exercise plans for each of them, feeding plans for each of them (would have been fat as houses!!) and I would spend HOURS daydreaming about brushing them and making up lessons for them.
Please tell me I'm not on my own here?!
I had a notebook with all 'my' horses names, colours, breeds (lots of fancy prancers there, courtesy of my 'horses of the world' book), drawings of the stables, exercise plans for each of them, feeding plans for each of them (would have been fat as houses!!) and I would spend HOURS daydreaming about brushing them and making up lessons for them.
Please tell me I'm not on my own here?!
DragonSlayer
Well-Known Member
Claim to fame - my brother and sisters gran was cousin to the guy who played the doctor in Black Beauty...
Teajack
Well-Known Member
l doubt lt! When l was ten or eleven l wrote to Rldlng Magazine's advice page and got a feeding plan for my entirely imaginary pony. 56.5
Surbie
Well-Known Member
vmac66
Well-Known Member
Feeling very nostalgic.
We used to put axle grease under the ponies hooves to stop snow balling up.
Everything lived out, only rich people had Stables. Horses weren't fat all year round.
I remember one very bad winter. The snow stayed for weeks, so found a, stable for pony. Walked 4 miles there and back before school to muck out and the same after school.
We used to put axle grease under the ponies hooves to stop snow balling up.
Everything lived out, only rich people had Stables. Horses weren't fat all year round.
I remember one very bad winter. The snow stayed for weeks, so found a, stable for pony. Walked 4 miles there and back before school to muck out and the same after school.
meleeka
Well-Known Member
And mine!
My parents weren’t remotely horsey. My ‘horse’ was the bannister at the top of the stairs, A pillow for a saddle and a couple of scarves for stirrups. Reins were a leather dog lead. From there I had the perfect view of the road outside and would run up the stairs every time I heard horses hooves coming.
I remember so much of what’s been written. One sad thing however was a friends pony that was pts because he was ‘broken winded’. He was bedded on straw in a shed with several stables and looking back now, merely had a dust allergy
I can remember getting my first pair of rubber reins for Christmas, would have been about 1980. Everything non essential was bought for Christmas or birthdays. I went out for a ride on Christmas morning feeling so lucky, when my pony out her head down to graze and trod on the reins and snapped them. I was heartbroken and had to wait until the following December for another pair.
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cornbrodolly
Well-Known Member
LOVE this thread! [ 64 ]
Its very heartening so many of us oldies are still riding and have never lost our love of horses. Perhaps its because it was a struggle to fund riding then?
My mount as a child was a 50 gallon oil drum on its side, with a rope halter tied to the fence in front as reins. I rode that 'horse' often! I also rode some of our cows [ when tied in the byres] .I jumped courses of nettle clumps beating myself with a crop that someone had left at our local show[ a prized possession , I was lucky to be given it]!
Has anyone mentioned Champion the Wonder horse?
When I became a groom in the late 70s, Stubben saddles were the thing to aspire to: the lady I worked for had 2 - and they were black- I d never seen black tack before! In the 80s there were even green Stubben s , which have thankfully disappeared.
Its very heartening so many of us oldies are still riding and have never lost our love of horses. Perhaps its because it was a struggle to fund riding then?
My mount as a child was a 50 gallon oil drum on its side, with a rope halter tied to the fence in front as reins. I rode that 'horse' often! I also rode some of our cows [ when tied in the byres] .I jumped courses of nettle clumps beating myself with a crop that someone had left at our local show[ a prized possession , I was lucky to be given it]!
Has anyone mentioned Champion the Wonder horse?
When I became a groom in the late 70s, Stubben saddles were the thing to aspire to: the lady I worked for had 2 - and they were black- I d never seen black tack before! In the 80s there were even green Stubben s , which have thankfully disappeared.
honetpot
Well-Known Member
I have a memory box of tack. A cool blue string girth,handmade bridle for my first horse, old fashioned bits, I had to have an egbut. Brushes and a hoof pick. Hand covered velvet browband.
Everything then was expensive but much better quality.
Modern tack depresses me.
Everything then was expensive but much better quality.
Modern tack depresses me.
meleeka
Well-Known Member
You’ve just reminded me, I used to be able to do browbands, not sure I’d remember now though.
Berpisc
Well-Known Member
So many memories, I am glad I wasnt the only person who rode an imaginary horse alongside the car on long journeys, it certainly passed the time.
I didn't own a horse until my mid 20's, I went to riding schools, had lessons and helped when I was older, also riding some of the more tricky ponies at one riding school with the owners daughter. I also had a pony on loan. I learned so much from those ponies and horses...
I didn't own a horse until my mid 20's, I went to riding schools, had lessons and helped when I was older, also riding some of the more tricky ponies at one riding school with the owners daughter. I also had a pony on loan. I learned so much from those ponies and horses...
Outdoorgirl
Active Member
Loving reading all these replies. Brings back so many memories (66). Couldn't afford riding lessons but had a friend who did and had a brown riding hat. I used to sneek up into her bedroom when we visited and try it on. Putting string onto the front garden wall and tying stirrups at each end then doing rising trot once I had learned what that meant by doing it on my tricycle! Eventually got a pony when I was 16. She was a coloured cob and boy oh boy was I looked down on. She'd have been worth a fortune now.
Teajack
Well-Known Member
I liked the plastic sharks tooth browbands. When I finally had a pony as an adult they were all velvet and I spent ages trying to make a plastic one.
Teajack
Well-Known Member
Vibart, Lizawake, Merely a Monarch and Stroller. The Hickstead April meeting was always on TV. For some reason if I squinted at the black and white screen through half-closed eyes it was easier to pretend it was in colour.
Hollychops
Well-Known Member
I also have the theme tune from Black Beauty as my ring tone! Can remember most of the things mentioned here, a real trip down memory lane. I spent a whole 2 weeks on holiday sat on a branch in a field pretending it was a pony and getting very frustrated when my mum dictated i had to get off to go to the beach! I worked weekends at a riding school for sometimes a 5 min sit on a pony, it was definately slave labour but i loved it!
Like others, i am now having the childhood i wanted (parents couldnt afford a pony for me) and enjoying it so much.
Like others, i am now having the childhood i wanted (parents couldnt afford a pony for me) and enjoying it so much.
vhf
Well-Known Member
Your fault all, I went into the depths of my tack room last night and found these... my oh so modern girls were not impressed. My leather anti-cast roller has died, need a new striped padded roller!
meleeka
Well-Known Member
That’s another thing. Why did New Zealand rugs have such huge necks?! Did they even fit anything properly?!