Things from the past

[Kat]

I had a separate harness to wear over my riding hat to reinforce the very unsafe elastic! The plastic chin cup was especially unattractive when it was worn slightly to one side .......

I had one of those! My mum was terrified of horses so embraced all the latest safety equipment 😂

 

[Baroque]

What about the Win A Pony competitions in The Sun paper. One year I won a Swain Adeney whip and I remember asking my mum whether she thought the girl who won the pony would want to swap. Sad for me, she thought not. I had the whip for over 30 years though.

 

[View]

I had a separate harness to wear over my riding hat to reinforce the very unsafe elastic! The plastic chin cup was especially unattractive when it was worn slightly to one side .......

Ooh, I had forgotten about them. My very first hat had a harness and chin cup, before I was given a skull cap, still with the lovely chin cup.

 

[chocolategirl]

The cough post reminded me of Easakof for horses, we put on their bit and it would ease the coughing for riding etc.

Also Ruby wormer which was good for horses with allergy or reacting to Ivermectin I still have one from the past un used it wormed for bots particularly. Do you remember anything from the past you want to share that you used or have a photo of?

Sorry they are a bit big

My horse used to LOVE easakof! I would dip a carrot into the tub to feed it to him, but he was also more than willing to lick it straight out of the pot lol! I’ve tried to find it recently but I don’t think they make it any more which is a real shame.

 

[Woah]

Oh yes! And if it was really cold, a wilton blanket underneath folded to a point over the neck then folded back over the wither and all held together with a roller. A leather anti-cast one to be really smart. Those were the days!

Yes I was just thinking of this exact same thing! I had a really lovely old padded leather roller for my pony !

 

[Woah]

A thick straw bed. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. Anyone still use straw as preferred bedding?

 

[Woah]

Y
How exciting! I used to love clacking around in these on my pony feeling like a professional SJ! Tend to canter a lot as that made the best sound. I note they’ve made them quieter tho.... sighs....

The overreach boots I used to remember were rubber with no fastenings - just had to pull them over hoof inside out then fold down . 😂

 

[Woah]

String girths - horrible when I think of these now they surely could pinch?!
Nickel bits, and those round rubber disc like things that you put on each side of bit to prevent bit being pulled through mouth for gymkhana games - who remembers correct name for these?!!
Loving this thread btw, more and more memories flooding back !

 

[Cortez]

String girths - horrible when I think of these now they surely could pinch?!
Nickel bits, and those round rubber disc like things that you put on each side of bit to prevent bit being pulled through mouth for gymkhana games - who remembers correct name for these?!!
Loving this thread btw, more and more memories flooding back !

Actually, string girths are the least likely to pinch as they are flexible and able to move around any contour, and easily washed; they're in daily use here and are what I'd recommend to anyone with a girth sore.

Bit rubbers are the name for the discs.

 

[Cortez]

A thick straw bed. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. Anyone still use straw as preferred bedding?

Yes; hate shavings, although they are a good bedding if kept properly clean, which they rarely are.

 

[Puff]

I’m a 90s kid but remember lots of these from my first riding school- quite a rough and ready farm set up with string girths, cotton/nylon orange reins, rubber bit guards or biscuits, canvas nz rugs and even a couple of jutes! The horses were all fed straights and still were when I left as a teen in the mid 2000s. The ponies had velvet sharks tooth brow bands and the horses had brass clincher ones! Love them and never see them about anymore. Everything had an eggbutt snaffle. Ah nostalgia!
The proprietor who was the farmers wife wore one of those checked green bronte puffa coats! Saw one on eBay recently quite highly priced as a “vintage” item lol

 

[Keith_Beef]

A thick straw bed. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. Anyone still use straw as preferred bedding?

Most horses at the yard where I ride are on straw. A few are on shavings, either because they are so greedy that they eat the straw and make themselves ill, or they get wheezy from the dust.

A few of the horses also have bit rubbers...

 

[Mule]

Most horses at the yard where I ride are on straw. A few are on shavings, either because they are so greedy that they eat the straw and make themselves ill, or they get wheezy from the dust.



A few of the horses also have bit rubbers...

All of the horses where I have lessons use rubber bit guards, I use the riding school horses when mine is on his winter break. The bit guards are a right pain when you're not used to them, especially if a horse is headshy. To be fair, while I'm fiddling about with those things i can understand why any sensible horse would sidle off or stick it's head in the air

 

[Puff]

I think using rubber bit guards is technically correct/ recommended when using a loose ring snaffle as they are more likely to be pulled through the mouth?

 

[Sandstone1]

I think using rubber bit guards is technically correct/ recommended when using a loose ring snaffle as they are more likely to be pulled through the mouth?

I Always thought that bit guards were to stop the bit pinching the horses mouth.

 

[Puff]

Yeah that too, maybe that what loose ring snaffles are more prone to, I know I read something about it somewhere in the distant past!

 

[Mule]

I Always thought that bit guards were to stop the bit pinching the horses mouth.

I've heard that too. They don't pinch my own horse but in a riding school I can see why they'd want to be careful.

 

[Mule]

I think using rubber bit guards is technically correct/ recommended when using a loose ring snaffle as they are more likely to be pulled through the mouth?

I think the d ring is used for that.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I still have my very first riding crop Harry Hall circa 1975 and a later pair of adult string gloves.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I also have my first pony’s Lavenham and Cottage Craft headcollar circa mid 1980’s.

 

[dozzie]

I used westropp and would still do, if I was jumping/xc as they don't invert. Best boots ever for one that over reached on an old injury.

 

[dozzie]

Duraglit polish wadding for nickel bits and stirrups.

One that is rightly consigned to the bin is the old 'treatment' of blistering and firing for tendon injuries. If the horse was blistered it had to go in a neck cradle.

Agree,

 

[el_Snowflakes]

Mucker boots, those bloody ugly blue lace-up things with the beige sole. Just when you thought they couldn't get any more hideous they brought out velcro ones!

Oh yes, they were particularly fetching when teamed with black watch tartan Puffa jacket & riding hat with rubber chin guard!

 

[PaddyMonty]

Being a child of the early 60's (starting riding in 64) our ponies didn't have any of those fancy rugs etc. They went naked 12 months a year.
Kit for pony was snaffle bridal, jute backed saddle, string girth. That was it. No boots of any kind
Grooming kit was dandy and body brush plus hoof pick (fold up sort you carried when out hacking). Halter not head collar.
Bedding was the shavings we used to collect from saw mill in large sacks which was free.
Simpler times and in many ways somewhat more fun than these days.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Halter not head collar.

Is it just the name that's changed, or is there a difference between the two?

When I was a kid, although not a horsey family, we always called it a halter, and it is only since starting to ride regularly in about 2012 and especially since I started making my own tack, that I've started to use the term headcollar, because that's the name I usually see in harness maker's pattern books...

 

[PaddyMonty]

Very different. A halter was just a rope made in to a nose band and head piece. The piece of rope that formed the head piece went back down through the nose band allowing it to be lengthened and shortened. One size fitted all.

Just found one.
https://www.saddlery.biz/wicked-equestrian-rope-halter

 

[Chinchilla]

Very different. A halter was just a rope made in to a nose band and head piece. The piece of rope that formed the head piece went back down through the nose band allowing it to be lengthened and shortened. One size fitted all.

Just found one.
https://www.saddlery.biz/wicked-equestrian-rope-halter

Those are still used in native showing sometimes - and in cattle showing lol - but they are white normally. I really like the look of them but can't justify anymore headcollars.

 

[Allykat]

Knew I had one somewhere....

Classic look for the mid 90's... mucker boots, beige Caldene jods and skull cap with sweaty chin cup! I'm impressed at my matchyness too lol.

 

[tankgirl1]

Does anyone remember the Loveson jodhpur boots with the square toes? ***cringe***

!

My first pair of joddy boots where loveson square toed ones lol!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

I have a few old rugs
canvas
polywarm and another one with the old fastnings