Photographic technology may have advanced over the decades, but some of our readers’ oldest photos bring back the fondest memories, reminding of us how life used to be
Time for tea
I had Arden Love Affair in the 1960s. He was second in the 14.2hh-and-under class at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in 1964. In 1965 he measured out, so I showed him as a small hack. He was equally successful and was again second at HOYS. Unusual to say the least. He was the most comfortable ride, very smooth and an extravagant mover and a huge character. The photograph was taken for the Evening Standard at the Richmond Royal Horse Show in 1966. There was some tea in the mug. I am sitting on the family Land Rover which towed our trailer.
Debbie Lee
On top of the world
Marian Procter was nine years old when this picture was taken of her and Toby at Ulverston Show in 1951. Later when Marian was 12, she (by herself) took Toby on holiday, travelling on the train from Kirkby-in Furness, South Cumbria, to Northallerton, North Yorkshire, where she stayed with her sister Margaret and husband Jack Ward.
Judith Stitt (Marian’s niece)
The milk round
These are the horses I worked with seven days a week, from the 1950s to early 1960s. There were 61 working horses for Northampton Co-op dairy. The stables were two tier, upstairs and down. After the dairy changed from horses to milk floats, all the horses went for slaughter, with the last one going in 1974.
Chris Haynes
Checking the hunters
Checking the hunters in summer, 1954. We were walked miles in our pram and constantly had to share on the way home with the hound puppy! The walk proved too far for him, so he changed places with me in the pram. He was called No Go and later excelled at Peterborough for the South Oxfordshire Hunt. We still have the pewter mug he won at the puppy show.
Celia Summers (née Medley)
Suffolk Ranger
This photo was taken at a hunter trial in 1949/50. The horse was called Suffolk Ranger, and he was out of a Suffolk by the thoroughbred stallion that walked around Suffolk every spring as part of the Hunters’ Society Improvement scheme.
Ranger arrived with me when he was a just-backed seven-year-old in 1944. It took a long time to train him, but we did compete at HOYS in 1951 doing the prix caprilli. We also competed at one of the first one-day events at Great Alkham, 1950.
He was such a good jumper and would tackle anything. For a bet we jumped the point-to-point drop fence at Newton Green from the wrong direction.
Shirley Shea
Impeccable standards
This picture was taken at Great Gransden Show in 1979. In front, the late Betty Gingell, master of the Cambridgeshire Harriers, riding Badger. They won the class and were HOYS heavyweight champions in the late 1970s. Behind, Toffee and me, who came second. The job was very hard but also very rewarding. The high standards that were expected have endorsed how I now prepare for a show.
Rebecca Jarvis
The way we were…
Tommy and me, 1967, having fun in the garden – no tack, no riding kit!
Fiona Hicks
Ref Horse & Hound; 9 July 2020
