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Ye olde tackroom: horsey items to take you on a trip down memory lane *H&H Plus*


  • Thatching, jute, kaolin and boiled linseed have almost gone out of our vocabulary, says Andrea Oakes, evoking memories of AGAs festooned in string girths with a cauldron bubbling for the horse’s dinner

    Hay wisp

    IT looked so easy in the Pony Club Manual of Horsemanship – simply make a long, tightly woven rope from hay, before fashioning it into two loops and twisting the loose end through these. If the resulting tangle looked anything like a hay wisp, you were ready to use it with vigorous strokes to massage the horse and produce a deep shine.

    Sometimes called strapping or banging, this was once considered an essential part of grooming. Was it worth the effort?

    “My mum taught me how to make a hay wisp and my grandfather taught her,” says former eventer Ginny Elliot. “We used to spend hours strapping the horses and we liked to think it made a difference.”

    You can also read this feature in the 13 May issue of Horse & Hound magazine.

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