There were coops, gates, ditches, banks, logs, even a stone wall. You could ride from there over to a park that had 2 normandy banks, I think they’re called. Where you jump up, canter across the top, and jump down. When event time came, she was so brave over everything, no stops at all.
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I remember feeding at our lesson barn in the late 90s, every horse got either grain or sweet feed, scooped with a coffee can, with Cosequin powder on top. I don’t know why the Cosequin seems so retro to me but I don’t think I knew other supplements existed… the arrival of Smartpaks was mind-blowing.
So…I still use my navy Triple Crown pillow wraps. I didn’t know this was terribly unfashionable 
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Hi! There are two ways to include the text as a quote.
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Yes, Pony Club is still around, however having grown up in it during the early 90’s I can tell you things are a bit different now…think helicopter moms and on the flip side no one to yell at kids for not taking proper care of their horses. Horse management has sadly become something required to pass ratings, and not truly a way of life like it used to be 
I would venture to guess that PC membership numbers have greatly declined as well, since many kids simply do not want to put in the work required to advance up the ratings.
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This is a shame because I think Pony Club is needed more than ever right now, since I would wager that most children and young adults signing up for lessons are from families that are several generations removed from horse ownership.
Edited to add: I believe Pony Club admits adults now? Which I also think is desperately needed! It would be wonderful if that type of instruction would catch on and could be easily accessible to adult riders.
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That’s good! Usually they cheaped out w/ the light acrylic ones. No good in a real New England or MN winter.
I have one semi decent and one of the light ones. I have the good one at the barn, of course.
I still think real wool is the best for coolers. Heavy, hard to get washed, susceptible to moths, but I am also supporting the livestock industry. Go sheep!
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I have a Bona Allen Close Contact that I love! Paid $100 twenty years ago and it was older then. Still love it. No blocks, flat, hard seat, fits my horse perfectly.
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I did not ride English as a kid so missed half of this.
Did want to say my trainer started an academy program to teach horsemanship to adults and I appreciate it… You can move up levels and it’s both mounted and unmounted information. I wish more barns did.
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Hahaha. We had a pony with scratches, and we used the old remedy of sauerkraut. Put it on the leg, baggie the leg, wrap the whole thing in duct tape to keep it on.
Well, the (child) owner’s sister (also a child) decided to take the pony for a ride that day to show off for her friends. Total neophyte, knew nothing, rode down to the arenas with a baggie on the horse’s foot, squishing every step until the baggie finally broke. Hilarious.
Don’t you all remember spiral tape on the boots for XC? We had to be suspicious of every type of boot, and they were all applied, properly fastened, then wrapped with a spiral of masking tape just in case. Hooks and loops on the bridle were also wrapped in masking tape “just in case”.
Our pony clubbers (20 years ago) still made their own pillow wraps and flannels. They got scored for bandaging, and had to use safety pins, not velcro. Then of course, the spiral of masking tape. Your wrap lap had to be even going up and down the leg, and the whole thing supportively tight.
Yes, Pony Club has an adult section now.
The quality of the education from Pony Club varies widely depending on the club, its leadership and its trainers. In our club, for example, not only did we have great trainers (3 different national examiners worked for our club) but most of the kids kept their own horses. Horse ownership is dwindling, too, in many places. It stands to reason that owner-riders would be more involved, day-to-day, and take up the proper practices more, particularly if they kept their horses at home, than the kids who are doing Pony Club at a leasing barn, where they only ride/visit “their” leased pony 1ce or 2ce a week for a 6 month period. Leasing barns (“Riding centers”) have become more popular as fewer people want to own horses.
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Ooooh, I remember going into the feed room the day before a hunt and just making up this giant bucket of grain for the pony I was going to ride. A scoop of oats, a scoop of pony nuts (grass pellets), a scoop of barley, a scoop of coarse mix (sweet feed), little bit of this, little bit of that! He stayed in an actual stable overnight to try and be clean (haha) and ready to plait.
Of course pony was Bazonkers 5000 on hunt day, but with trusty Kimberwicke bit and curb chain hooks taped down with electrical tape this child clambered on the pony, was given a hot alcoholic stirrup cup and told not to pull the reins as this bit was VERY HARSH and away we went!
After the hunt which lasted 8 hours (IIRC…) and pony only passed the Master in the field once (HIDEOUS CRIME!) pony came home to a bran mash and a jute rug and was put back in the actual stable for the night.
Nobody died, nobody went to jail… 
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Yes! Ever hear of Kevin bacon? Another cool thing my farrier introduced me to
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That us what we still do. What do you do now?
Suzie, the tube worming we’re referring to is NOT worming with a tube of ivermectin or strongid paste.
In the bad old days, you had to have a vet come out and pass a naso gastric tube down the horse’s throat to ensure that the wormer got to its target.
That was the standard procedure, and you usually had it done twice a year. Injectable ivermectin, followed by paste ivermectin and other paste wormers changed all that. My recollection was that the change happened mid-80s, and by 1990, everyone was worming themselves with paste wormers and tube worming was a thing of the past.
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Yes, there is the Horsemasters program through USPC, however in our area it has not really taken off the way I thought it might.
Back in the early 90s I feel like it was common to do unmounted horsemanship classes - either in place of or for an extra 30 minutes after our lessons. We did everything from braiding classes (where we made our own little kits and practiced on different horses), in hand horsemanship, tack cleaning lessons where we learned the different pieces and cleaned all the lesson horses tack, conformation classes, how it feels to be a horse in the back of a trailer road trips, horse food tasting and basic nutrition (sweet feed is not too bad y’all), all sorts of fun stuff. I don’t see any of that happening these days except maybe pony club if you are lucky enough to be in an area with an active club and have access to a horse. I echo those who have said people seem to not pick up after themselves and will throw halters on the ground. It pains me to see that and I would have gotten in so much trouble if I did that when I was learning how to ride.
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Thank you for this explanation/translation! All those great horsey books I read as a kid and I never could figure out what a ‘pony nut’ was. 
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Ah gotcha, yes we use syringes of paste now for each horse.
I am at home and the halter goes on the ground. There is no way I want a horse getting a leg caught in a halter hanging on on a fence, wall, etc.
I hang mine on the bridle hook after I switch the halter out for the bridle, and vice versa. I see halters regularly left in the aisle where they can be stepped on or still attached to the cross ties (usually kids who either haven’t been taught better or who don’t think ahead like adults).
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