Who is from the "olden" days

[Linda]

Any West Coasters?

I rode back in the 60’s at Shadowland Ranch in La Jolla with Ruth and Augie Handley. We did lots of shows including the Del Mar Fair show back before the show ringswere redone. The ring was tiny so the fences on course seemed to be stacked almost on top of each other.

We practiced a drill team at home that we did at a gallop…amazing to think of it now.

On weekends, we used to ride bareback down to Blacks beach and gallop the horses in the sand and in the water. I would never do that now but we didnt give it a second thought then. The access gate was often locked so we would ride down the steep goat trails from the cliffs to the beach. We never worried about galloping in deep sand and never had any tendon or ligament injuries either… Clueless kids!

Youth! We thought these were the most fun things in the world to do with our horses. We clearly had a TON of fun. And I cannot even imagine doing any of it now! I ride in the ring and on the trails - but at a sensible pace and not down steep goat trails.

[abird80]

Pictures??

I’d love to see all the old jumping pics!!! :yes:

[OAK]

I thought Beth rode out of Boulder Brook. I do remember her horses the were real nice ones !!!

[fair_judy]

duh… yep, it WAS boulder brook. i was in new york visiting last week and it was so good to see her. beth is such a lovely woman, and always so well “turned out”. my daddy used to say that she always had her “mane and tail done”. beth sweetly took that as the highest compliment.

we went to playland… dang, that was a walk down memory lane! and the larchmont yacht club. hasn’t changed one whit in 50 years.

who was the gentleman who ran the boulder brook facility then? i’ve forgotten, and she just told me three days ago…

[AlwaysHopeful]

just wanted to add, i was reading in the beginning when you all were saying how kids these days don’t get to experience the “joy” of owning a horse anymore!

well i’m definitely not the olden days (started riding at 8 years old in 1999), but i got to experience that! i rode western, learned for the first couple years on schoolies, got my first horse, finally after a couple more horses (that i bought myself) i got my “dreamhorse”! i spend every waking moment at the barn, i worked there cleaning stalls and pastures. i spent every weekend in the summer at playdays, riding allllll day long on my 5yo (well not exactly riding all day long, we’d do our class and then just sit and watch the rest of the day) and then swimming in the river! i did all the work on him and he was my BABY. i remember just sitting in his stall playing tug o’ war with the leftover alfalfa for like 20 minutes.

kids still do get to experience that stuff! maybe not at the top show barns, but us backyard riders are still doing it!

[OAK]

FAIR JUDY

I went absolutly brain dead trying to think who ran Boulder Brook. This morning when I opened this up I REMEMBERED!!! IT WAS AL HOMEWOOD. Yeah ! Boy it is not fun getting OLD

[MILOUTE55]

hey, at least your all young and “hype” enough to be online!
None of my former trainers are computer literate!

[BAC]

@KnKShowmom;4019762

Most of my friends had horses at their houses and we would ride to Caumsett State Park/LI bareback with halters wearing shorts, sneakers, and bathing suits. We would school around the cross country course and end up down on the beach so we could go swimming with the horses.

Kids are still swimming with their horses at Caumsett although if the park ranger catches you he will give you a lecture and complain about you to the barn management. :lol:

[SuperSTB]

[QUOTE=abird80;4020211]
I’d love to see all the old jumping pics!!! :yes:[/QUOTE]

I wish I still had mine… fire destroyed quite a lot but my grandmother has a few salvaged ones left. There was another thread on old saddles we used to ride with and I fondly remember my pancake flat jumping saddle (hand-me-down). I hoping that next time I’m on the east coast visiting, I can squirrel some time to dig through boxes of photos. flat saddles… auto release… tb jumpers

[gillisdog]

[QUOTE=OAK;4021573]
FAIR JUDY

I went absolutly brain dead trying to think who ran Boulder Brook. This morning when I opened this up I REMEMBERED!!! IT WAS AL HOMEWOOD. Yeah ! Boy it is not fun getting OLD[/QUOTE]

I also remember a wonderul man named Leon who was running Boulder Brook in 1982-84. The grooms were Randy, Chicken John, Abe and others. Best grooms ever. All excellent horsemen. Once Leon saw me trying to ride my horse who hadn’t been out in days and he came over and gave me a quarter. I said “What’s this for?” He said “The toll on the Hutch!”. (If you have ever been there, you get it. Of course, the tollbooth is gone too now).

[fair_judy]

THAT would have been a Loooooong ride home…

[Peggy]

West Coast

[QUOTE=Linda;4020179]
I rode back in the 60’s at Shadowland Ranch in La Jolla with Ruth and Augie Handley. We did lots of shows including the Del Mar Fair show back before the show ringswere redone. The ring was tiny so the fences on course seemed to be stacked almost on top of each other.
[/QUOTE]West Coast, in the 60’s and early 70’s but further north. My mom and I boarded horses in Malibu and my mom ran the ETI shows at Crummer Field. I remember Larry Langer when he was an aerospace engineer for his day job and wore jeans and white tennis shoes to horse shows.

[KnKShowmom]

[QUOTE=fair judy;4020573]

we went to playland… dang, that was a walk down memory lane! and the larchmont yacht club. hasn’t changed one whit in 50 years. QUOTE]

OMG, we used to sail in the regattas at Larchmont! Now thats a place I haven’t thought of in years! Glad to see some things haven’t changed.

[KnKShowmom]

[QUOTE=BAC;4022417]
Kids are still swimming with their horses at Caumsett although if the park ranger catches you he will give you a lecture and complain about you to the barn management. :lol:[/QUOTE]

You weren’t supposed to do it back then either, but you know kids, tell them no and they try twice as hard :winkgrin:

All of my friends lived on “The Neck” so it was easy to slip into someone’s back yard if we saw the rangers coming - boy those were the days!

We were back on LI for a funeral a few years ago and I couldn’t believe how much that area had changed - used to be lovely old estate homes and big tracts of land and now most of the homes look more like banks than houses. Made me a bit sad because it was a beautiful place to grow up especially if you rode.

[theoldgreymare]

[QUOTE=gillisdog;4026030]
I also remember a wonderul man named Leon who was running Boulder Brook in 1982-84. The grooms were Randy, Chicken John, Abe and others. Best grooms ever. All excellent horsemen. Once Leon saw me trying to ride my horse who hadn’t been out in days and he came over and gave me a quarter. I said “What’s this for?” He said “The toll on the Hutch!”. (If you have ever been there, you get it. Of course, the tollbooth is gone too now).[/QUOTE]

Would this man be African-American? If so, Leon had been a groom at BB for many years prior. Hell of a horseman. He even trained a few kids while he was a groom (I am remembering one from the 70’s…Kristy Gerstner maybe?). He always had a kind word and a great sense of humor. I guess he’s gone now…

[OAK]

Leon was always well dressed, polite and as said beid a great groom. And I remember him back in the early 60’s. They don’t make that kind anyone. One of a kind!!

[fair_judy]

anyone remember wilkie collins?

[gillisdog]

Leon

[QUOTE=OAK;4027957]
Leon was always well dressed, polite and as said beid a great groom. And I remember him back in the early 60’s. They don’t make that kind anyone. One of a kind!![/QUOTE]

Yes, he was African-American, and he is gone now. I went to his wake in the late 80’s. It was packed with customers, employees, friends; he was very much loved. He was the manager when I was there, and always impeccably dressed. He did teach quite a few kids, including Grant Stinchfield, who was very good! I am so glad people remember him as I do.

Barbara, who sometimes worked in the office there and gave all the horses carrots, bought a farm in Bedford and retired some of the Boulder Brook school horses and gave them a home for life.

[Janet]

@gillisdog;4026030

I also remember a wonderul man named Leon who was running Boulder Brook in 1982-84. The grooms were Randy, Chicken John, Abe and others. Best grooms ever. All excellent horsemen.

Would that be Abe Mingus?

[gillisdog]

Abe Mungin, who is also sadly gone now.