The monster-sized garbage truck was headed straight for the horse I was riding down busy Columbus Avenue, at the height of evening rush hour on New York City’s Upper West Side. Gears grinding loudly, the vehicle kept chugging toward us as I maneuvered my horse as close as possible to the parked cars along the curb in an attempt to avoid a truck-horse-human collision.
The perpetually rearing wooden horse still stares out the enormous picture window oblivious to the constant bustle of New York City, just as he’s done since 1912. All around him, the world has changed. The once plentiful shops offering equestrian accouterments to clients with names like Rockefeller and Kennedy have disappeared, leaving Manhattan Saddlery as the sole surviving tack shop in the borough.
It was 8:45 p.m. on a Thursday evening. It was dark, wet and cold outside. I had 24 hours until the chili cook-off fundraiser I’d been planning for the Area II Young Riders, and the anxiety was setting in, as it always does before any function I plan.
I was doing my best to balance my time between my full-time job at Sinead Halpin Eventing, my part-time job at Prestige Saddles, my commitment to Young Riders, my part-time job teaching at River Edge Farm, and my personal commitment to fitness.
Thomas L. Ashbridge III, former MFH of the Huntingdon Valley Hunt (Pa.), died on June 12. He was 85.
Born in Bucks County, Pa., Mr. Ashbridge graduated from the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948. He served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II in the Pacific Theater as a lead navigator and bombardier in a B29 squadron, rising to the rank of major. After serving in the Air Force, he worked as an investment executive for Kidder Peabody in Philadelphia, Pa.
Equine journalist Doris Ogden Mount died May 23 in Colts Neck, N.J. She was 88.
Mrs. Mount’s love affair with horses began as a child in Summit, N.J. She graduated from Kent Place School (N.J) and Sweetbriar College (Va.) where she double majored in her two loves: English literature and equine studies.
Artist Anita Gersch has loved horses since she was a toddler and has spent the best portion of her life with them—as a rider, an instructor and trainer, and as an artist/designer.
“I’ve ridden competitively and have taught hunt seat and dressage and run a show barn for many years,” said Gersch. “I guess I’ve tried just about everything and anything that can be done on or with a horse!
But, I’m still amazed each day at the beauty of horses and hope to portray them in an original way—using saturated color and negative space as an integral part of my work.
Evalee Hunter, a lifelong horsewoman, died on May 31 after a non-horse related fall. She was 64.
Ms. Hunter was born in Kansas but grew up in Cortland, N.Y., where she began riding at the age of 4. She participated in 4-H as a child and continued to ride and train western trail and parade horses for several decades.
When her daughter Ali Rawles started riding, Ms. Hunter stepped into the role of “Pony Club Mom.” In 2004, she purchased Spring Meadow Farm in Oxford, Pa., where she and Ali ran a race horse lay-up facility.
James R. “Jim” Shaw, longtime Master of Foxhounds and horse show judge, died June 9 following complications from a fall he took while attending the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. He was 85.
Mr. Shaw was born in Youngstown, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio State University. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in Italy and North Africa. Upon his return to Ohio, he worked in real estate.
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