I was there in 1956+/-. Long outside course. I had a slightly herd-bound pony and we put one stablemate out at the far end and one back at the finish. Worked fine except for the whinnying… At the time, the Md. Pony Show was a bit of an anomaly as the outside course did not start and finish in the ring, so you had (if you can imagine this) two classes going on at the same time!!
[QUOTE=ponybreeder;3658119]
I don’t remember, but that is really cool. Where are you now?[/QUOTE]
Isn’t it strange to be remembered, but not remember? 
No, I recall you gave a great lesson.
We are up in the NW corner of Massachusetts, basically part of the Capital District/Western MA. Been here since 1985. I’m teaching, still have 3 horses, still involved in my wierd way.
My trainer and I were talking about Reinhard Teetor just last week… small world, indeed.
Janet, if you check back in here, we had many of the same experiences. I too remember the Silver Bit. I’d have to beg my mom to stop there when we went to the Bedford Barn. She was happy to shop for clothes, horse stuff not so much…
When I rode with Pam in high school I didn’t have a horse, but she always found something for me to ride and show, and she let me ride everything in the barn.
Ponybreeder, don’t know if we’ve ever met, but I’m SURE we were at many of the same horse shows. And one of my current trainers taught MAD’s little sister when she was a junior.
It is a small horse world…
nimrod
Hi ponybreeder,
Wasn’t there a horse called 20th century limited at ronnie’s place? Or, am I confusing him with grand central? So long ago. I started at nimrod in 67’ or 68’. Then left for awhile and came back. It was incredible what they did with that place! And, weren’t you tall? 
I remember the Hill. Loved it. Almost all those places. Did jumpers, what a ride!!!
Those were both Ponybreeders horses and they were both there.
Yes, I knew Shelly and Shirley Ewing.
The old SB shows were great. Wonder what the Turkey show is like now.
Somewhere I have pictures from that first GP at the Rose Bowl. Someone mentioned another one out here in the early 70’s around San Diego-was it at Rancho Bernardo?
not so long ago . . .
i remember:
“a very young rider” and plain jane . . . .
johnny’s pocket doing open sp.eed, and norman getting used to a new import named “bruno” (i love you) . . . .
“kitty” (touch of class) doing preliminary with debbie, and abdullah dumping conrad(and those who came before!) over and over . . . .
norman’s working student, a kid named jeff welles, getting a second in the first grand prix he ever entered, on a horse named dark sonnet that he borrowed from kathy gifford . . . .
southhampton finished at 2 every day, so everyone could go to the beach . . . .
lake placid had two rings, and three tents, including one that blew away . . . .
steve stephens used to introduce himself as “part of the ring crew” . . . .
GHM still competed . . . .
3’6" is where the hunters STARTED, and the jumpers had to be ready to do preliminary to show at all (4’ to 4’3"). remember premin, intermediate and open? . . . .
remember hogsbacks? . . . .
the leone’s lovely junior hunter, rain forest, met with an unfortunate poker accident, an incident that also cost that particular show most of its grooms for a few days . . . .
“ike” returning at the age of 19, after retirement, to do open speed, because he would get so upset when the vans left for a horseshow and left him behind . . . .
katie and melanie taking nearly endless heat from their instructor about the size/shape of their butts, despite the talent they were displaying . . . .
omg, i could go on and on, and am in danger of doing so. (remember touch the sun’s COLOR? . . . . remember the retirement party for the hunter HORSE at the waldorf astoria? the horse was THERE, in the ballroom! what horse was that? . . . . remember sandron’s golfcart full of dachsunds? . . . . remember the costume jumper classes at washington? . . . . remember the way the spectators dressed up for the Garden?)
I remember the costume jumper class at Washington!.. And especially the night when a rider entered the ring wearing only a plastic pumpkin on his head…turned out he was a groom, but I think I remember seeing him jump one fence before a big hand covered my little virgin eyes! :eek:
I certainly remember when the National at MSG started on Tuesday night and concluded on Sunday…The spectators dressed formal to the nines! Girls didn’t wear field boots only dress boots and when you did wear field boots they were cordovan…
I went one year with my 4-H troop to the Maclay finals and it only cost $5.00 for the enire morning…
The USET grounds in Gladstone were absolutely awesome now they are houses…so sad…
The horse at The Astria was Bruce Duchussois’s “Kim’s Song”
Great Stories.
OH Pippy : This is a wonderful thread. It has brought back so many memories for me. I started riding back in the late 70’s /early 80’s. NOT owning a horse I rode my bike down to the farm to learn to groom, work, and ride. I rode everything my trainer put me on. ( Appy’s, OTTB’s, Morgans, etc) … she even had a couple of Arab -crosses in the school. Boy talk about learning good work ethic. I learned all the basics, braiding , hauling , and those local schooling shows. WOW talk about chaos… Parents, Kids, Ponies and school horses all over the place. And then the occasional one that got loose. LOL. To this day I THANK that trainer and keep in touch with her. It is amazing at how much knowlege they had and the level of hands- on they gave us. Boy I miss those days.!! And look how it helped to develope me now!! Long live the days of “Kirby-Lonesdale Farm” and " Anne Gavin" from the Southernn, Virginia area.!!! YOU ROCK…
When I was in college in CA, during the school year of 1974/75, I worked part-time for Champ and Linda Hough. I know all of you remember Spindletop Showdown (after Marvin Van Rappaport had him) Emmett Kelly and others…what a beautiful farm they had.
I must be older, I remember when the show ran from Tuesday to Tuesday, an entire 8 days, it was heaven. It always involved election day. This was in the 1960s and earlier.
[QUOTE=ivy62;3661142]
I certainly remember when the National at MSG started on Tuesday night and concluded on Sunday…The spectators dressed formal to the nines! Girls didn’t wear field boots only dress boots and when you did wear field boots they were cordovan…
I went one year with my 4-H troop to the Maclay finals and it only cost $5.00 for the enire morning…
The USET grounds in Gladstone were absolutely awesome now they are houses…so sad…[/QUOTE]
I had a pair! They were hand-me-downs from Maryanne Steiert and I was so proud of them I wore them until they were so tight I almost had to be cut out of them after a long hot day at a show. :lol: My dad was afraid he was going to break my ankles getting them off!
I still lust after another pair …
BAC
I’m with you. The MSG did go from Tuesday to Tuesday !
You have a PM
A Post from the Older Than Dirt crowd!
What a great childhood I had, growing up in Barrington, Illinois, and riding my horses everywhere…if I wanted to go over to play at a friend’s house, I just hopped on my Not-So-Trusty pony, Rocket, hacked to my destination and then turned Rocket out in a paddock while I played with my pals…or we would all meet on the trails somewhere, and act like a gang of marauders…When I was around 12, I started to foxhunt with Fox River Valley, andloved every minute of it. In 1955, my parents bought me (for about $500.) a young gelding from Ralph Fleming (one of Si Jayne’s acolytes) whose training in jumping had consisted of being dumped out of a truck into the middle of the indoor ring with a bunch of other horses that Ralph had bought at auctions out west, two or three rides by the local kids who hung out there and served as cannon fodder by riding the horses that came off the truck to see what they were. The system went like this…if the horse didn’t buck anybody off, they galloped it to a jump. If they got it to jump something after a couple of tries, the fence was raised to about 3’6". If they could survive jumping that, it went into the riding school as a lesson horse, and after a week or so of life as a school horse (for jumpng lessons), they would pass it off to some unsuspecting buyer as a “perfect, made child’s Hunter”. Yup…it happened that way, but the only thing was that instead of an unmitigated disaster, I adored the horse…loved him passionately, and he never let me down! I started to get some lessons from Bobby Breen…who really did teach me how to ride, and together, that young gelding and I just kept on going! I called him “Tony”…showed him as Plutonium, and I did everything with that horse. He only stood about 15:2hh, but he had an enormous step…could and would jump anything, and he won tons as a Hunter (Those were the days when you bridged your reins, stood up in the irons, and galloped over those outside courses! The truth was…I couldn’t have stopped him if I wanted to, but I was having a blast, so No Harm, No Foul. Later, I started doing jumper classes with Tony, and he was a star at that too…once, in a lesson…no less, I talked Bob into raising an oxer as high as we could. We kept jumping the thing, and afterwords, when we measured it,it was 6’6" ! No lessons like THAT are to be found these days!
For college, I moved to Northern California, and I am still here. I have enjoyed a long career as a professional, have ridden and trained some great horses, and have had the opportunity to teach some wonderful students too. I am a bit creaky these days, but I own a farm which is the farm I had always dreamed of as a kid. I can still ride pretty well, and I have a bunch of neat homebreds to play with. It is like everything has come full circle, and I can now appreciate the horses the same way I did when I was a kid! Only thing now, is that my body won’t let me ride all day like I used to! And with this sucky economy, the shows are so expensive, and the horses are hard to sell. But, nobody has ever accused me of being astute, so I just keep going, and the horses are still great!
Oh…I kept Tony his entire life, and he lived to be 30. :yes:
BAC- I guess they changed the National many times. I was there in the early and mid seventies…Everyone stayed at the Statler Hilton. I do miss that show…I understand that they are bringing it under one roof again in Syracuse…
I do miss the raffle for the Courvoisier Arabian!
Also, the trends in clothes…remember when a pony rider would match the hunt cap to the coat! green hunt coat equals green hunt cap! or a brown hunt cap…
Or when a Crosby Prix des Nations only cost $125 dollars and that was a lot…
Yes, by the seventies it was getting more expensive to hold the show in NYC and it was becoming less popular with the general public so it was shortened until by the last time it was at MSG it was only 3 or 4 days I think. When it was an 8 day show they still had ponies and the harness horses, saddlebreds and all kinds of exhibitions/demonstrations, it was my favorite time of year. I also stayed at the Statler Hilton, and remember the Courvoisier Arabian, I was sure I was going to win and sell it for enough money to buy a fancy show hunter.
Actually the retirement party to end all retirement parties was at Washington. Don’t remember which hotel but Kim’s Song (the horse being honored) was there. The party favors shall we say, were unique. - And were likely the cause of many riders tardiness the following morning for the second year hack.
THE costume class was also at Washington although it was VERY impromptu. The riders in the Regular Conformation Appointments “added a little something” to their hunting attire that night. IIRC RJ wore a Richard Nixon mask. (Yes, in those days the Working and Conf. Appointments classes frequently were scheduled during the evening performance.) But I digress. The horses and riders were lined up in the ring being judged for conformation and appointments when the bareback streaker wearing only a pumpkin on his head and his work boots on his feet galloped into the ring on a grey Intermediate jumper. The pumpkin headed rider quickly realized he could not gallop around the ring - because of the placement of the other jumps - so chose instead to jump around the outside. I was in the warm up area that night and I can tell you it was the best orchestrated event ever to take place. The pumpkin headed rider was a groom for one of the Conformation horses who was lined up in the ring. That groom was dressed and awaiting his horse when the horse came out of the ring.
And yes, I too remember the Garden going from Tuesday to Tuesday.
And the outside course at Devon. And Detriot.
Guess I’m old as the dirt too!
