Thirty years ago... (Throwback Sunday)

[StraightForward]

I guess I am in a thread-starting mood today.

My dad was here at the end of June and when I dragged him out to the barn, he pointed out that it was 30 years ago this summer that he finally caved to my pleas for riding lessons. He thought a summer of lessons would get it out of my system and I'd lose interest. Yeah, that worked.

Any throwback horsey pics to share? I know we've done this before, and it was really fun to see the pics.

[Flight]

Oh wow 30 years, that's really cool Look at your balance and alignment! No wonder you didn't lose interest

Here's one of mine from 1984. Trail riding.
I'm in the blue, with the mullet haircut. I'd had a couple of lessons and was desperately trying to sit up straight and put my heels down. Thas is with my dad and sisters. Look at what we were wearing, what a crack up!!

[StraightForward]

I can see that fashion and raise you two. First, circa 1980, that must have been my first time on a horse (in the saddle in front of my dad), and possibly my second time with someone named Cousin Barbie rocking some serious 1982-ish fashion.

[Literiding]

Youngsters all!!!!

Here I am on my the second horse of my life in 1966:

Trooper.jpg (169.07 KiB) Viewed 14425 times

In 1972, showing in a Class A Hunter class

Frog over post and rail.jpg (165.32 KiB) Viewed 14425 times

And when you all were just getting started, I was trying out a "Desert Schooner:"

Literiding & Camel sm.jpg (139.88 KiB) Viewed 14425 times

And to raise the ante, a video of me riding in 1965 (I'm an Indian riding the horse in the first photo). If you stick it out to the end, you'll see me and my trusty steed blasting off across the prairie, nary a fence in sight and I'm using a "war bridle" on my horse - a 3/8 inch braided rope -- for a bit:

https://youtu.be/eOCiborAXgI

[StraightForward]

Wow, neat photos and video, Literiding!

[Literiding]

Wow, neat photos and video, Literiding!

Thanks, events of ~50 years ago seem like from the Star Wars crawler, ". . . long time ago in a galexy far far away."

While "Flight" and you were taking your first rides beginning your equine journey, I was the Operations Officer aboard this USN Frigate in 1983:

Brumby from bum boat -- Small.jpg (168.63 KiB) Viewed 14366 times

We left this port visit in Antalya, Turkey, to return to our patrol area off Beirut, Lebanon, hours after the American Embassy was destroyed by a truck bomb.

[Hayburner]

Wish I had some youth pics to share - but, I only started riding in my mid 40's. The first pic of me on a horse was when a man came to the neighborhood with a black and white pony strictly for kiddy pictures.

I'm sure that first sit on the pony started my life long dream of riding and wanting a horse.

Literiding - thanks for sharing some history and pics!

[Flight]

Cool photos and great vid Literiding! That vid was pretty full on, do people do anything like that these days?
1980s didn't seem that long ago, but when you start counting the years its a bit scary. No helmet, bare feet... different times. I went 'trail riding' in England a few years ago and you had to know how to ride, I had to come in the day before and join in a lesson so they were comfortable I could ride. In Australia, you have to wear a helmet generally, but they don't seem to care about your ability - just hold on!

Hayburner, you'd still have some starting out pics that you could share

[Literiding]

Cool photos and great vid Literiding! That vid was pretty full on, do people do anything like that these days?

That was a pretty unusual group even for the mid-60s. The 10 to 1 proportion of young ladies to young men in the horse world was true then, so having 30 to 40 adolescent (you had to leave the organization by six months after graduating from high school) young men mounted on fairly "hot" horses all in the same place was quite uncommon. The club at that time had about 600 plus riders and that video has about 85% of the young men in the club. The other 15% where still in the two training divisions and not up to that kind of riding. The riders in the video had been with the club a minimum of three years riding drill team. The club use to get some interesting movie gigs, the cavalry unit in the 1966 movie Stagecoach was composed of the cavalry seen in the video. One of the TV networks did a special about the Little Big Horn battle and a group of the same boys got to spend a week at the battlefield being the "7th Cavalry."

I doubt that a similar group could be assembled today what with liability laws and the intense scrutiny such groups get from the animal rights groups. Regarding the treatment of the horses, they were well treated as personally owned horses of the kids and the only thing that I would criticize today is that we did too many parades on paved roads for the good health of the horse's feet.

[demi]

I've been enjoying everyone's old pics so am adding a few, while we are hunkered down waiting for Harvey.



1958 on Rusty
1978 on Cote with Sadie and Shasta
1983 on Andy
and 1998 on Bo

[PaulaO]

IMG_0521.JPG (75.74 KiB) Viewed 14186 times

Thirty three years ago on my favorite schoolie, Ladybug. Note the rust breeches.

[Chisamba]

I really wanted to join in this album, and i have had some time to look through old photos to see what i have.
first picture of me on a horse perhaps, we did not have a camera so it was taken by a visitor and sent to us. I am on the forth horse from the right, Monthor.


this one is from the late seventies, we used to live at the coast for three months each year, and took the horses with. I spent so many wonderful hours, moonlight night rides and day rides. I would take people for rides along the beach to substitute my summer job which was to help collect water samples at low tide for the ichthyology department at Rhodes.



The first horse i showed in the USA, a convert from Western Pleasure.


unbeknown to centerline scores, i did actually show and win in the late eighties, early nineties.



I loved showing in a bowler, i even did so into the 2000s now i wear a helmet

[Chisamba]

and finally one of me in a top hat, probably will never wear a top hat again, even if i do eventually get back into a shad belly.