Thread to reminisce about pre health and safety/designer riding wear days

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Waffles

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time for some fun stories, because it's pouring down with rain..... we used to worm our horses twice a year whether they needed it or not..
 
Hacking miles everywhere to shows or meets, with a vague direction of whereever it was you had to head to was...and generally getting lost and taking 'short cuts' over fences.

Bareback lessons through 4ft+ grids, lunge lessons, etc. If you fell off - tough ****, get back on till you sort your balance out!

And racing in headcollars still in their field.


Wait what....I still do all of that!!! :p
 
Gosh, yes, I remember hacking for over an hour to a meet, then hunting all day and hacking about 2 hours home again!

Oh and those white rubber riding macs that stunk but were very efficient - I wonder if you can still get them? :D
 
This link shows you'll be needing to go back a long way further than your days to get away from designer gear and H&S:D In 1907 Busvines were the "to die for" habit makers and were vaunting their outfits' safety features!
 
Ah... but they must have been for people with loads of money..... We just made do with hand me down jeans and old anoraks, unless it was for a show or whatever.

I remember my pre lycra jodhpurs - I always had a sort of penguin type crutch arrangement with them, which was a real encumbrance in gymkhana games where you had to get on and off!
 
When haynets were only made of string like rope and they were brown.

buckets were black and occasionally yellow and that was it

most bits were nickel but the new fangled ones were stainless steel!

you had posh tack if your noseband had fancy stitching on it

stylo long rubber boots that the lining came out with your foot still attached and you had to feed it back in the boot.

a cagual (sp?) this was as waterproof as it got for me.

Mmm string gloves they were so nice when it rained!

string vest coolers, woolen day rugs, and those lovely new zealand rugs.

saddle racks only came in red.

wheelbarrows were metal and heavy

thank god for progress!
 
I remember chrome plated bits too (after a while the chrome plating came off and the bit went rusty)

One year, I remember our hay had wire instead of bailer twine - caused havoc to the hands of an 11 yr old.
 
Dee O'Dorant said:
This link shows you'll be needing to go back a long way further than your days to get away from designer gear and H&S:D In 1907 Busvines were the "to die for" habit makers and were vaunting their outfits' safety features!
Click to expand...

too true, I was reading something from 1880 last night, about modern safety stirrups.:D





(and for that matter, I was reading something from 1903 about how it only seems to be slim ladies portrayed in fashion plates, and how larger ladies should dress to hide their figures, so nothing new there either then :D

...We have only to look at fashion plates to see that no dress is suggested for ladies who are inclined to be stout, for in them, only slim figures appear to receive consideration. I would recommend the loose-fitting coat as the most becoming for portly persons, because with a loose garment there is no abrupt accentuation of bulk, a fact which many stout ladies who adopt the Eton jacket style of dress, fail to recognise. On the stage, a slim actress may look well in tights, but this skin-like covering on a bulky figure would be ridiculously ugly. As the same lady draped in loose flowing robes may present a graceful and dignified appearance; those who are inclined to be portly would[103] do well to wear loose-fitting riding coats, being careful to see that they are made to just reach the saddle and not flop on the back of the horse, or they will not be smart or comfortable to ride in. [...] There are habit makers who recommend tight-fitting coats for stout figures, because, they argue, the bulk is there and must go somewhere; but a deaf ear should be turned to such arguments, as an ample figure should be concealed; not accentuated.)
 
I learn to ride as a "helper" at a ridng school from 1970 onwards. They were strict that we had to wear hats to ride.

However none of the hats ever fitted, they were battered and broken (often all the padding had gone) they sat on your head without straps and fell off constantly. Some still had elastic to go under the chin, but no-one used it as we didn't didn't think it looked good! :rolleyes::D:D
 
FionaM12 said:
Are they not still? :eek::confused:
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No, we differentiate between tobiano, overo, sabino, etc instead of just skewbald or piebald. We have realised that dun and buckskin are not the same thing and that the Americans therefore had it right. We now have all kinds of other colours such as buckskin tobiano, perlino, cremello, smokey black, frame overo, the list is endless.

Even the plain old bay is now light bay, bright bay, blood bay, dark bay, mahoghany bay, wild bay etc
 
Wagtail said:
No, we differentiate between tobiano, overo, sabino, etc instead of just skewbald or piebald. We have realised that dun and buckskin are not the same thing and that the Americans therefore had it right. We now have all kinds of other colours such as buckskin tobiano, perlino, cremello, smokey black, frame overo, the list is endless.

Even the plain old bay is now light bay, bright bay, blood bay, dark bay, mahoghany bay, wild bay etc
Click to expand...

I think I may just be too old to learn all those now. When I came back to horses after my 35 year gap, I didn't even realise they now came in new colours! :o:D
 
FionaM12 said:
I think I may just be too old to learn all those now. When I came back to horses after my 35 year gap, I didn't even realise they now came in new colours! :o:D
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They aren't new colours. We just understand the genetics behind the colours better now and so can name them more accurately.

People seem to think it is a fad to call colours by their genes when it is just scientifically accurate. I don't understand why people have a problem with that tbh :confused:
 
I love this thread - I am 25 but things have changed so much even in 20 years! I remember too when buckets were only black or occasionally yellow!

Flash nosebands were 'different'

You weren't allowed coloured browbands at pony club

Everyone used Cornucrescine

People bandaged instead of booting

Rubber riding boots as someone has already said, where the lining came out with your foot

Corduroy jodphurs and jodphur clips

The 'Jill' books (which are brilliant when u have a re-read!)

Curry combs

Grooming brushes only came in black or wood colour

Lots of jumping poles were square

All shows were on grass and no one had an arena!

We were still allowed to do the 'Gretna Green' race

You could fall off on the xc and get back on, finish and still get placed

All children had a set of 'Nag Rags' for their birthday!

The whips with the little hands on the end came out

Coloured horses were called Patch, Puzzle or Jigsaw


I could go on!
 
jesstickle said:
They aren't new colours. We just understand the genetics behind the colours better now and so can name them more accurately.

People seem to think it is a fad to call colours by their genes when it is just scientifically accurate. I don't understand why people have a problem with that tbh :confused:
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My comments weren't entirely serious, Jesstickle! :D They were meant to be humorous. :o
 
FionaM12 said:
My comments weren't entirely serious, Jesstickle! :D They were meant to be humorous. :o
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Sorry, I know that Fi. I was going to go back and add that I didn't think you were being grumpy over it but then I got distracted by the awfulness of Wild Wild West on telly and didn't get round to it :o

It's just something I've noticed on here. That people seem to think it's really OTT not to just say piebald/skewbald but to me (as a picky scientist who's interested in genetics) it makes perfect sense to call them properly.
 
jesstickle said:
Sorry, I know that Fi. I was going to go back and add that I didn't think you were being grumpy over it but then I got distracted by the awfulness of Wild Wild West on telly and didn't get round to it :o
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Haha. I was mostly taking the p*** out of myself and my difficulty with learning new things (and remembering old ones :o) since I came back to horses. :D
 
Jodhpurs that had a seam all the way round the back of your knee and cut in - and they only came in black, navy or beige.

New Zealand Rugs and Jute stable rugs.

The saddle fitted the rider, not necessarily the horse, so you just had one lot of tack to use on about four different horses! (did at the old hunting yard I was at anyway)

You got the horses fit in a snaffle and used a Pelham out hunting.

I remember when "Muckers" first came on the market and EVERYONE got a pair for their birthdays. :D (including me!)
 
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