My mom always says “'T’will not be seen on a galloping horse.” 
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Walsall
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Most of the horses we’ve had seem to do best on first and second. If the girth groove is more forward compared to where the saddle should sit behind the shoulder, then you want to use the first and second, as using the third billet can pull the saddle forward. I’ve probably had a couple horses where it didn’t matter, but I didn’t even know that using first and third billets was a thing until probably mid 90s.
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New vets who only check ovulation and pregnancy with an ultrasound don’t believe me when I tell them about 13 day preg check by palp! Figure I must be senile.
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When I was showing in jumpers, as staff members of a recognized hunt, we wore pink coats.
I don’t think they do that any more, those are reserved for olympic team members, I think.
People seeing my old pictures assume that is why I had a pink coat on while showing. 
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“So I turn to Steinkraus and I say, ‘Bill, lenghten so it’s two strides rather than three and then full speed to the Liverpool.’ And the next thing you know he’s standing center at the podium with a chunk of gold around his neck. Those were good times, I tell you. Good ol’ Bill.”
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As the owner of near-freakishly high arches, what I lost was the charleyhorse cramp I’d get putting on or pulling off my customs. Both with boot hooks & jack.
Nothing like having your foot lock into a painful arch stuck in a mostly-on/off boot 
I too coveted Newmarket boots - the real leather & canvas ones all the Cool Kids had when I was a teen 
Along with their seersucker Madras plaid huntcoats
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LOL if it’s a 16 1/2" or 17" (either fits me usually) feel free to send it along. I’ll give it space on a saddle rack. Maybe I’ve got a horse it will fit!
Who’s quote is that? Love it. Those were good times.
A good friend of mine in Ponyclub uses an ancient Stubben Siegfried on her horse, with the suede knee rolls. She can easily afford a much more expensive saddle but this one fits her horse and fits her. It looks seriously uncomfortable but she likes it.
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Oh, how I loved mine! Worn with a white or pastel ratcatcher and a separate choker in a color that complemented one of the colors in the plaid.
Speaking of ratcatchers: When, exactly, did we lose that term and start referring to them as “show shirts”? 
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Unfortunately it’s an 18 
When they stopped having detachable collars and started having snaps! My beautiful ivory-with-peach-windowpane-and-monogrammed-choker is a ratcatcher, my white snap collar is a show shirt.
I’m just glad we have options beyond cotton shirts and wool coats. If it is 100 degrees in the shade, I want tech fabrics. (If it is 20 degrees, I want melton wool.)
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It’s a silly make-believe response to @Bluey, who was mistaken for a US team member bc of the pink coat. Think of the funny fake lines @Bluey could come up w based on that!
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Well, that is who very graciously and so appreciated gave me my start in the US.
It was Mr. Steinkraus, not Bill! 
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Gotcha! Thanks.
I saw some of those pop up on an amateur at Devon many years ago. I never saw them anywhere else. So I wondered if those were their favorite old lucky coats that only got pulled out for one show a year. Lol.
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When I started showing
- Saddle pads were for keeping your saddle clean. They were only used for schooling, NEVER for showing.
- Ratcatchers were pastel or white, and were worn with a contrasting choker (often a pattern such as Paisley), held in place with a stock pin.
- Riding jackets were mostly black (though some people had Madras), single vented, and long enough to cover your hips.
- Breeches were non-stretch, with pegs for your thighs, and bottons at the calf. They came in one color, canary yellow. (White may have been available but I never saw it.)
- Tall boots for showing were black dress boots, with straight tops, and a boot strap that went between the 3rd and 4th button on your britches. (Field boots came only in brown, and were “informal”, not appropriate for showing. There was much “clutching at pearls” when black field boots were introduced.)
- Hunt caps were “secured” with an elastic strap (which was toally non functional in an actual fall).
- Bandages were flannel, and secured with safety pins. They went over sheet cotton.
- We made our own “spider bandages” (from a sheet of flannel) if we needed to bandage a knee or hock.
- We bedded (“deep litter”) on peat moss. (Not everyone else, though. Many used shavings or straw.)
- Hunter classes were over outside courses using solid jumps (stone wall, post and rail, aiken, etc.). (The only places I saw hunters compete over fences in the ring was the local 4H show (in the middle of an active fair) and Madison Square Garden.)
- Horses (in hunters) jumped a minimum of 3’6", large ponies jumped 3’, and small ponies jumped 2’6" (there were no medium ponies). The lowest jumper classes at recognized shows were 4’ (there were sometimes lower jumper classes at unrecognized shows).
- We hacked to some shows.
- The classes for any given division were spread out throughout the day, so everyone had to stay at the show all day.
- There was no need to be an AHSA member, or to register your horse with AHSA unless you were competing for “Horse of the Year” points.
- The top hunters and jumpers were almost exclusively TBs. Even the top pony hunters had TB in them.
- The top of the line saddles were German (Stubben or Passier) and cost about $300. There were a few Italian (Pariani) and English (Crosby) saddles, but I never heard of a French saddle.
- The only treatment for a bowed tendon was rest, support bandages, and cortisone injections.
- The only treatment for arthritis (or other joint issues) was bute.
- Worming was a major procedure, involving the vet inserting a tube into the stomach.
- I never heard about horses having ulcers.
- The lowest level of Combined Training (it was not called “Eventing” then) was Preliminary (3’7"), and was a full Three Day Event, with steeplechase and roads & tracks (unless you were in Pony Club - Pony Club Rallies were Three Day Events at lower heights, with roads & tracks, but without steeplechase).
- As far as I know, the only Dressage competitions were at the FEI levels.
- The AQHA had only very recently become a (semi) closed stud book.
- ETA “Saddle fitting” consisted of making sure the pommel did not hit the withers.
- ETA again. Coolers were rectangular, and attached to the crownpiece on the halter or bridle.
- The only blankets I remember seeing were New Zealand rugs and Baker blankets. Maybe a Newmarket or jute rug.
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I loved outside courses.
my mom towed our two horse trailer behind the station wagon, she could back it down our driveway on the first try too.
we found out about shows by getting a prize list in the mail
shows had a typed booklet with our names listed for divisions
I always read A Very Young Rider the night before a show or event
my trainer did not accompany me to a competition
Our full board when I was a teen at a pretty fancy dressage/breeding barn where I took lessons had an indoor, outdoor, xc jumps - $250 a month.
I thought I was a serious eventer putting bell boots on before xc and had rubber reins.
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Amen!
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In that photo you sure look like a serious eventer. Cross-country is something I’d never do. Not in a million years. You guys are incredible.
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