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!

Who remembers having to sweep the yard! I honestly thought anyone going into working with horses would end up literally sweeping yards for half the day, I'm sure it was to give us something to do!

That was me!! Great memories!

I did this but it was 1976. It wasn’t free, you paid a bit more than the cost of your usual fortnightly 1hr lesson. Basically did all the dirty work and had a ride at the end of the day.
I adored it.

Yes I did this. Would be there from about 8am, bringing in the ponies, tacking up, grooming, mucking out. One of the worst jobs was sweeping the drive. It took us hours and our hands were raw by the end but we loved it and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

I heard a horsey person say that horsey people like horses because they are rubbish with people 😬

And mental Shetlands! Yes ! Why are small children put on Shetlands? They are mental!

Yes, I did this too. Spent all day there. Loved it! Even poo picked in the fields!

Yes this used to be how I spent my summer holidays! Loved it but I can’t imagine ever dropping my own kids off for the same kind of “lax” supervision. Different times…

Yes I remember this. The stable hand used to rub up against us and press his manhood into our backs and we just accepted it as something that had to be tolerated 😭

Yep, my childhood summed up perfectly. Happy happy days.

My kids do this now, we pay a fiver they spend a day on the yard. Think there's some half hearted effort to earn PC badges but it's mostly about hanging out with horses, grooming, shit shovelling, lead reining the little kids and hiding from the boss.

They LOVE it, as did I when I was a kid.

I had riding lessons briefly in the late 80s as a teenager and it was a really cliquey, weird, grumpy atmosphere, and I felt mocked and made fun of rather than helped. It obviously put me off and I only went for a short time. It knocked my confidence somewhat though and I wondered if I'd done something wrong.

This thread goes part way to explaining it. How utterly weird.

It was cliquey and as a shy child in the 70s I didn't fit in with the confident girls so didn't do full days and soon moved onto other yards before realising the best way to enjoy riding was to wait until I was an adult and buy my own pony. However, since I've had horses most of my adult life and Im now 60 I have an extensive knowledge of cliquey livery yards which is a whole new thread 😂

Still alive and kicking these days too.

My dad was british army so our stables were run by the soldiers. I spent many lovely hours working to earn rides, grooming, mucking out, etc. I was also trusted to exercise the horses so that they were easier for some of the men later

I learned to bandage limbs, do basic health checks etc. I also learned that young soldiers can be a lot of fun but you had to be firm when dealing with them, there was a lot of flirtation.

I hope all you lot with pony-mad youths have read Ruby Ferguson's Jill books. I could only yearn for riding lessons etc. as an inner city child of v limited means (no stables nearby needing my child labour) but I loved them then and still do.

Yes, my daughter did from age 11 to 18. She was very, very useful to them and did alot of babysitting the younger children whose mums dropped them off and left them there for hours. She loved it and, in recognition of her helpfulness, got a huge, beautiful cob she'd loved all those years, for peanuts!

Ah I loved these days. Absolutely loved them.

Oh God yes, sounds so familiar to what I remember from the early 90s at the local riding stables. Run by a nasty, moody, snappy woman with some really catty teenage girls who were always there at a weekend and in the holidays who were horrid to the younger kids. I remember feeling really intimidated by the older girls back then as I'd be about 10 ish. I only went as I absolutely adored the horses but it was quite awful at the same time.

Yes I did this too! Used to work at 7am til very very late. The woman in charge was terrible! You couldn't ask for a few days or a week off unless you were actually going away on holiday...but they never paid us and we barely ever got free rides! I was so upset when I needed time off to revise for my GCSEs and the boss woman refused to speak to me for weeks and encouraged the other girls to ice me out. I ended up not going back after that.

I remember me and my friends used to PAY to do this!

We’d walk the neighbours dogs and babysit all week to save up the £20 needed to work at the stables for the day.
Many times we wouldn’t have enough and would be absolutely gutted.

I can’t get over that they used to get us to pay and make us do hard graft with no supervision. We ranged from 8-14.

I remember being kicked unconscious and bit really hard and my friend ran and got the owner and she came over and rubbed my back and just said ‘oh dear’ and walked off.
I still have the large lump where the horse bit me 15 years later.

Ha I vividly remember being kicked hard on the bum and being sent flying only to receive a lecture on never walking behind a horse without it knowing you were there (which to be fair I haven’t ever done since!)

My sister practically lived at the local stables in her early/mid teens. I didn't realise it was so common! It was a very small stables and she was really friendly with the owner, I suppose it was cheap labour but she wouldn't consider herself exploited.

Yes! I worked all day both weekend days, every day on school holidays and every day after school for 2 hours, all for free! In return I got the odd ride out to accompany group hacks, usually with 1 or more small kids on a lead rein. I only stopped when I got 15/16 and could get a paying job. Slave labour really. At my stables there were about 8 or 9 of us doing this from 12 years upwards.

DD still does this at the local riding stables. It's full of kids "helping out" and grumpy women who shout at you from across the yard. We don't pay anything, just drop her off with lunch, hat and body protector. Bliss for horsy kids.

Is it not like this anymore? Are stable owners these days… friendly?? Who mucks out the horses then? This is literally how I learned to ride, I thought it was how everyone did it! I haven’t ridden at all as an adult but I was hoping my kids would get the same chances one day.