Boiling barley with flax, and soaking beetpulp. Especially in the winter this made a lovely warm meal that the horses enjoyed. Seems nutrition is coming full circle, beet pulp is a prebiotic and flax still recommended for its omegas.
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Yes! And phones set up so they had a big, loud speaker so you could hear it ringing anywhere in the barn.
I didn’t see this mentioned: porter protectors and Saratoga bandages.
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Oh my gosh. Much has changed. I worked at polo barns 40+ years ago, and stuff was never thrown away if it had a bit of use left in it. Wool coolers were made of old Army surplus blankets. They didn’t look too different from the ginormous square “real” wool coolers. Polo wraps didn’t stretch (made from some knit woolen fabric) and they tied with cotton tapes. Woe to the groom who didn’t manage to do them so they would stay on.
Saddle pads were these woven striped rectangles folded in half. I later saw them in a store being sold as area rugs. No fleece, no shims, just the folded pad. Saddles were at best roughly fitted.
Tack was cleaned by the old guys using something they called puke. It was Lexol and saddle soap mixed together in an old coffee can and melted over a wood stove. Sticky for sure, but the tack, even if ages old, was supple and in good condition.
Every horse got the same feed, and there were almost no supplements. Hay was made on the farm and no alfalfa, fancy cubes or anything. And yet all the horses were shiny and healthy.
Riding without a helmet. Always unless swinging a mallet in company. And wearing LLBean rubber shoes. What were we thinking? How did we not kill ourselves?
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Another thing:
Almost nobody went XC schooling like we do today. Many people had a few logs, coops, or steeplechase brush fences on the property to freshen a horse up. But there was none of these frequent, elaborate schooling sessions and definitely no access to the competition courses prior to the event.
Horses learned XC on the trail or in the hunt field or in competition.
Fox hunting in general used to be such a staple for eventers when I was younger. While some still partake, it’s a lot less common overall.
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Scarlet Oil. Usually looked like I got more on me than on the horse.
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Nothing like a good bran mash on a cold night!
A retired farrier of mine would use tar to treat thrush
Also when riders wore lead weights to meet the mandatory weight requirement of 165 lbs for XC
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Yes! Lead! I’m not even that old and that was still a thing at the upper levels in my lifetime.
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Unbelievable! And to think I just threw one just like it away in the big basement cleanup of 2020. I almost kept it for sentimental reasons, then better sense prevailed and it went in the bag with the old Troxels.
Once upon a time I knew many people who bought one saddle in their lives, and used that one for everything, forever. There wasn’t much in the way of fitting, other than the seat size of that early buy.
Saddle technology has revolutionized more than once over time. It is doubtless giving many horses less wear & tear and longer careers.
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Lol!! Our last conversation was about the botulism vaccine. Our barn does round bales so it’s needed, she had never vaccinated for it before.
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I remember Ulster galloping boots, with petal bell boots for that cool clickety-clackety noise. SUCH a step up from when we used to wrap legs with Fybagee and put on elasticated exercise bandages, sewn on for xc, then skin our knuckles with pull on bell boots… but at least they matched, along with the overgirth and your (NEVER pre tied… that wasn’t invented) stock tie for xc might have a matching part too (like red polka dots if your color was red) as well as the scrunchy you put on over your hairnet, and the electrical tape everyone put on the end of the too-long reins so they didn’t dangle if you fell off.
When body protectors first came in and they were a 1/2" thick dense foam strip down the spine with just a velcro waist band. About as much use as the helmet with the elastic chinstrap that flew off at the first chance…
After xc it was all string coolers, maybe with straw underneath to help cool them down, and bran mashes later that night.
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shuddering to think
As a kid (50 odd years ago) we tethered our ponies anywhere in the neighborhood. Long chain, leather collar with swivel clips at each end, the stake driven into the ground. Water bucket at outer circumference…
Parents were non-horsey and ponies survived unscathed, but… oh my lordy lord!
**edited: perhaps this comment didn’t belong in Eventing thread? Just what came to mind as ‘horsemanship’ I wouldn’t consider nowadays!
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I was just thinking about overgirths yesterday. Think there is still a pair of Hampa boots in the stable somewhere. Really regret tossing my string coolers … and what was the name of the blue thrush treatment that stained everything forever?
I was riding forward seat back when hunters actually hunted. AND showed. Conformation Hunter classes did not take points off for “honorable scars” acquired in the hunt field. There were Green Hunter classes but no “baby greens” (that one still makes me laugh). Pony hunters jumped 2’ to 2’6", often in pelhams with double reins, and kids on ponies jumped actual courses. Show jumps actually looked like obstacles you might meet out hunting, and if the “stone” wall in the ring was painted wood, the one on the outside course was made of actual stones. Brush jumps were real brush, not artificial flowers in little pots. Handy Hunters had to actually show handiness.
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I often feel like Rip van Winkle these days, coming back from more than two decades of horseless hibernation. Dominion Saddlery is now Dover, Miller’s is gone completely, Karen Lende and Beezie Patton both went and got married, and after falls we not only replace our helmets, we also take our time getting back on.
I seem to remember that Beginner Novice used to be Baby Novice? And there was even Baby-Baby Novice where the fences were… 2’? 18”?
My old barn used to host horse trials where dressage and stadium were on grass, and stadium happened after cross country. This was seen as a good thing, as it tested the horse’s ability to retain balance and precision after their XC round. Each XC fence had a jump judge, and the best volunteer gig was to be an outrider who went around to pick up the sheets where faults/clears were recorded. (Sorry, David O’Connor, for that time I was daydreaming and my pony decided he wanted to follow yours. You were always so nice to the volunteers, especially the kids.)
Real riders took their spurs off the minute they hit the ground; you didn’t walk around in them. (Real riders could also mount from the ground; mounting blocks were for beginners and fat Sunday trail riders.) Comfortable breeches began and ended with cotton Schooling Sweats (From Miller’s? Phelan’s?).
One always pulled a mane; scissors were anathema. Stall floors were packed clay; part of mucking was learning how to re-level and lime as necessary before spreading clean bedding. And nothing beat a warm bran mash after a long, hard day.
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Rust breeches. Just as, or a little after, the non-flared-thigh stretchy fabric was taking over breeches. The coolest possible thing was to show in rust breeches and a navy coat. They did look good together, imo.I don’t know which retailer kicked that off, but you had to find rust breeches somewhere.
The rust color was a rich dark cinnamon brown with the barest hint of burgundy, as I remember them. Loved the color.
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Can we get outriders to pick up score sheets again? That would be awesome. 
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In the 70’s we… fed crimped oats or sweet feed. The Vet tube wormed our horses twice a year. Our horse trailer was pulled by my Dad’s big woody station wagon. Fly spray was administered from a metal medieval 3ft long pump sprayer, which you mixed with water. Vaseline or udder creme were our go to ointments. Saddles were padded up or down, fit was determined by how many pads you needed. Rolled bridles were the “in piece of tack” to have. True smelly wool coolers, New Zealand rugs rubbed with wax that had felt lining.
I’m happy not to be there anymore, I love my modern conveniences.
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Tube worming before the development of invermectin. 
Painting a DMSO concoction on summer sores.
Then in the early 80s, when ivermectin was only available as an injection from your vet.
String girths in the summer.
Standing bandages with no stretch, home made flannel wraps, for fear of bandage bows, and fastened with diaper pins.
Rust or canary breeches with Madras coats in the '60s.
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