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.
Susan Dorazio is a New England artist who has specialized in equine art for more than 30 years. All of her work, including portraiture in watercolor, oil or pen and ink, realistically evokes mood, energy and atmosphere. Her compositions are comprised of her own experiences in the field, photographing subjects at different locations locally and across the country.
The quest for Secretariat look-a-likes to star in a Walt Disney Pictures’ movie about the legendary race horse has turned up its first star—a 3-year-old Thoroughbred named Cyclone Larry.
“Larry” is owned by Heather Benson, who manages the North Dakota Horse Park in Fargo. She entered him in the online casting call for the movie role as the great chestnut race horse.
Ruth R. Handley, a driving force in the West Coast horse industry, died on June 22 at her home in Ramona, Calif. She was 90.
Mrs. Handley was born in Arnold, Neb., and raised on her family’s homestead ranch in Campbell County, Wyo. It was there that her deep-seated passion for horses was fostered.
Ribbons, medals and prize money are all very nice, but sometimes the greatest heroes of the equestrian world go unsung. Fédération Equestre Internationale officials are hoping to change that situation with their new awards program announced on Aug. 19.
Seamus Brady, former farrier for the U.S. Equestrian teams, died on July 27 in Whitehouse Station, N.J. He was 77.
Mr. Brady was born in County Cavan, Ireland, and trained at the Irish Army Equitation School in Dublin. He immigrated to the United States more than 50 years ago to work for USET Director Arthur McCashin at his Four Furlongs Farm in Pluckemin, N.J.
Mr. Brady was then drafted into the U.S. Army, where he was a chauffer to a general and learned about welding and metalworking.
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