The Old and The New

I went to a local RS on a busy main road that was also hacking only. Can't remember what stage we were at when they let us loose, we used to canter down the old railway line and none of those ponies ever had leg problems, tiny kids were chucked up on the 16.2 hander.After a hack you took your pony in the stable bucket in hand and whistled at it til it peed. if one did it's business on the road outside you went out with a bucket and trowel and picked it up. I'd been there about 3 weeks before i started leading other kids out on the ponies.We used to go 2 up on the bigger ponies and hoon round the field. One summer we went headcollars in hand to the meadow next door and managed to tame a couple of the bullocks in there. one would only let you stroke him but the other if he was laying down would let you sit on him!
After 4 years we got our own pony ,then we really learnt how to ride! we would go out all day and no one would know where we were, i remember one time he couldn't wear his saddle for some reason so we just hacked out bare back down the main road and sometimes just put a headcollar on him and went off hacking.Also did jumping with no reins ,stirrups etc. we used to hack 7 miles to the 'local' show ,ride the pony all day then hack it home again. Also used to hack to a friends house and leave the ponies in the back garden over night then ride them back the next day. We were pretty much just left to get on with it and rarely had any adult supervision!
those were the days!
 
The riding school that I learnt at 20 years ago was very strict and everything had to be done in the best way for the horses. I gave up riding lessons to save up for my own pony and for 2 years slaved away as a helper but didn't get one free ride! The rest of my knowledge was gained from books, which were far more affordable than actual ponies! I always wanted to do far more than I was allowed to and to this day am fearless, although fortunately now I can afford to buy myself the really good horses I always dreamed of having, and compete at the shows my contemporaries who had their own ponies then never did!

Strangely thought the first pony I got when I was 14 was one of those perfectly schooled ponies who had fallen into the wrong hands. He never put a foot wrong and I sold him for a small fortune when I outgrew him.
 
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