London Riding Nostalgia Thread

[CherryogDog]

So I don't clog up the other thread, I thought I'd start a new one where we can reminisce about the hazy (not so lazy) days of our youth riding in London.
I'm off to bankrupt myself buying horse feed so just a quickie from me.
I started riding in 1974 at New Park Riding school in Brixton, (formerly Beaumonts) and thus my urban riding adventures began.
Please add your tales and pictures too!
Will be back later!

Placemarking!!

Hey Cherry - I was a regular at Splash fields / Putney horse show / tally Ho show at probably the same time as you but more suburban than urban!. I remember one of pink floyd (roger waters?) judging the fancy dress at Putney one year, the Boxing Day sponsored ride in Richmond park and saving up to go to Rawle on Garratt lane which I guess is no more? Did you do pony club camp with Wimbledon?

I was over the other side of the river in the 90s, riding at the London Equestrian Centre and Frith Manor Livery, Burtonhole Farm and a couple of other small yards in the Barnet area.

@tallyhiho Putney show, Wandsworth Weekend, Clapham Common show, such a shame they're no more.
I never went to PC camp.

Clapham Common show! I mean where did all those horses come from?! (There we’re quite a few kept in garages / back gardens).
did you ever ride in Hyde park? I went to try a horse out to share her at one of the S Ken yards; it was a mews with about 10 internal stalls, no outside windows so when the door was locked at night the horses were very much closed in (the poor horse was deeply traumatised and thankfully the owner moved it back to previous yard with eg light and turnout and less traffic)

Aldborough Hall in the 80s! Anyone ride there now?

I went to a small riding school close to Clapham Common stables in the '90's - can't remember what it was called but I do remember the fateful day we hacked up to Rotten Row. I was on a tall but sensible gelding, the instructor was on a hot Arab and there was a younger girl, also on a rather hot pony. Guess which one took off flat out as soon as his feet hit the sand in Hyde Park?? Yup, Mr 'Sensible'. Girl fell off, I nearly ran over a bunch of Japanese tourists who were filming us and the instructor had to race in front of me to slow him down. Only reason I didn't bail is that he was about 17hh!!

Clapham Common station, not stables.

@Eyesopenwideawake would that have been in Landau Rd?

@tallyhiho we used to go every year to Horsemans Sunday.
The local yards were Lilo Bloom's and Ross Nye's.
Vaguely remember an animal blessing service on Clapham Common.
I was one of the founding members and committe member of the Wandle Riding and Driving Club, the shows were so well attended.

Not sure - just looked at a map of the area and I think the "arena" was in Latchmere Recreation Park and the stables just off Battersea Park Road.

@Eyesopenwideawake was it Battersea Hippique?
And they used to ride somewhere they called Banana Park.

I used to ride at Leabridge stables in Walthamstow. I don't know if they are still going, there used to be an ice rink near by.

After New Park, I went to Gleneagles, a tiny mews stables.
The muck heap was a huge concrete container with a metal lid, inside the stables.
One of the jobs we had to do was bag up shavings at the local timber yard. The owner said his son was Robin Askwith from the Confessions of film series, we were all young girls and funnily enough no we hadn't seen them.
After school I went to work at the South London Scool of Equitation near Streatham Common.
Then to the Mitre Riding Stables behind the Mitre pub in Tooting.
There was a "satellite" yard at the old forge in Chivalry Rd, Battersea.
After that closed down I kept my horse at the old donkey home, under the arches at Camberwell. We used to ride in what is now Burgess Park.
The Mitre reopened and I went as a WP and took my BHSAI, back in the days when it was a combination of the Horsemasters and Preliminary Teaching.
All of those stables have gone now. The forge was demolished and housing on it now, all the others are industrial premises.

Me too!! LEC, then Frith and Burtonhole.
I was more 80's than 90's
I remember very fondly:
Hampstead Heath on Boxing Day with tinselled manes and tails
Trent Park on hot summer days (that was a long old hack)
Top Field in the summer - £1 for the key to the gate
The smell at Burtonhole - like nothing else in the world!!
Great days

We're nearby and London Equestrian Centre and Frith Manor all still exist as does Trent of course 😄 I think I heard (not sure if it's true) that London Equestrian Centre used to be owned by the Gill family that own Kings Oak? It may be false info but someone told me this

LEC definitely was owned by a Mrs Gill so could be a family link.
I lived (and still do) about 200 metres away and both LEC and Frith are still going. I started riding at LEC in about 1986 and then moved over to Frith to share various ponies in the early 90s.

Greg Gill?

She was quite an old lady in the 80s! So definitely not the same person

LEC was definitely owned by the Gills when I was there in the 80's - I remember Mr Gill.
Mrs Turner owned Frith at the same time as I recall.

@DuaneDibbley @havannabay I was at LEC too !! In the mid 80s to early 90s. I remember a big strawberry roan mare called Gail/Gayle who was a bit of a misery. A lovely little bay called Penny, who jumped me out of their manege a few times...Another tall bay mare who wore a hackamore and was quite bouncy.. can't remember her name. And Pepper, a skewbald, lovely and forward going. I could still point out their boxes on the yard. Memories....

@Solosunrise I had a few lessons at Aldborough Hall earlier this year - they were pretty good - the yard is quite quiet though, they deserve to be busier than they are

I was north London aswell , LEC when it was owned by a guy called Michael , Frith Manor then mote end farm I think it was called .

Michael and Yvonne Segen and their family still own LEC

I lived in Walthamstow in my early 20’s -over 40 years ago. I learned to ride at the Lea Valley park centre , I still remember Bonnie, Sylvester and Larry, who was very old and threadbare and badly behaved in a sweet old horsey way. Later I bought a Welsh cob and kept her out at Bon’s Farm in Stapleford Abbots - lovely friendly livery yard. I had more fun with my riding then than I did later on when I lived in Gloucestershire.