I was chatting to an old horsey friend last week and we spent a while reminiscing about our fond memories of growing up as horsey-mad children that would spend all day at the yard and come home covered head to toe in mud and ready for bed.
We spent ages chatting about our old trusty long Harry Hall rubber riding boots that weren't comfortable in the slightest unless you had socks on, and how the smell of hoof oil would follow us around wherever we went.
We spoke about our favourite yard items from way back when, and those things we wish we had now. A fond memory of mine is getting an equine catalogue come through our letter box and spending hours upon hours trawling through it, circling everything we wanted and our ponies needed.
I remember wanting Harry Hall everything! It was the brand everyone knew and loved and along with the words "Cottage Craft", would appear several times on my birthday and Christmas lists. If wasn't Harry Hall or Cottage Craft, it wasn't circled.
Nowadays we've lots of other great brands such as Masta, Caldene, Tottie and other various ones to add to our list, but there will always be something about trusty old Harry Hall and Cottage Craft. They remind me of hours spent in the saddle as a child, grooming my ponies to an inch of their life and having "whose pony is cleanest" competitions with my horsey-mad stable pals before tacking up and playing tag in the field upon ponies more patient than any we've met today.
It seems sad that we no longer have the catalogues we can sit and read for hours, but even as an adult I find myself on websites such as the Harry Hall one, looking for products I could need one day, or should add to my collection.
Without sounding like my grandma, the children of today don't realise how they lucky are to have such a wide variety of brands offering all sorts of equipment. When I was a child it was a girth in red, black, brown or white and that was it. Needless to say our jodhpurs came in beige, black or navy and that was about as far as our variety stretched. I remember the day I saw a pair of purple jodhpurs hanging on a tack shop rail - I think I stood there in amazement quickly noting them down on my Christmas list and telling my Grandad I "really needed them, so I could show my friends at the yard."
I often wish I could turn back time and go back just for one day.
Do you have any fond memories of back when you were a child? Share them - I'd love to read some of yours!
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We spent ages chatting about our old trusty long Harry Hall rubber riding boots that weren't comfortable in the slightest unless you had socks on, and how the smell of hoof oil would follow us around wherever we went.
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| Ceaser and I - some 20 odd years ago! |
I remember wanting Harry Hall everything! It was the brand everyone knew and loved and along with the words "Cottage Craft", would appear several times on my birthday and Christmas lists. If wasn't Harry Hall or Cottage Craft, it wasn't circled.
Nowadays we've lots of other great brands such as Masta, Caldene, Tottie and other various ones to add to our list, but there will always be something about trusty old Harry Hall and Cottage Craft. They remind me of hours spent in the saddle as a child, grooming my ponies to an inch of their life and having "whose pony is cleanest" competitions with my horsey-mad stable pals before tacking up and playing tag in the field upon ponies more patient than any we've met today.
It seems sad that we no longer have the catalogues we can sit and read for hours, but even as an adult I find myself on websites such as the Harry Hall one, looking for products I could need one day, or should add to my collection.
Without sounding like my grandma, the children of today don't realise how they lucky are to have such a wide variety of brands offering all sorts of equipment. When I was a child it was a girth in red, black, brown or white and that was it. Needless to say our jodhpurs came in beige, black or navy and that was about as far as our variety stretched. I remember the day I saw a pair of purple jodhpurs hanging on a tack shop rail - I think I stood there in amazement quickly noting them down on my Christmas list and telling my Grandad I "really needed them, so I could show my friends at the yard."
I often wish I could turn back time and go back just for one day.
Do you have any fond memories of back when you were a child? Share them - I'd love to read some of yours!
