The Good Old Days

[Petalpoos]

Found this, rope halter, tick , nasty half panel saddle, tick, red string girth, tick, wool saddlecloth, tick. Just missing his red and white plastic zig zag browband, maybe I hadn't bought that at that point
View attachment 38909

Look at the (not) stuffing in that saddle!

 

[Gloi]

Look at the (not) stuffing in that saddle!

The seat was rock hard too! Good job pony had plenty of padding of his own.

 

[tatty_v]

I was a pony mad but pony less youngster who spent an awful lot of time avidly reading Horse and Pony magazine and memorising everything I thought might be useful! I vividly remember the big worming charts that came free and seemed to involve working every month?!

Also loved the Dorling Kindersley Young Rider book written by Lucinda Green. I desperately wanted to be the girl in the pink sweatshirt with pink ribbons in (nearly plaited) hair and a beautiful bay pony. Sadly even now there’s no way I ever look that groomed and presentable around a horse!

 

[windand rain]

I was bought my first pony in 1968 He was a 4 year old irish TB just backed. He was a wonderful jumper and brought a lot of friends to my door. His tack was bright yellow leather when it was bought with a serge lining, His bridle a simple snaffle without a nose band until i found a cheap one, livery was 50p per week grass livery no stables, never heard of laminitis it was referred to as founder and every horse was shot. Fat ponies lived on huge acreage as they were worked hard every day sometimes jumping for three hours or more.
His rugs were canvas no neck if it got cold and he was suffering he was allowed a blanket under it ordinary wool blanket of your bed or from a charity shop. The blanket was pulled up to the ears and folded up to the mane to make a triangle a canvas new zealand was added on top then the triangle was folded back over the rug and held in place with a surcingle rugs had those grey leather straps at the front and the surcingle has no padding at the spine and had a thin metal strap and buckle which fastened under the tummy no leg straps just a bit of leather across as a fillet string it was years before I knew what the strap was called. I do not remember the wool blanket leaking under the rug down the neck when it rained, He was fed oats and bran with a bit of molasses dissolved in hot water poured over it. The sacks of feed were hundred weight roughly 50kg sacks and needed two people to lift them into the big feed bins. Hay was 10p a bale and the straw was free if you could get it off the field before the farmer burned it. Horses got thin in winter and I mean thin you could see ribs and they looked hollow but boy did they make up for it in summer.

 

[MrsMozart]

We didn't wear hats and we'd gallop across fields - no one ever got shouted at as we'd never go across standing crop.

When we did wear hats, they were the ones with a rigid peak and a chin starp - broken neck anyone?

Riding school ponies - jump on the back of one (with a bridle if you could be arsed to clean it when you got back and if not then a headcollar) with five other ponies on lead ropes and off you'd trot (sometimes sideways and occasionally upsidedown) to the furthest field.

Standing in the muckheap in the winter to eat lunch as it was the only place to warm up your feet.

Strapping! Hours of the stuff, could be why I've still got bloody good arms and core muscles.

Quartering when going to be ridden.

Anti-cast rollers over the stable rugs, where the necks had to be perfectly symetrical and flicked back just right.

Bandages - done properly, with different wrapping patterns dependent on which bandage it was.

Banking so strong we could stand on it to do their manes.

Milk powder added to the showjumpers warm mash.

Bran powder - I can still smell it.

All tack cleaned properly every day. The saddle horse and the hanging bridle rack. All bridles wrapped with its throat latch. All leadropes tied up.

No-way stretch jodphurs - they were rigid buggers. The excitement when two-way stretch came in.

Stacking huge trailer's worth of hay / straw. Blinking heck we were fit. There was no elf n safety, otherwise 10 year old girls would've spent more time sat inside instead of being out and possibly risking life and limb. Same goes for learning to drive the tractor at aged ten.

Working at an equestrian centre - always had to ride in white shirt, tie, v-necked blue jumper, clean jodhs, long clean boots, hair net and hat. The rest of the time (50% as we'd ride mid-morning to mid-afternoon) we looked like something the dog had dragged in and abandoned.

Out all day with no mobiles and if we remembered a couple of 2p pieces for the phone box just in case, though it was never used, apart from the time we forgot the field key.

Before I rode for others, it was riding school ponies - working all day to earn a ride. All the places I was at were very good, we got a lot of riding and had a hoot load of fun.