In the Aug. 27, 1965 edition of The Chronicle of the Horse appeared an article about the very first show jumping grand prix to be put on in the United States. The class was held in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 25 as part of the PHA Horse Show. Here's the entire text of that article and scroll down to see scans of the actual pages of the article in that issue of the Chronicle...

Jennifer on Oscar mid-bray while showing in leadline with her father, Johnny Barker. The famous judge Artie Hawkins is in the background.

You’d think that the daughter of two hunter trainers—Johnny Barker and Parker Haynes Minchin—would have had a fancy, big-name pony to show in the leadline.

But no.

The hunter courses at the Upperville Colt and Horse Show (Va.) are some of the most picturesque in history, with the classic oak trees shading the track. But 40 years ago, there was a jump on the course that seemed to belong more on a cross-country course than in a hunter ring.

In 1974, Upperville featured a large bank in both the amateur-owner and regular working hunter classic rounds. The Chronicle report from the show—written by Ruth Meredith and appearing in the June 21, 1974 issue of the Chronicle—discussed it:

Sitting here this morning, in the bright blue Devon Horse Show press room looking out over the Dixon Oval, I teared up again at the memories of a Thursday June evening in 2012. 

Four years ago in this ring, I got to witness one of the most amazing nights of show jumping I think we’ll ever see. From McLain Ward’s heartfelt tribute to his retiring great mare, Sapphire, to his amazing win in the grand prix just a few months after breaking his knee, it was the kind of night that defined the description “fairy tale.”