The Sporting Horse

Horses have been a companion to man in his play as well as work. Given the competitive nature of man, it is fair to assume that from the time there were two men and two horses they were probably pitted against each other in races for speed, agility and strength. The history of horse sports is a rich one in this country. Many sports have had their basis in preparing man and horse both physically and emotionally for battle. The International Museum of the Horse provides a comprehensive history of horses in sport.

Horseracing
Up through the mid-19th century, horse racing was the main form of organized sport in America. Today small towns and larger cities tout athletic rivalries on athletic fields across America. In colonial America, the same rivalries were more commonly organized around the sport of horse racing. Much like today, legions of Colonial fans traveled far to early "quarter-race" tracks to place hard earned wagers on their town's horse and rider. Wages in the early days of this country may have included money, tobacco, slaves, and property.

Emotions ran high and tempers flared with unjust calls, false starts or one rider interfering with another's horse. From the early races, often conducted in the woods to today's well manicured tracks the sport of quarter horse and thoroughbred racing remains a popular American pastime for horse and humans alike.

The Fox Hunt
One of the earliest equine sports in this country found its roots in the sport of the fox hunting. As early as 1650 a man by the name of Colonel Robert Brooke brought hounds to Maryland from England. The sport became very popular and many of our founding fathers became active in the sport of "The Hunt". George Washington, who began hunting at 16 years of age, was well known for his pack of hunting hounds and horses he rode in the chase.

Fox hunting was quite popular in every region of the United States but its strongest roots were planted firmly in the middle-south . The lay of the land made it an ideal setting for the sport. The middle-south maintained many of the rich traditions of the sport handed down to America from the aristocrats of England.

A Kentuckian wrote in 1852: "Fox hunting in the middle and southern states is quite as much a subject of enthusiasm as it has been in England..." Among the most famous hunts in America, the Iroquois Hunt in Kentucky ranks as one of the finest. Founded in 1880 by Roger D. Williams, it is named after the first American horse to win the Epson Derby in England, Pierre Lorillard's Iroquois. The "Bluegrass" region of Kentucky offers particularly favorable land for fox hunting due to its fine turf and the absence of wire fencing, the anathema to fox hunters.  

1876 - First American Polo
Another horse game readily adopted and richly rooted in the traditions of this country is Polo. Although polo and hunting are perhaps the oldest horse sports, polo was not played in the Western Hemisphere until the 1800s. The sport was brought to America by James Gordon Bennett in 1876. New York City riding arena was the first official unveiling of indoor Polo in this country. Harvard University formed an inter-collegiate polo team in 1885 due to the immense popularity of the sport. By 1886, the British and Americans were competing against each other in regularly scheduled matches. By 1892 there were 13 U.S. polo clubs, most in the Eastern portion of the country.

The First Rodeo ("Cattle Ring")
In 1886 the cattle drive spawned the robust entertainment dubbed the Rodeo. This cowboy sport became a real entertainment draw. Rodeo began as a way to celebrate the end of the long cattle-drive. The cowboys had to look over their herds until they were sold at market. After the pens were emptied, cowhands would challenge each other to a calf roping contest or maybe a bareback ride on the orneriest horse on the lot.

Soon the draw of the rodeo was sweetened with dramatic and equally entertaining "Wild West" show. These extravaganzas included wagon races, bull-riding and steer-wrestling. A black cowboy named Bill Pickett invented one of the most exciting events in the rodeo, bull dogging. As the story goes, Pickett became enraged at a bull that refused to enter a corral. He leapt on the bull from his horse, grabbed its horns, gripping its upper lip in his teeth, bringing it to the ground like a "bulldog."

Horses of Hollywood
The baby boomers of this country are familiar with some of the best-loved horses of motion pictures and TV. To many, growing up in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the horses of the screen were as famous as the heroes who rode them. William S. Hart and Fritz, Tom Mix and Tony, Gene Autry and Champion, Roy Rogers and Trigger. The "western" soon became one of film's dominant genres depending heavily on the horse.

Television introduced, another host of heroes: the Lone Ranger and Silver, Tonto and Scout, Hopalong Cassidy and Topper as well as such individual stars as Fury, Flicka, and Mr. Ed series.


Think you know about horses in Hollywood? Take our Trivia Quiz.

| The Ancient Connection | The Horse in Agriculture | Moving Man and Machinery |
| Native Americans and the Horse | Horses and the Journey to the New World |
| Palo Duro Canyon Tragedy | The Sporting Horse | Waging War from Horseback |

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