No worries.
What about the 60s-early80s when small building jobs around the house could be "negotiated' between home-owner and tradesman(aka "cashies").
Then in 1983 Big Brother" introduced the PPS system then later the GST?
Although, some people who had work during that era are now rueing the fact that there was no building code to protect them from poor workmanship.

Cheers.

True, there's upsides and downsides to all.
That cashy is still alive and well though
Nearly every self employed tradesman who has come to the house has said if you don't want an invoice, I can do it 10% cheaper for cash!

__________________
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In my local extensive area in the 70-80s there were a plethora of small shop-front "mum and dad" businesses which mainly sold out-of hours convenience products(milk, bread, smallgoods etc) which meant they didn't need to go on to pensions etc.
So really are we better off today.....imo definitely not!
They were eventually "devoured" by the big supermarkets.
Cheers.

Don't want to derail the thread but was interested in this CP - I don't know much about Laminitis other than what a horrible affliction it is, I have a friend who runs a tourist park who has lost horses to it.

Can I take it you believe that horses need a varying environment under-hoof to reduce the likelihood of such diseases occurring? A more solid footing than most paddocks provide?

I have many off the wall ideas when it comes to horses, but they tend to attest to themselves. I don't pluck these ideas out of thin air, it's a combination of what my parents and grandparents taught me and my own research.
Horses can get laminitis at any stage and in any environment.
Those who have a bout of laminitis are more than 75% likely for it to re occur at some stage.
The main causes of laminitis are carbohydrate, sugar, or nitrogen overload, poor blood circulation, and being continually worked on hard surfaces.

Paddocked horses are particularly susceptible to laminitis during Spring when lush grasses abound carrying very high levels of nutrients.
It's a combination of not enough exercise and food overload.
A greedy, fat pony will founder as will a stabled horse turned loose.

The theory is that undulating, large paddocks devoid of fertilisers, (natural fertiliser is ok), which are large and require the horse to exercise for it's food, supply exercise, good blood flow to the hooves, naturally trim the hooves (to some extent), and stop horses "pigging out" on lush grass, because there is an abundance of grass always.
A small flat paddock which suddenly bursts into life in Spring is particularly dangerous, there's no exercise to speak of and an opportunity for the horse to binge eat.
This is one of the reasons, I have been an advocate for herds of horses in very large undulating paddocks with plenty of natural shade.
It does wonders mentally and physically.

I've been challenged by many in the dressage world over this topic, but they love their stables, laser-levelled paddocks and have to rope a tiny paddock in half to stop the Warmblood foundering.
They don't seem to understand that horses are opportunists, like kids, if you give kids a key to a candy store, you'll have one very sick child. If your child is an athlete, and gets one lolly a day for sugar balance, he's unlikely to binge in that same store.

Sorry for the long explanation, but it's one of my favourite topics.

P.S. Solid footing isn't a factor, only becomes a factor when it's due to mud or water. In fact an undulating paddock with some rocky areas is more natural and better for the horse/

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 399,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/03/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg

Cheers CP.

Re horses being like kids, the last race at Moruya just gone they had the camera on the start for a while which showed the stables behind, & 2 rugged up 'kids' would slowly walk out of their stalls into small separated yards, eye off their mates over at the start then turn around & sort of hop back into the stalls, much like poorly performing syncronised swimmers, & did it over & over, was cracking me up.

Much like the one I backed did a couple minutes later

Horses are very much like kids, they can be tempted by licorice, and are extremely curious and will call out to their mates, "look I'm over here" (the whinney), then when hard feed is coming, they neigh with excitement.
Trying to get a difficult horse on a float, one has to think, "this is a toddler", how would I get my toddler to hop into bed willingly

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 399,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 31/03/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg

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It's pretty clear what you mean here, though to some extent you have avoided the worst by ********.

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