The good old days................

Halfpass

Halfpass

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Just been reading some rug related posts and it got me thinking.
When I had my first horse he owned just 3 rugs.

1 x new zealand (probably with a medium weight filling but was old so probably less than that)
1 x jute rug used in the stable or for thatching of the horse got wet / cold
1 x sweat rug (the ones with huge holes in !!!)

These were used regardless of clip.

This worked for me. The NZ went on when is started getting cold, probably with the first frost and he had it on daily when turned out during the winter regardless of temp.
The jute rug he had on at night. If he got wet I piled straw undertneath it to warm him up. He stayed toasty on the coldest of nights.
And the sweat rug was never really used maybe on a cooler autumn or spring day after he'd got sweaty but thats it.

It just makes me laugh that horses then were fine and my chap lived to nearly 30 and never really had any problems.

I now have a 4 year old warmblood who is not in work so not clipped she was on box rest when the cold snap started so got cold standing in so was rugged and now hasn't grown a winter coat so last night was in with a MW and a thermatex under it!!! She is in a HW when out at night and a MW when out during the day. I seem to have made such hardwork for myself!! I seem to have collected so many rugs for her 3 T/O, 3 stable, fleeces, thermatex and various others and I don't even ride her
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Talking about the good old days, feeds, my first boy had bran, chaff and oats (nothing else added) and always looked fit and healthy even when being hunted!!!!

Can anyone add their own thoughts of 'the good old days'?
 
-Being allowed to ride bareback up from the field in a headcollar.
-the days of the Kimblewick bit now very unfashionable havent seen one for ages.
-the days of being allowed to jump with no rein and stirrups at pony club.
-when children could tack up there own ponies and get on.
- and when bran was fed as standard (as said above)
-and when cats drank milk (I swear that they used to have milk and ten suddenly it was bad for them?)
Scarey I'm only twenty years old!
 
Feeding straights.......when I bought my horse after a long gap, I asked the seller what the horse was being fed...when she said chop and mix I smiled politely and went straight to the internet!

I too seem to have accumulated a variety of TO rugs in different weights with and without necks....
Boots for riding/hacking/jumping/turnout and for in the stable..

Ponies in the old days seemed to have a rug if it was pampered, one headcollar, one set of tack and a plain numnah...these days my horses have different saddles for showing, a variety of saddle cloths and headcollars...in fact, they are better dressed than me and explains why I have an overdraft anda massive credit card bill !!
 
Oh I remember them!
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When the only colour jods you could get where cream,navy,brown or black.....when your jacket was just a wax one or a Puffa(If you where lucky!)...when all your rugs weighed a ton,due to the fact they where made of jute or canvas(Yep, I only had three,one canvas turnout,one jute and a cotton sheet!)......when all your feeds where made up with straights.....when your grooming kit was made up of the most basic items.......when bran was used as a poultice,and purple spray and wound powder was what was used in a medical kit.....when string girths where the norm,and to own a Cottage Craft one was a luxury....when you brought your pony in after a 4 hour hack in the New Forest and she was drenched and you 'thatched' her with straw under her jute rug to dry.....when my Uncle brought me my first Hunters now that was a luxury.....Oh I remember it all!
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Well according to some of you, I am still living in the 'good old days'!

I feed straights to some of mine (although prefer beet to bran for mixing with cereals), my daughter enjoys riding bareback, tacks up and mounts her own pony and also jumps without reins at Pony Club:

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Plus between three horses I have two headcollars, one thermatex, one stable rug and five turnout rugs.
 
Jute rugs, witneys and leather anti-cast rollers. Straw beds with lovely big banks. Oats, sugar beet, bran (mash or poultice), boiled barley and linseed. Proper grooming and strapping.......where did all this bathing come from? Grooms started at 6.30,7am and finished when the horses were done; around here some of the ex masters have to do their own horses after hunting cos the groom finishes at 5!! During cubbing you got most of the afternoon off anyway. During hunting proper you thatched the horse, went in and came back out later. (I suppose I was lucky in that I always had a cottage with the job). The pony club season was all holidays, we travelled throughout East Anglia......and they were proper up to size courses; then when the bosses kids got older it was novice eventing.......some of which they'd already done PC. Breaking.....lots and lots of long reining. Pt to pting.........Not november!! How can they be properly qualified?
Best shut up now, once I get started.......
 
Oh yes the biggest new thing as far as I'm concerned....velcro! That is an improvement from leather boots and some buckles; amazes me how they accept the noise from it though when you consider some reactions to sound.
 
I've been doing it so long I've forgotten most of it but I love these memories so do keep them coming!
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My favourite advancement has to be the Horseware range of rugs, you can keep most of everything else and my biggest disappointment has to be the loss of the proper English saddler, they're like hen's teeth now who only used the best quality leather that would last for umpteen years; I'd like that to come back and lose all the foreign rubbish and bling that's around now.
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I'm very thankful for the modern rugs, that can be lovely and light, but still do the job as well as a heavy old NZ rug used to.
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Ah but does anyone remember paying a relative fortune for a new riding hat and the first thing you did when you got it home was cut the chinstrap off?
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leather anti-cast rollers. Straw beds with lovely big banks.

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I was just thinking this the other day while working at the yard! None of the horses have bankings and none of them wear anti cast rollers yet none of them (touch wood) have ever cast. Goes to show even back in the good old days we over did things when it came to our horses! It used to be huge deep litter bankings plus anti cast roller!
 
Riding with no reins and stirrups still goes on in PC... although I am now banned in mine for uncerimoniously falling off and severely winding myself doing the YMCA over a grid of jumps two years ago......

The instructor wasn't happy with all the forms!

I remember when there was no such thing and if I fell off I was told to get back on and get on with it - and I'm only 17!
 
We had I think some of the first velcro boots which were made by a local saddler for one of our ponies - pony was initially terrified of the noise. A piccy I really like is me jumping a fairly scary cross county fence probably in the early 70s, hat with elastic strap, no boots on pony, no back protector . So wouldn't jump that fence now even with full safety gear and ambulance on standby.
 
Okay you youngsters - stand back

I can remember worming with shag tobacco

Waiting at the farriers which took a long hack(difficult if you had lost a shoe) to get to whilst he made your shoes for the horse while you wait - no mobiles then

IF the horses wore rugs they were Jute and somehow attracted every single piece of clean straw by the morning.

Giving horses hot bran mash and salt, followed by a Stout with thatched rugs until they were dry and comfy.

Twisting straw so you could dry them off initially

Only three bits in existence as I can remember - snaffle, pelham and if the horse was really strong the good old Kimblewick - I actually saw a horse with one recently

Boiling linseed

Riding without a hat, the first thing you did when you got in the ring was sling it off - oopsadaisy!!

Hay bales with twisted WIRE not twine - they were hard!!

Straight swap for straw bales for manure collection

Being in horseboxes that you could see the ground in between your feet

About 30 kids in the luton of the horse box going to a show screaming and giggling and waving out the vents.

I am sure it never rained then - or so my mum said - why is it it never rains where you are? Even though I was drenched

Jumping out of the field over the hedge onto a verge with just a headcollar on

Hacking to shows which sometimes took hours - then hacking back - either with red or no rosettes depended on the mood. Poor old dad having to drive at our pace to make sure we all got home safely - sometimes being dark when you get home.

Riding in the dark with a torch strapped to your stirrrups

Just to name a few - oh my goodness - I feel all nostalgic now!!
 
Cross surcingles are a bonus of modern times - the old green canvas NZ's with one surcingle were forever on the wonk and at night your horse was trussed up in a roller!
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Do think modern rugs have too many fittings though - I usually remove the leg straps and thread one across as a fillet string instead.
 
I remember having to ride to the blacksmiths forge to get my pony shod - it was lovely on cold days.
I hacked to all my shows.
You could only get cream jodhpurs which didn't have elastane in them so you only wore them for shows.
Same for hats - only for shows!
It was £1 for the day at my riding club gymkhana's (included ridden class, clear round, show jumping and 3 games at the end!)
Children up to the age of 15 rode ponies.
Rugs??? The only rug my pony had was a homemade one made out of an old army blanket which I used in the stable on really cold nights!
Going for 4 hour rides in the summer - bareback, without hats down to the beach.

It was a magical time growing up and having lots of freedom with my pony in the 70's.
Good as it was I'm pleased I now have a trailer and I don't have to make my rugs out of army blankets!
 
Oh dear I'm very unfashionable, I've just started riding my horse in a Kimblewick... didn't realise I was committing such an equestrian fashion crime!!
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Anyway, string girths, hay wisps (instructions to make one in the Manual of Horsemanship..but I never did!) home made jumps as per instructions in... was it Christine Pullen-Thompson's Riding for Fun? Jodhpurs that were way to short but pulled down by the elastic clip things that went under your boots. Magic gloves were the only riding gloves. Bran mash. Hay racks. Nearly all horses having rubbed shoulders in winter from those rotten New Zealands! I had my first pony for 7 years and I don't recall her seeing the vet once... no injections, never lame or cut or anything. Sleeping in a Rice trailer for a week for pony club camp with another girl on camp beds, there were no doors over the top of the ramp so we just had a tarpaulin that rattled in the wind and leaked anyway!
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Ah for the good old days!!
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I am still traditional and go for simplicity...my horse will wear the same turnout rug all winter quite happily, lives off grass (limited) and hay only, lives out 24/7 and is un-clipped...marvellous.
 
Whitewood are you me?
Wanted an anticast roller because I still use blankets and quilts and jute rugs, in fact my horse wears one as a day rug.
I still thatch when the horse is wet.
Tonight they will be eating home boiled linseed, home boiled barley, chaff, sugarbeet and pony cubes.
I can make a hay wisp
I still want to cut the chinstrap off my hat and throw it off when I enter the ring.
Jumping dry stone walls bareback, in a head collar two to a pony (it's a Yorkshire thing)
Riding one and leading 3, 10 miles to a show so that I could sweep the board in the jumping (minus hat of course)
No holds barred HT including jumping picnic tables on Fell and Exmoor ponies.
No rotten warm bloods ponies or ex-racehorses there was no choice.
Decent televised show jumping
Bring it all back please. They did it with Dr Who.
 
Haha what memories.
Having read everyones so much more has come flooding back.
- Traveling in the trailer with the horses as the car was full of kids too.
1 horse 1 large pony and a shetland in a rickety old rice trailer plus maybe 3/4 kids all pulled by some random car that would be very illegal these days!!!
- Your farrier also rasping your horses teeth.
- For some reasin I never used to have the vet out only for vaccinations (if they actually had them)
- hacking to shows along main roads (we thought they were busy then!!!)
- Going for all days hacks and spending all day at weekends with my horse
- cycling to the yard with my saddle slung across my handle bars and my bridel around my neck.

BTW with regards to kimblewicks I still use one now and think they are fab
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Whitewood are you me?
Wanted an anticast roller because I still use blankets and quilts and jute rugs, in fact my horse wears one as a day rug.


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Do you want one, a proper saddler made one in good old English leather? If so, might be able to help, depends on size!
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Ooh ooh oph! So many! Probably already said, but here goes:

String girths;
Riding riding school ponies bareback and leading four others over a mile to their field;
HOYS when it was Horse of the Year Show and was shown on telly every night for the week;
Warm bran mash (loved that aroma!);
Secondhand riding gear;
Pony Club DCs that could be heard across three counties;
Jumping anything and everything;
Cavaletti;
Hard hats with fixed peaks - eek!;
Rubber riding boots - when they first came out (smelt baaaad);
The stripey stable rugs that went under jute rug, all folded up round the neck;
Riding out without a hat - galloping with the wind in hot sweaty hair;
Riding bouncing horses that now I wouldn't get on if they paid me lol;
Two-way stretch johds when they first came out - so comfy!;
Anti-cast rollers;
Deep beds and big banks, perfectly squared off;
Proper grooming - strapping each horse for an hour a day;
Quatering when going out;
Leaver cavessons for lunging - in fact leather everything for everything
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Three fold leather girths;
Tack cleaning for hours with saddle soap;
Stockholm tar;
Wax jackets and Hunter Wellies;
Thick woollen jumpers;
Hacking jackets;
Working at an equestrian centre, where when we rode we had to wear a shirt, tie, blue v-necked jumper, cream johds, boots, hair net, hat, gloves - the rest of the time I wore scruff baseball boots (on those wages I couldn't afford anything else).

Hot summers, cold winters, being late back and riding in the dark, Mum asking me after each ride 'where does it hurt?' and having a hot bath run for me (that pone bucked me off every day), Mum feedng pones Rich Tea biscuits when we called by the house.
 
I always like these nostalgia threads
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I too remember riding to the forge, our farrier didn't travel when we had the first horse (thankfully he did about 8 years later when we got the next one!) Wearing a rubber riding mac, my first johds with 'leather' knee patches (in cream of course) Cork hats that 'grew' with you (presumably the cork plates moved away from each other
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Oh and I still clean my tack and boots with old fashioned saddle soap, and dubbin my boots too.
 
I can do as well as you lot. I had my first riding lessons with the butcher's daughter in Llanwrtyd Wells (quite a successful young rider) it cost 5 shillings an hour for a private lesson (25p to you young uns). When I went to London on holiday I was taken to Major Walker in Wimbledon which was very posh 10/6 (or 55 pence) for a private lesson.

I was soon hacking out and no-one told us then we couldn't canter on roadside verges.

My claim to fame is I have actually patted Foxhunter who visited our littel town to lead out the trek on the first day of the Pony Trekking season.
 
I still layer with jutes, blankets and use rollers!
I could never get the hang of thatching!
I have my linseed and barley all ready for boiling, and Im getting bran soon!
I love jutes, but so very very glad for the invention of modern NZs!
I remember as a kid really wanting the new thing - blue jods - but they were £3 more expensive than the black ones, so I couldnt have them!
My first ponies had a bridle (cheek pieces knotted to make them smaller!) a snaffle and a kimblewick (for hunting) a saddle with serge linings, a hoof pick and a body brush. My dad made me a headcollor and leadrope out of baler twine! lol!
I love the 'old days' and Im only 25!!! x
 
I'm still living the good old days, to a certain extent! Ellie still has bran mashes, her straw bed is lovely and thick with huge banks (and not deep littered either), she has a big Witney blanket on, folded back and tucked in. I use a sheepskin noseband instead of a martingale, I dont go in for any of these fancy, uber complex bitting systems (yes, I am a snaffle fan!) and I would always go to a 'proper' English saddler. Oh yes, and occasionally I plait the front of my straw beds
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I remember when going up the jumping lane without reins or stirrups, with 'arms out like an aeroplane' was standard practice at PC rallies. Now it is a health and safety risk to do such a thing
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I'm too young to remember the days when showjumping was a regular TV fixture, but I so wish it could be that way now!
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