Working at local riding stables in 80s/90s, anyone remember this?

[Carrotsgrowintheground]

May just have been my local stables and possibly others were more moral and fair but does anyone else remember this? We were allowed to just hang around all day, walking horses on lead reins for little children, saddling up, mucking out, feeding, in return for free rides.

The women who worked there were really bad tempered. Kids who owned their own ponies and kept them at the stables were the envy of us all!

Yes. And then I got to own my own ponies. Wonderful days

I rode at one and yes, a perfect description!
The owner was an absolute cow who hated us all (seemingly) We went in a van (about 8 of us sitting in the back, no seats) with kids who'd been going there for longer leading us round till we could go on our own. There was a "camp" for a week in the summer where everyone just slept at the stable in a barn.

It was awful looking back! My parents used to drop me off at 9 and collect me late in the day … must have broken numerous laws!

Yes sounds like my stables. The one I went too was almost exclusively women and children.

When I grew up, I heard a lot more about the professional stables in the next village, which was a lot more like ‘Jilly Cooper Riders’ than mine!!

Fond memories of this 🙂

Yes, basically child labour but I wouldn't change a thing! Kids that learn at riding schools these days often have no idea how to groom, tack up or do anything beyond ride their pony because they don't get the chance. I'd spend every weekend and every day in the school holidays there

Oh absolutely this.

Mum would drop me first thing, collect evening.

Did everything, worked all day, in exchange we would get to ride the horses back to the field at the end of the day, bareback, leading another, down an A road. I cringe every time I go through that village now.

Every single riding stable I went to was run by absolutely horrible women who seemed to hate kids. Bossy, shouty, bitchy, did things like purposefully put you on the mental Shetland who bucked to see how you coped. On day one. I took my kids to riding lessons and the owner was exactly the same - where do these women come from and why are they all horrible?

yes, absolutely loved it & would do it now as an adult. Nothing i'd love more than playing with horses for the day

Horsey women are … eccentric, a lot of the time. And they definitely aren’t keen on children!

The two sisters who ran my riding school were the grumpiest awful women who actively seemed to hate interacting with anyone, particularly children.

Yes I remember doing this in the 90s when I was a kid. Absolutely loved every second of it!

Yep it was wonderful. Played in dangerous barns full of huge stacks of straw bales, rode horses that were completely wild, heard lots of new swear words , didn't give a shit about boys or my appearance. Horse riding is a hobby that requires bravery, something not always encouraged in girls. The older women were actually role models to me they had ordinary jobs and lives but completely dedicated every penny they had to something they loved. I haven't ridden for years but very happy memories and a good way to raise a feminist girl ?

So many good memories even though now with my H&S hat on it makes me cringe.

I loved those days, the highlight was riding the ponies back to the field bareback.

The lady who ran our place was lovely (unlike so many other people experienced) although some of the older girls could be mean.

Oh absolutely. The women that ran the places I went were fierce, also remember mounting blocks for the real old birds.

The girl groom employees were fairly bitchy, but mainly to each other rather than us. I remember the absolutely filthy kitchen we sat in when it rained, foul tea.

I don’t remember working hugely hard though, I think it was an Ok deal for me.

Yes. I did this. Mucked out, bedded down, groomed, fed, led the horses in/out of the field, tacked up for the posher owners. In exchange for a hack every now and again and just hanging out with horses. Loved it but was slave labour. I could never afford my own pony, even a share and riding lessons became too expensive. It was a small livery yard run by a lesbian couple and a random assortment of alternative lifestyle-er friends, although I didn’t clock that at the time. It was quite a basic, albeit bohemian, set up. I was permanently frozen in the winter and lunch was a BYO Pot Noodle in the tack room.

Two girls in my year at school eventually kept their ponies there. I told them about the yard. They treated me like “the help” and would ignore me.

I used to do this in the 00's!

Yes! I had riding lessons and it was exactly like this! The school bullies tended to hang out at the stables too. Think it gave them a chance to bully the ponies tbh. Saw one grab a pony by the neck and whack it repeatedly around the neck with a whip.

I did this in the 70's, but the owners were nice even if a little eccentric. My sister was there too, she was best friends with the owners daughter and is still friends.
We took out tourists on an hour or four hour trek in the hills. We did pony rides on the beach, and Saturday morning local kids went out for a ride on a lead rope, we all had our own stable pony that we cared for. Not everyone was there each week, so we'd look after any ponies without a kid that week.

Yes! Being treated like dirt by a borderline alcoholic who hated kids but we put up with it just in case we were included in the group of "chosen ones" who got to ride (bareback) and lead four ponies down a busy A road to the overnight paddocks and then walk home with the headcollars, usually at dusk, aged 10! Good times!

I did this too. I would get the bus there then walk through a field stay there all day then walk through the field and get the bus back at about 7pm. The guy who owned the stables used to give us guns to shoot the rats. Best time of my life. I would never let my kids do that though.

God yes. And I was brought up in a different country and this was exactly my childhood until I went to work after school at the age of 14 in a cattery and then a supermarket and bought my own horse off my cousin at the age of 15 (a 19 year old connemara who had a brain tumour and a bolting habit and who nearly killed me). I seriously have no idea what my parents were thinking.

(Happy days though!)

Happy memories from the 1970s! Helped out at weekends mucking out, grooming, tacking up, at the stables from early in the morning until late at night. Occasionally got a free ride if we were lucky but did it for our love of horses. Also spent school holidays there where we could have our own pony for the week and do what we wanted - heaven! Ate our lunch on the hay bales and occasionally the owner of the stables would bring out hot sausage sandwiches for all the helpers which we would all sit and eat in the office.

This brings back some memories. i did this in late 70’s - I used to have to catch 2 buses and the a walk to the stables, just hung around all day doing all the jobs no one else wanted to do, or leading the ponies ridden by learners for hours on end until my feet were frozen. I loved every minute of it at the time!

I have great memories of this. Mind you the owner was lovely.
The local stables still does this now but these days parents have to pay for the experience. Its not cheap its half or full day at X amount and includes mucking out, leading children on horses during lessons or hacks and how to look after horses. Plus you get an hour ride for half a day or 2 hrs for full day