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

little_critter said:
Can we have ebony bay? My girl is very nearly black in winter and ebony coloured in summer. If she were a pair of tights she'd be 'barely black'
What colour is blood bay?
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Sounds like she may be a Seal Brown. It is one of my favourite horsey colours. I prefer it to black.

Blood bay is a kind of ruby coloured bay, with very rich red tones.
 
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In the mid sixties I went to a very small (five of us, and I don't think private enterprises like this would be allowed now either) private boarding school in Hay on Wye. I had my own pony, but he stayed at home, as we had a motley selection to ride at the school, from 15.2 to 12 hands. We had only ONE saddle, which was horribly uncomfortable anyway, so we rode everywhere bareback and hatless. We were complete maniacs (ages from 8 to 11) and used to go for miles. One of our missions was to cross the Wye without using the road bridge. Having seen it on the cowboy films, I decided to swim a pony across with me on his back. Half way there he sank! I had to get off mid stream, he popped back up, and I had to swim for it back to the bank pulling him behind me. Eventually we found a place we could ford the river, but it was very deep, so to save wet trousers, we took them off (!) crossed over and went for a ride in our knickers. There was no-one to disapprove as we never saw anyone. We never came to any harm, amazingly, and all that bareback work made me a very secure rider.
 
Your Pony wasn't very cartoony but I wouldn't say the artwork was very high quality either. So I think you must be talking about another magazine which I never came across.
 
I'm feeling quite abused as a kid... I'm only 16 and was helping at the riding school from the age of nine! We had new Zeelands (but the modern ish ones), the most wanted ponies were in gags, we rode to the field while leading and I ALWAYS hack to shows! Did it on Monday! I also hack alone without my phone (as if I'm going to risk falling on it or dropping it and it smashing!!!) and have been hacking with my mates since I was at the riding school :eek: Did all the exercises (round the world ect)
 
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Pics from my childhood (clock the long rubber boots, the green quilted jacket, a very early body protector with a tail that velcros round your crotch, no numnahs, short boots and joddy clips to go jumping I never see that anymore etc, etc)

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I also have pictures from my Mother's childhood with horses but they aren't scanned sadly. If this is still going by the weekend I'll upload them then :)
 
absolutely love this thread but probably everyone bored before they get to this. Never mind
Pony club rallies in jacket and ties whatever the weather and instructor similarly attired?

Only the poshest of horse ever had a rug

Coolers were a string vest - mine was crocheted by a blind girlfriend of my grandfather.

swapping ponies at camp - health and safety no longer allows

Dentist???

Physio?

Riding to the farrier on a saturday morning

Back protector? a few people had something that resembled a spinal board shoved down their jumper.

Skull caps with chin cup

Hacking out with chip strap down as we left the house and pulled up onto the top of the hat as soon as we were out of sight - effectively riding with no hat at all.

Hoof oil whever we groomed

Brown rope haynets

All tack cost a fortune!!!

Dressage? the thing you had to do before you could jump

All feeds came seperately, handful of oats, handful or bran, scoop of sugarbeet, slop of oil, sprinkle of minerals etc....


Pony club camp was in TENTS! with a caravan with 2 loos and a sink - no showers for a WEEK!

Not knocking improvements - some things are for the better, but I had a cracking time with half the worry that knowledge brings - ignorance can be bliss!
 
Vanha12 said:
Not knocking improvements - some things are for the better, but I had a cracking time with half the worry that knowledge brings - ignorance can be bliss!
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You mean in the days when owning a pony was actually fun? I miss those days :( Now it is nothing but constant stress and worry.
 
jesstickle said:
clock the long rubber boots,
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Am I the only person who still rides in long rubber boots then? :eek::p When I came back to riding a couple of years ago I bought myself a pair and have only just discovered through this thread they're so uncool! :p

None of the youngsters on the yard have told me my boots are an embarrassment. :o:p I actually find them okay. Bit sweaty in warm weather but I don't wear them for long.
 
The body protector which have has that strap that comes under the crotch. I've only fallen off twice in the last 18 years and was wearing it both times!
 
Wagtail said:
Sounds like she may be a Seal Brown. It is one of my favourite horsey colours. I prefer it to black.

Blood bay is a kind of ruby coloured bay, with very rich red tones.
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Nah - I've just checked on wikipedia, she's bog standard dark bay as she doesn't have the tan markings. Just very dark, her new summer coat is virtually black but when it stops raining (!) it'll bleach and dapple.
 
I can remember
When a set of shoes were £6
Going hacking alone from the age of 12, cantering along the verges jumping the drainage ditches
Going hunting wearing a beautiful blue velvet hand me down Beagler with no strap whatsover....but it also had a massive crack in it!!
Hacking 1.5 hrs to the meet, hunting all day then hacking 10 miles home mainly in the pitch dark!
I had a body protector which was just a shaped piece of polystyrene with an elastic belt...when stuffed under a jumper gave you a hump back
My old thin skinned tb only had a green canvas nz lined ith a bit of blanket, he must have been frozen.
Pulling off layers of jute and witney blankets and almost being squashed by the weight.
Only fly spray was 'Extra tail' in a proper aerosol can.
Hacking an hr each way to pc camp for a whole week
Pony magazine, colour cover all black and white inside.
Yellow string gloves
Clipping took all day.....no idea why.
Hard rubber riding boots, til 'stylo matchmakers' were invented
Husky jackets, thought I was the bees knees in mine
If you didn't feed straights you only had pony nuts and eventually pony mix
Haylege wasn't invented
 
FionaM12 said:
Am I the only person who still rides in long rubber boots then?
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You might be the only grown up in the world who does. I know plenty of kids who still do as they're cheap and indestructible and that's what you want with growing children about I'm told.

dotty1 said:
I can remember
When a set of shoes were £6
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My mother nearly keeled over yesterday when I said Nits needs shoes now and that a set would cost me £70. She said, 'but when you had Mav (my first horse aged 16) they were only £45' when I pointed out to her that was 12 years ago she followed up with 'hmm, I suppose that's true, no wonder they were so much less when I had Melly (her first horse when she was 16, I don't think her pony wore shoes), that was a lot more than 12 years ago'. I love my dotty old Mumbles. :) Obviously inflation doesn't exist in her world!
 
Another 70s pony girl, this thread is fab :) I still have the 'get on with it you'll be fine attitude.
Remember White Horses being on TV in the holidays & Follyfoot :)
 
jesstickle said:
You might be the only grown up in the world who does.
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I'm not, cos I bought some for my 26 year old daughter! :D

But I never cared much about fashion, even less so now I'm ancient, so "cheap and indestructable" will do fine for me. :D

I maybe should tell my daughter people might be sniggering up their sleeves at her too though.... ;):D
 
AMW said:
Another 70s pony girl, this thread is fab :) I still have the 'get on with it you'll be fine attitude.
Remember White Horses being on TV in the holidays & Follyfoot :)
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By the time these were on telly, I considered myself a bit too grown up to watch them. But I was a big fan of Champion the Wonder Horse, My Friend Flicker and Mr Edd in the previous decade.
 
FionaM12 said:
I'm not, cos I bought some for my 26 year old daughter! :D

But I never cared much about fashion, even less so now I'm ancient, so "cheap and indestructable" will do fine for me. :D

I maybe should tell my daughter people might be sniggering up their sleeves at her too though.... ;):D
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Who cares? They only get covered in poo anyway. I am even less stylish. I ride with short boots and my jeans tucked into my novelty Primark Christmas socks. :p
 
At the end of the RS day riding the ponies down to the fields bareback in headcollars......to think that was just over 10 years ago, you wouldn't be able to do that now :(
 
When I first read the magazine post I thought it was My Pony too - it was comic style but the artwork was quite good. Does anybody remember the story about the girl with a horse called Hopeless who didn't do well in the show ring but turned into an endurance champion and was renamed Hope? I think the girl lost the SJ ride on a black horse called Magic or something (and her friend's horse was tragically killed XC?)

There were some great stories in there, it was my favourite of the three pony magazines that were around at the time; My Pony, Pony and Horse and Pony (with Freddie the chestnut!!) My Pony had Rascal and didn't Pony have a grey mascot?

I also had the posters all over my wall, I used to have bad nightmares as a kid but had a really big poster of a fleabitten grey arab stallion by my bed and I hoped he would protect me!! Does anybody remember the Midnight Dancer books? Or Jinny and Shantih? Or the other Patricia Leitch books with Sally and her grey pony and the other girl with Tarquin?
 
I had those rubber riding boots that you just couldn't take off without help - I got my dad to make me a boot jack which I still have somewhere.
 
I remember having riding lessons and when we had to ride without stirrups everyone's boots fell off. Instructor used to moan as she had to go and pick them all up but things were so expensive those days our parents would buy big sizes so they would last. Also it was the only way you could get the bloody things off was if you bought them too big!
 
circa 1973 aged 12 going off riding for hours with 20 yr old male son of yard owner cant imagine it would be allowed now , he was a complete gentleman , i had no idea there were any other sorts of men!
 
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