'The Good Old Days' entry level jumping

dieseldog said:
Yes and No. I walked a RC XC and SJ course the day before the comp recently and didn't go as it was so badly built. But in the old days you would also get bad courses. I did PC open area SJ one year and there were big ruts in front of a fence which tripped my poor horse up and put me in bed for 6 weeks not being able to walk, I was too young to say anything.

I think the lack of entries in unaff put people off, it is no fun competing in a class with 2 people in it. Go to Wales and West and you will have over 100 in the same height class and win money. Entry fees are also similar, so way pay roughly the same for what is in one case just a clear round?

When you talk about PC trainers I used to have lessons with Dr Woodward, Eric Winter and some Olympic dressage rider.
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I remember the scary Dr Wodward and also had lessons with Chris Battle - think he was Great Somerford way. Also remember Eric Winter when he was charging around gymkhanas.
 
I know a lot wont agree but I think the odd abnormality in UA jumping actually makes for better riding and more thinking on the horses part,rather than going round courses where everything is spot on. I am not talking extremes here but the odd dodgy distance can make a horse and rider listen to each other more.The same as taking horses hunting helps their education come on quicker. These horses and riders cope better when things arent perfect!

Old Bat I am pretty sure thats at Firle! I grew up there seems a long time ago!!!
 
Whilst my Mother had a blast as a child she is pretty adamant that she saw plenty of horribly ill fitting tack and bad riding in her yoof (mid 60s on) and that she literally never, ever schooled her beasts ever. Despite jumping affiliated pony tracks and hunting all winter her pony, she tells me, was as stiff as a board. She went to PC and presumably was instructed but as a hunt affiliated branch I can only assume they did more on fitness than anything else because she still cross her hand over my poor horse's neck to steer when she rides him so she didn't learn much :p She also tell me that if a horse was a git it was shot but that is another matter :p

And although I love her and she certainly sits tight and balanced her riding is pretty agricultural too. I'm not sure things were better then, just different! For example, she has broken literally every bone she has. Including her back. Now, I am not terribly elf and safety mad or anything but that is a pretty poor record I should say! I think in this day and age we are a bit safer and if that means not coming near to death regularly then some things have changed for the good at least :)
 
Things were different then. Not better, not worse - just different.

I can remember Open jumping at local shows by car headlight on more than one occasion.

There was a wonderful gymkhana event called musical hats. You circled until the music stopped, then set off as fast as possible around a distant pole, then back to one fewer poles than people, onto which you put your hat (often whilst galloping past, if you couldn't stop). If you were competitive, you obviously had your hat off from soon after rounding the far pole. Would be interesting to write the risk assessment for that one!

I'm fairly sure we went straight to Foxhunter as our first affiliated on ponies in the early 70s. I think it was about 3'9'', but that may be poor memory or wishful thinking. Newcomers, which was called Wing Newcomers, I think, came in later.

Interestingly, given the recent debate on prize money, I have recently found a very old rosette for the Gelligaer Hunt hunter trials in 1971. First prize in the novice was £20! It was sponsored by Freeman and Son (tobacco merchants). Politically incorrect or what? A huge (for then) velvet rosette too. Put me out of all novices on my 14.2 5 yr old pony.

We also only did dressage for our Area (horse) Trials. There was none otherwise, that I encountered at least.

As I said - things were different then.......
 
oysterbay said:
Things were different then. Not better, not worse - just different.

I can remember Open jumping at local shows by car headlight on more than one occasion.

There was a wonderful gymkhana event called musical hats. You circled until the music stopped, then set off as fast as possible around a distant pole, then back to one fewer poles than people, onto which you put your hat (often whilst galloping past, if you couldn't stop). If you were competitive, you obviously had your hat off from soon after rounding the far pole. Would be interesting to write the risk assessment for that one!

I'm fairly sure we went straight to Foxhunter as our first affiliated on ponies in the early 70s. I think it was about 3'9'', but that may be poor memory or wishful thinking. Newcomers, which was called Wing Newcomers, I think, came in later.

Interestingly, given the recent debate on prize money, I have recently found a very old rosette for the Gelligaer Hunt hunter trials in 1971. First prize in the novice was £20! It was sponsored by Freeman and Son (tobacco merchants). Politically incorrect or what? A huge (for then) velvet rosette too. Put me out of all novices on my 14.2 5 yr old pony.

We also only did dressage for our Area (horse) Trials. There was none otherwise, that I encountered at least.

As I said - things were different then.......
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Haha I love this stuff, I had forgotten Wing Newcomers.

I used to properly earn money and prizes, it did make a difference.

My brother won the jumping at Long Buckby village show (unaffiliated), he was awarded the massive cup by the mayor, received a big box of Golden Wonder Crisps as they were based nearby & sponsored the class, as well as decent prize money. He had his picture in the paper. How things have changed.
 
Maesfen said:
Sorry, I always understood an oxer did have a lower back rail (but same height as the front rail) so if you viewed it from the side, the shape was a triangle; is that not the case now? Surely it would be more like a parallel if the back rail was the same height or have they changed all the terms now as well?
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I think that a true oxer is a parallel, and a reversed oxer was a hog's back with three sets of wings and poles, front and back same height, middle one higher.

Popsdosh, thanks for that, I remember being dragged out of camp to make up the team but had no real idea of where I was going that time!
 
Wing Newcomers - then there was the Bucks Beginners which was a bit smaller with the final at Bucks County Show I think. The Godfrey Davis Grade C!

Junior wise - how about the Kerrygold Foxhunter, that would have been circa early70s. Christy Beaufort and Daily Mail junior opens. One of the Kerrygold rosettes on my 13.2 NF pony when I was about 12 was one of my proudest rosettes for a long time as we mainly did unaffiliated and so it was a mega achievement alongside the older children on their smart 14.2s.

and Gosh a hogsback, there is a proper old fashioned fence. What about a Liverpool which was water trays I think?
 
Elizabeth Ann sponsored, Grade C (I think), and Hoechst Foxhunter.
I have a Foxhunter finalists rosette, 1978, riders lunch before the class at the old Wembley, sat next to M Whitaker!!
Happy memories.
 
siennamum said:
This photo is from the late 70's and is the unaffiliated Open SJ at a local show. We just seemed to start jumping at about 1m, sadly that's about my upper limit now:

MeLaddie.jpg
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I love this picture it is so like my images from my pony dreams and days of reading the older pony books in the 70's :)
 
JCWHITE said:
Elizabeth Ann sponsored, Grade C (I think), and Hoechst Foxhunter.
I have a Foxhunter finalists rosette, 1978, riders lunch before the class at the old Wembley, sat next to M Whitaker!!
Happy memories.
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Yes, I remember the Elizabeth Ann Grade C classes and Calor Gas under 25's as well as Hoechst sponsoring the Foxhunter - I have the rosette shaped shield and went to the lunch in 1980. There was also the Vauxhall Young Show Jumper of the Future which gave lovely trophies which I still have today. I also remember the Talent Spotters but can't remember the sponsor - possibly Sanyo?
 
does anyone remember the Midland Bank series? I jumped in those in my youth. I remember one specifically at Wing, and HRH Princess Anne was there, and I jumped the wrong course. As I jumped the wrong fence I said "B*****" and was told off by the commentator/ Judge. I deserved it.
 
Goya - I remember the Midland Bank sponsorship but not sure of what. I have one of their lovely rugs. Must admit didn't win it but acquired it (legitimately I hasten to add). Can remember as a child spectating at Oxfordshire County Show (no longer runs) and can't remember who but a top show jumper's horse knocked over the timing equipment and he swore, then trotted up to us and apologised for his language!
 
I have pictures of XC fences with the Midland bank Griffin on them - Sure it was Midland Bank. I also competed at the Abbey Life Hunter Trials when the championship was held at Kilsby - In a black jacket and velvet cap naturally.
 
Siennamum - yes I think the rug I had was from some horse trials near Cirencester. How about even more obscure - the handy pony competition sponsored by Coca Cola that had qualifiers and went to some championship somewhere. I did one with a show jumping pony who jumped the strawbales which were supposed to be a "garage" you went into and turned round!

There was quite a range of non horse associated sponsors probably because there was an awful lot less horse equipment etc companies to sponsor things.
 
humblepie said:
Siennamum - yes I think the rug I had was from some horse trials near Cirencester. How about even more obscure - the handy pony competition sponsored by Coca Cola that had qualifiers and went to some championship somewhere. I did one with a show jumping pony who jumped the strawbales which were supposed to be a "garage" you went into and turned round!

There was quite a range of non horse associated sponsors probably because there was an awful lot less horse equipment etc companies to sponsor things.
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And back then Show Jumping was the 2nd most popular sport after football.
 
I dont think there is any comparison between the 60's 70's etc and today. I'm an old duffer who started riding in the early 60's and a few of the changes i feel have had the most impact are.....
1) These days I constantly hear people saying how worried, scared they are or they feel sick. Almost a badge of honour. Back then you didn't mention this sort of think because the only response you would have got was "just shut up and get on with it or go home". Far too often now I see groups of friends talking each other out of pushing thier boundries despite being perfectly capable of entering bigger classes.
2) We jumped the course in front of us and rode lines or paces that corrected odd distances. ie if the double was tight we would jump it at an angle from close to one wing on first fence to close to opposite wing on second fence giving much more space. If it was long we could come in with more pace or if really long for the horse we were riding then come in very collected and put two strides in.
3) A lot of jumping was learnt out hacking (often no facilities at home). Any raised obstacle was a jump. Often the approach, takeoff, landing and ground would be very unhelpful but riders and more importantly horse learnt to deal with these issues. Nowadays its all too clinical so when something slightly out of the ordinary appears both horse and rider go to pieces.

I'm not saying we were better riders back then but we were generally far more experienced at dealing with out of the norm.
 
PaddyMonty said:
1) These days I constantly hear people saying how worried, scared they are or they feel sick. Almost a badge of honour. Back then you didn't mention this sort of think because the only response you would have got was "just shut up and get on with it or go home". Far too often now I see groups of friends talking each other out of pushing thier boundries despite being perfectly capable of entering bigger classes.
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This bit rings home with me....

On Saturday, I jumped 90cm on my horse in prep for a comp on Sunday that I had to pull from as horse just wasn't 100%... I recall doing this height as a kid (I'm 40 now) and thinking nothing of it, but wonder what's happened in the years inbetween! So many people have said 'don't know how you dare do that height!' Horse got me over it just fine, I didn't fall off and I'm quite proud of myself for doing it, first time in a long time....

I have to shift this negative attitude of 'can't do it' and remove myself from the conversations that have allowed me to question my own capabilities....horse is capable of doing bigger, and so am I!
 
Ha, PM. I think I still jump beyond my capabilities (or did when I last jumped) I'm always the one muttering to myself about not being such a wuss and other far more unpc names. It's depressing that I used to jump my veteran 12h over 2'6 and barely jump higher on my 16.1. :o

I find hangover gives you confidence, or at least makes you worry more about staying on, and less about the height :p
 
Well I don't consider myself to be that old, but when I was young I would do all the 3ft 9" unaffiliated classes and do very well without ever being on the bit.... however the classes were built as narrow fences, and were often one at a time rather than complex double or triples. This meant that you could get round with courage and kicking!

However compared to say some of the courses built for the Blue Chip qualifiers, you could not get round with this approach! So yes fences were bigger, but if I had a course of uprights I would happily jump 1.20m. If you introduce the requirement for striding and wide fences then I top out at 1.05 BS (because the NC 1.20m high 1.30m wide parallels in a combo make me sqeeeee)
 
I have a question - as most people didn't have transport and hacked to shows were there actually more horses in a given area? We still have a few village shows about - though about a 3rd of what there were 15 years ago and 15 years ago I remember them being so much busier than it is now- the jumping particularly - now all jumping is likely finished by lunchtime.

I suspect that 1) people are fussier about ground conditions so seek out a surface? 2)Pony club ponies have fewer expectations put on them during the summer holidays - ie if they had camp that week they won't then go to a show at the weekend?

Games used to be really busy too and now you get very few people doing them which has resulted in them being dropped by a fair number of shows. Oh and I have seen some shocking course building, the 1.5 stride double being a speciality at times ;).
 
Being old I can answer your question.

1) 10 x more stuff on offer now - there used to be just village shows.
2) Rise of equestrian centres - when I was growing up there was one within 45 minutes and now I can access 3 x indoor, 4 x centres. With this comes all year round competition.
3) Affiliated is much more accessible
4) Rise of unaff championships - everyone wants to qualify for something. Cricklands has the laughable title of Championships of Great Britain but hey they are rammed. Trailblazers has also made a good business out of this.
5) Decline of showing - no one is that interested in showing. The quality is terrible at local shows and yet it used to be very good. So many showing societies now and pretty much a category for anything afilliated.
6) People expect more than a crappy field. Shows with surfaces seem to be much more popular.
 
lol you're not old, just were doing horsey things way before I was!

We have a glut of champs of great britain jackets around us.... frequently worn by those who were only watching ;)
 
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