“Do I remember? You kidding? You don't forget stuff like that,” Jim Wofford told me when I contacted him about a remarkable photo I found in a Chronicle issue from 50 years ago.

The story about the 1967 Myopia Horse Trials in Hamilton and Ipswich, Mass., in the June 23, 1967 issue looked like any other, with a short report, results, and a page of photos. But one of those photos made me do a doubletake. It was a photo of a pretty substantial river, with a horse’s head and the torso of a rider above water.

The year was 1984, and down in Wellington, Fla., the Winter Equestrian Festival was still in its infancy. The show report in the Chronicle in the March 9, 1984 issue painted a very different picture of the area 32 years ago!

The report read: 

An endless expanse of flat land, broken only by the landscaped knolls and valleys of countless golf courses, lent itself ideally to further the near-perfect conditions at the Insilco Masters Horse Show, held Feb. 21-26 at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington, Fla.

The question of whether or not to blanket your horse at arises frequently this time of year. The temperature is prone to unexpected dives, and many horses are sporting some sort of body clip.

It was 1976. Will Simpson was 17. The Roofer was a 15.3-hand Thoroughbred and a former children's hunter. 

The jump was set at 7'5", and there were more than 19,000 people watching.