Just wondering where everyone got their start in horses back in the day. I started at 5 years of age (35 years ago) at Mountainview Farms between Acton and Georgetown (the Listers) and then trained as a teen with Linda Buchanen just outside of Rockwood. I also had my Junior Colours with the Ennisclaire Hunt Club from about 9 years old. Stopped regular riding at 18 for a career & family.

I'm an old Almar Girl (when it was on Burnamthorpe rd) oh.....about 40 years or so ago when I was a teen lol! God I'm old!!!!
Any other Almar girls out there?

Took a one week riding camp during the summer of Grade 5 and 6 at Meadowvale Stables in Brampton. Then kept on with one riding lesson a week for 5 or so years, then 2, then part boarded a horse for a while. When I was 18 and working full time I could finally afford to purchase a horse of my own...a 10 year old off the track TB mare that had not won a dime in her life and did not know the word "whoa" Ahh youth is bliss...I worked with that wonderful mare through all of that stuff and she turned out to be real little trooper in the hunter and jumper classes at the many schooling shows we attended. She was my first broodmare and gave us three lovely foals until she passed on. The rest as they say is history but I still have a special fondness for that very special first horse [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img] After Meadowvale Stables was sold to Danny Foster I believe I moved to Jim Rush's farm (cannot for the life of me remember the name of the farm...perhaps Meadowlarke ?) then on to Bertin Stables in Oakville where I taught part time for a number of years while attending College. Then moved up the road to Chris Zizians place called Oxer Stables on Tremaine Road for a while then to a private farm in Nobleton while I bought my own farm near Schomberg where I have been for 23 years with all my beasties....

Lived in Fort Erie and loved horses and needed a job so lied about my age and went to work at the racetrack. My girlfriend and I were one of the first females (certainly of teenage age) that worked in the backstretch. We had to be escorted in and out to our shedrows for our own safety.

First job was hotwalking for SamSon Farms when Art Warner was trainer over 35 years ago.

Summer camp 28 years ago! Circle R Ranch in Delaware Ontario. Bugged my parents for English lessons and went to London Equestrian for a couple of years as a teen, took Western lessons for a couple of years in my 20's and have just returned to London Equestrian as a "mature" student!

Used to set up jumps in the back yard when I was a kid - lawn furniture, rakes, hockey sticks, etc. and run around jumping them! LOL! Who else did that??

English lessons in 1968 at Sunnybrook Stables in Toronto as a mere baby (yeah right!).

Got thrown, narrowly missed being stomped, and then rolled on over about five lessons.

Somehow I lost my enthusiasm, until my teens when my girlfriend threw me up on her psycho QH gelding and walked me up and down the laneway. It was wonderful. I took lessons in high school and part boarded after we moved to Orillia. After we left school we did the odd "annual" trail ride. I tried lessons again in my late 20s in the summertime at Henry Regelink's farm. Then nothing until about six years ago when my youngest daughter wanted riding lessons for her birthday.

Now we have horses, a farm and I'm happier than the proverbial pig in spit (what did you THINK I was going to type???)!

Ha ha ha!!! Me too! Plus we made the dog jump our courses too! [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Eglington Equestrian Club on John Street was where I started, back in the day when Peter, Margo and Gillian Howard rode there along with Carey Diamond, Monica Bata, Alannah, Nuala and Rosanne Byles, etc

I know that I rode before that though - at the family farm, as well as the Pottery Rd Stables in Toronto for trail rides, Sunnybrook for trail rides as well, the old Circle M Ranch and up at the Ehrlick Farm in Nobleton

Ah ... the "Good Old Days"! [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

I started my days out when I was 7 years old at Bertin Stables on Hwy 5 in Oakville...back in 72 (yikes) The farm is still there run by the son. I have never been back. Mrs.Bertin use to rome the stables in her high heels and fur coat....it was hilarious! [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

I bought my first horse at 19 (37 years ago) from Dot & Jerry Binette in Ste Anne de Bellvue, QC and showed Quarter Horse & Open shows and then eventually Appaloosa shows for a few years. Moved to Ontario and have been doing the general riding thing for a while then got involved with the Ontario Appaloosa Horse Assoc. by doing secretary/treasuer then on to Show Secretary for many years. Not being in a position to ride competitively, the show secretary allowed me to go to all the shows, see all the different horses and meet a bunch of really interesting people and get paid too (BONUS!!) I am doing the EMG Biggist Loser now so hopefully with all of the extra pounds gone I will be more comfortable doing some riding on the trails or some cow work or maybe some dressage lessons, I will have to have Julie F check with Julie to see what her preference would be!!

Here is proof that I have been on a horse at least 2x!!!

[IMG]http://thumb12.webshots.net/t/58/558/3/33/14/2769333140093073312OkZfnr_th.jpg[/IMG]

I started with lessons at Shady Hill then owned by Jack Gisborn. Got my own horse and learned how to ride by hunting with the Hamilton Hunt. This was back in the 70s. I was amazed that I could actually canter up and down hills. Had a great little horse. He was TB/clyde/QH and could jump the moon. 10 years later moved to a friend's (Margot Isbister) who owned a well known jumper called Jibber Jabber. She took be back to the basics. Learned how to do proper transitions etc. Then got my own farm that was 27 years ago. I am still riding though no longer hunting and only jumping very small jumps. We dabble in dressage.

Back then we used to say those that are too chicken to jump do dressage. Of course we knew very little about dressage.

I started about 40 years ago at Tyndale with Joan Clark. I was there until mid 70's when I got into eventing and moved to Maple with Fred Grafi and Captain Dedemetre (sp). Then stopped riding in the early 80's, because my parents stopped paying, and then started again when my daughter asked for lessons in 2000. My husband never really understood where that was going to lead...LOL....

Started in the riding school at 'BRIAR HALL` (1974 - I was) in Oakville. Moved up to Caledon in 1975 and spent the BEST years of my entire life at what was then known as `CHINGUACOUSY COUNTRY CLUB` hacking all over Caledon and competing in their schooling shows. Young horsey girls paradise!! Life has not been better since!! Things got so much more serious with the move up to the À Circuit! Still loved it - but it is was very different experience.

I had my first lessons for my 10th b-day at what is now Bayview farm. It was run by Marge Love (now Tracz) and her sister Barb. Got put up on a pony called Durante and amazed my instructor by being able to post. She asked how i had learned that and didn't believe me when I told her that I'd read how in a book.
Went from there to Bertin's and was one of the teens that taught there- one of my students was Neil Bertin!

Gosh, it would have been about 35 years ago, at Sandy Hill Stables in St.Lazare, Quebec owned by the Greers. Then got my own pony and rode out of Hunts Stables in Hudson, Quebec - I have very fond memories of those times from being a Pony Clubber to hunting with the LTMH Hunt Club. Oh and the trails we used to go on, we could ride for hours and never come across another horse or rider. We used to ride up to the bakery at Mon Village and get day old sugar cookies for the horses, sigh, those were the days.................

What True Colours said. Exactly. [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I'm from further 'afield' so to speak. When I was 8, begged parents for riding lessons and rode my bike over to a stable on Pine Glen road in Riverview, NB.
Then when we moved to the country to NS (I was 12) I was in heaven. Rode in Wilmot with the Newcombs and did Pony Club there, then, since the people behind showed and bred QH, I switched to western. Picked up my first QH in Pennsylvania and then showed him for several years in the MQHA. Good times. After university down east, moved to the big smoke to attend Ryerson and only wistfully went near horses when it was Quarterama or the Royal. Married, had kids and after 25 years and a daughter who is as horse mad as I was then, bought a horse and sigh, now life is good.

I started riding in Quebec MANY years ago, would have been in the 60's, at Green Meadows on Cote Vertu west of Montreal. There is at least one other person on this board who knows where I mean.
In Ontario, did only trail riding in 1971 at Hilltop (Warden and St Clair) and I believe it was Canadiana on Steeles Ave. Then a few lessons at Sunnybrook in the 70's and more trailriding at Rouge Hills in the early 90's. Started 'serious' riding in 1998.

I started taking lessons in London when I was about 8...I forget the name of the barn. When I was 12 my parents bought my first pony, a hot little Arab/Welsh cross named Tinker Belle. We kept her at Winnie Kamen's in Hyde Park, until moving to Sandy Blackall's when I was 14. There I started Pony Club, hunting and showing. For my 16th birthday I got an Arab/Clyde/Hackney gelding whom I adored. He could do anything. I remember a day my little sister and I decided to see how high he could jump...I ended up going over a 6' vertical. We stopped after that...my sister couldn't reach any higher, and I was too scared to jump higher, anyway. I still can't believe I did that! Now 3 feet looks high! A few months later we moved to the Ottawa area where I continued in Pony Club, got my 'B', hunted and started eventing. I rode with the Laframboise girls, the Irving girls and some others who went on to do very well. I got married at 20 and gave up riding until about 1988. By then I lived in Ancaster and kept a borrowed horse at Gisborn's for a while. When I returned the mare, after about a year, I stopped again until about 3 years ago., when at the age of 51, and now in the Orangeville area, I started riding a friend's horse. I bought my boy, Atlas, who is a Paint TB/QH two years ago and am still trying to regain some of my long lost skills. I've fallen off twice (not the horse's fault, either time)and was badly hurt both times, which makes me wonder if I should really be doing this, but I love it, and I love Atlas. He is such a sweetheart, and the good he has done my soul far outweighs the damage to this old body!

[This message has been edited by Gillian and Vern (edited March 01, 2008).]

I took my first lesson when I was 7 back in 1957 at Three C Ranch when it was in Cooksville (on the north side of Dundas St. just east of highway 10.) Now, that WAS a long time ago.

Am I the only Ottawa area oldie on here?

Actually I got a pony for my 5th birthday. Bless my parents, they meant well but we all knew nothing and said pony figured it out pretty quickly. He was a little black Welsh who started to kick, bite and lay down while being ridden with amazing regularity... He finally picked me up one day by the back of my coat - Dad said he had to go.

I then did Sunday lead line rides at Silver Spur ranch which used to be on Carling Avenue. Every Sunday that I could talk my parents into it, around and around. I'm sure they were hoping it would just wear off but it only got worse [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

I started lessons at Fiddlers Green the year they opened (1976) and rode there for about 5 years (summer camp, winter camps, anything I could go to). I was 8 when I started there. We were at the old Fiddlers (Percy McKinley's farm) and rode at least one or two winters outside with no indoor. I can't imagine doing that now - age must thin your blood.

Got my first pony thru my then instructor - Sandi Patterson - when I was 11. Misty was a Arab/QH cross and my parents paid a whole $700 for her. She was amazing - when I look back now, I realize what a gem she was. She did it all - she was only 14.2, but I got my B on her, showed dressage, hunted with the OVH on Pony Club days, evented (even at Harwood) rode western, even tied a toboggan to my girth and drove her around in the snow [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/eek.gif[/img]!

Is Harwood Horse Trials a thing of the past?

After Fiddlers, I moved to Willowdusk Farms which was located across from where Scotiabank Place is now. I had some of the very best times ever there, and wish I was still in contact with some of the people I rode with there. I can remember hacking to Delby Stables to show, as well as going to Robingreen (when it was still Burt and Dorothy's), Basswood (Power's), Kanata Riding Club, Elchris at Oxford Mills, and showing at Dorothy Leggett's first place on the Ottawa River (all I can think of is Spindrift which is her current place). Oh, and so many good times with the OVH Pony Club. Working rallies at Carp Fairgrounds, regional rally at Williamstown Fairgrounds - we all just stayed in the hall together and slept on the floor - what a hoot. Winning at Regional Quiz which was in Vaudreuil (pardon my terrible french spelling). Testing and clinics and lectures. Just the best times [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Sorry - I have written a novel, but they were sure good times!

[This message has been edited by CdnQH (edited March 01, 2008).]

When I was 15 I took a few lessons during the summer holidays at a place in Snowballs Corners - sorta near Newmarket. I don't remember the name of the place but one of the horses I rode was Mr. Clean (huge white horse) and a small little chestnut horse that was sort of scary. I used to remember her name but it's gone now. [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

Then I waited about 31 years and bought my first horse. Started taking lessons on her every summer and I'm still doing that 6 years later. But we do only ride in the summer. [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

My riding started at a rental stable, Bramalea Stables at the corner of Queen St./Heartlake Road, Brampton. My favourite horse ran away with me.

Started riding (not because I was run away with) at Wagon Wheels on McLaughlin Road later. Bramalea Stables had moved. First formal lessons were at Meadowvale stables.

Next formal lessons would be at the Briarwood Saddle and Bridle Club (Jim Carter's farm) on Kennedy Road north of Vodden St., Brampton That was a fun time, different levels to work toward, lectures on history, health, tack, lots of great stuff and where I learned to put a snaffle bridle back together in under five minutes.

[This message has been edited by ride on (edited March 01, 2008).]

CdnQH, did you hear of a summer ranch camp way back when called Ferndale Ranch near Ottawa? I went there when I was 13. Just curious.

Cherham and LadyA - do either of you remember a Cruise Control ( dapple grey tb gelding ) or Image ( bay tb mare?? ) Just curious......

Welsteed - thats funny ...

I boarded ay Snowball Corners when Doug Henry rented a barn there, along with Danny Foster, Rick Hay, Gord Cooper and that whole crew ... Doug was riding in the GP's then as was Danny on a super little chestnut jumper called "Super X" that was owned by his uncle, who owned Super X Drug Stores ...

We had a real blast there - and we actually got some riding done as well ... [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Chancey, I never rode at Ching Country Club, but I remember going to shows there - and pony club testing (Meadowvale). It was quite posh in the day, had *two* arenas (oooh-ahhh - a rarity at the time). I also remember Kirtons taking over the place for some short period of time before its ultimate demise.

Remember honking to drive through the one lane bridge?

My brother lived in one of the cottages on the property there up until just a few years ago (when he got married and his "swinging single" days drew to an end, his wife insisted on better digs!) It was creepy, kind of like trailer park boys, but with rotting cottages instead of trailers.

Anyways, very sad to go there and see the stables fallen into total disrepair. They might actually be bulldozed by now.

My history would be Creditview/Nethervue/Kinglea/TwinHill (Linda Waxman)...then 20 year hiatus to bring us to today...

(Critters informed me a while ago that I rode with Janet Hall back in the day - who knew? Not me...)

Started out in England at the tender age of 9, remembered I asked my parents for a pony after my rabbit went wild 'cos I didn't take care of it...they didn't get me a pony, but I worked at the barn to pay for lessons until we moved to Canada when I was 12.
Was at Maple too in the mid-70's 'till early 80's....rode with Fred Grafi too. I loved it there, the x-country course was amazing! I also got back into riding when my daughter started in 2000..weird!
I likely know you... [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by ButterflyMom (edited March 01, 2008).]

[This message has been edited by ButterflyMom (edited March 01, 2008).]

guineapigger,

I did??
I guess I must know you since you boarded at Kinglea. WOW, that was almost 30 years ago. [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/eek.gif[/img]


[This message has been edited by Critters (edited March 01, 2008).]

I was 9 years old when I started lessons at Central Don Stables (Sunnybrook) in 1967. The first winter we had our lessons in a big green canvas tent. Worked mucking stalls and taking out pony rides and occasionally trail rides thru the park.
I continued there until 1970 when I moved to Vahalla Riding School in Richmond Hill on Elgin Mills.
I also took lessons at Leitchcroft until I purchased my first horse and moved into Amberwood Farms.
I moved to several smaller stables and then to a private farm.
When my boy passed away I stopped riding for 5 years .
When I got up the nerve to start again I returned to Vahalla.

OMG, another place I totally forgot about [img]http://www.equiman.com/cgi-bin/ubb/eek.gif[/img]
Lost In The Fog - Do you remember Meloches on Sources Blvd, D.D.O.?