equestrian history

Boston Public Library Photograph Collections: Horse Sports, Part 1

Amanda

Massachusetts – and, more broadly, central/coastal New England – used to have a much bigger tradition of horse sports than it does now. Not for nothing was the USET based out of Hamilton, MA, one of the earliest international three-day events was at Ledyard Farm, Myopia Hunt is one of the oldest in America, and equestrians like Karen O’Connor and Bobby Costello grew up in the area.

So here are a selection of photographs from the Boston Public Library about the halycon days of eastern Massachusetts as the center of the equestrian world.

The horses with no riders after the spill at Raceland, Framingham//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Trotters at Salem, N.H., Rockingham//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Davidsons of A and P - Cohasset//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Bayard Tuckerman on Bective Lad at Myopia//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Virginia Tolman on Homestead at Weymouth fair//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Bayard Tuckerman - Myopia Hunt//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Jumping - One of those times that the horse refuses to jump at the stone wall//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Hamilton horse show - Mrs. F. Ayer on River Sand wins Buddy Cup - light weight hunters//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Betty Dird - horsewoman//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Bayard Tuckerman at Southborough, MA//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Ballymore of Oldtown Hill Farm jumping at Brockton fair//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Horse jump//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Equestrians//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Woman with 3 horses//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Horse jumping//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Three women on a sawhorse//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Hugh Bancroft Jr. thrown by his jumper Pop-Over - Millwood hunt//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Danny Shea on Crowell's Fairfax at Scituate Horse Show//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Millwood Hunt - Framingham//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Millwood Hunt - 2-4 - Stout Fella - Mrs. William B. Song, 2-7 - Martins's Caddy - J.F. Broderick//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

6 thoughts on “Boston Public Library Photograph Collections: Horse Sports, Part 1”

  5. THERE IS SO MUCH TO LOVE HERE! I love the dog running through the track in the first image. I love the gravitas with which those two women take themselves. I love that some pictures are before the “forward seat” was invented. I love that guy jumping out of the ditch underneath a trakehner? I love the one where he's getting pitched over post and rails!!!

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