Gosh I’d forgotten all about Quiet Flight (how could I? One of my faves!) but I think you’re right, sporthorsefilly!
Thanks you guys!!
Thank you all for sharing your pictures! They are all elegant and beautiful!
Oh my gosh…
the picture of Betty Meister is awesome!!!
Forgive me for my Hunter history ignorance, but who is she?
[QUOTE=equitationlane;2518599]
At Santa Barbara.
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1339607062052670998hymHcl[/QUOTE]
omg thats the mountain view arena! i show there now!!! geez and the dome arena in the backround, the place hasent changed one bit…except for the fences
I think that Janet is quite right about the photographic timing of the photos. While we should factor in the fact that these horses were hand galloping around an outside course, etc., etc., I think it is safe to say that the photos were taken at later points in the horses jump. It has been proven in many of the photos that, when the photos were taken earlier, the horses’ jump was exactly what we would expect of today’s hunters (knees tight and crisp, showing bascule, etc.). No digital cameras back in the 60s and 70s 
Oh, and fabulous photos everyone! I can’t stop looking at them in awe!
[QUOTE=riddlepadiddle;2519227]
I think that Janet is quite right about the photographic timing of the photos. While we should factor in the fact that these horses were hand galloping around an outside course, etc., etc., I think it is safe to say that the photos were taken at later points in the horses jump. It has been proven in many of the photos that, when the photos were taken earlier, the horses’ jump was exactly what we would expect of today’s hunters (knees tight and crisp, showing bascule, etc.). No digital cameras back in the 60s and 70s
Oh, and fabulous photos everyone! I can’t stop looking at them in awe![/QUOTE]
It is true, the pictures are taken later, but the horses of the 60’s were not rounded up like the horses of today. They galloped, jumped much bigger and were flatter. I do not know when the change took place…perhaps it started in the 70’s. In checking through some of my old horseshow programs, most of them read "to be judged on “performance, manners and way of going 60%; conformation, quality substance and soundness 40%.” Obviously, the “way of going” has changed.
Loving the pictures in this thread!
I’ve got something to contribute, but it’s kind of off topic. Many years ago, I attended horse camp under the trainership of Davera Ackenbom. Davera told us campers that one of the mares in her camp show string – the one who would promptly dump you at the base of the fence if you even thought of looking down – was a Hungarian horse that used to belong to a Hungarian countess who had escaped WWII on foot with her villagers and horses and was rescued by General Patton. The countess came to Virginia and showed Grand Prix jumpers side saddle. Needless to say, this story left quite an impression! I one day out of curiousity, I did a google search and found pictures of the Countess:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/sweet_briar/MultiplePicBig.jpg
I know it’s not a classic hunter picture and I’m sure this is old news for everyone in Virginia. But for everyone else, this story and the pictures are not to be missed!
Holy…um…how the heck does anyone jump a jump that big sidesaddle?!? Could just be me, but that sounds kinda nuts. Impressive, though!
GreystoneKC, it’s interesting, you know I’m an eventer and basically never even look at this forum (this post happened to be the most recent as I was looking at the list of forums, and it caught my eye), but I actually agree with you that today’s hunters (horses) are prettier, by and large. There are a few horses in these old photos with astonishing front ends, and some who seem to have gotten perfect distances to every fence (Think Twice, i’m looking at you 
), but certainly some of them seem more ragged than we’re used to today.
The thing is, though…pretty is as pretty does. I think those horses look more ragged because they’re being asked harder questions. Today’s hunter courses are designed to be easy, so that an easy horse will always be able to look perfect. It seems more meaningful to see how much of the prettiness falls away when they questions get harder, to see how much the horse can have his attention on more technical things and still manage to look decent.
I wouldn’t want to go back to “the old days,” necessarily–seeing as that would mean returning to uphill landings on ditches and that sort of thing–but I find today’s hunter world (the only one I’ve really known, since I’m 28 and have been competing since I was about 13) inexpressibly silly. Pretty, yes, but silly.
'Course, could be that I’m bitter since my funny-looking horse and my short, round self never stood a chance even at unrated hunter shows. See, I guess that’s the real reason I’m an eventer, not that I’m brave enough to be a great XC rider, I’m just too funny-looking for HJ. 
(and yes, I’m kidding, I do love XC)
Here’s a bigger shot of the countess jumping (found on someone else’s webshots): http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/46/46/1/15/82/304711582vcCVDB_th.jpg&imgrefurl=http://pets.webshots.com/album/90781680OiJRdi&h=73&w=100&sz=3&hl=en&start=13&sig2=jNApsgNxWRtHkLHz4lVsgQ&um=1&tbnid=LTw3wH647laJEM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=82&ei=0xF_RsPvL6PEeNWeod0D&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsidesaddle%2Bjump%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official
And when I googled her, I found this, an auction of her estate:
http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=286266
It has barely any horse stuff, but says it is “part one” - should we keep an eye out for part 2?
[QUOTE=halla;2521366]
Here’s a bigger shot of the countess jumping (found on someone else’s webshots): http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/46/46/1/15/82/304711582vcCVDB_th.jpg&imgrefurl=http://pets.webshots.com/album/90781680OiJRdi&h=73&w=100&sz=3&hl=en&start=13&sig2=jNApsgNxWRtHkLHz4lVsgQ&um=1&tbnid=LTw3wH647laJEM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=82&ei=0xF_RsPvL6PEeNWeod0D&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsidesaddle%2Bjump%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official
And when I googled her, I found this, an auction of her estate:
http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=286266
It has barely any horse stuff, but says it is “part one” - should we keep an eye out for part 2?[/QUOTE]
That fence doesn’t look as big when the photo is blown up, but I’m still impressed by the entire story.
I’m not certain, but I got the impression that she’d passed many years ago. I’m guessing that the items in that auction were someone else’s care since the time of her passing.
Another sidesaddle pic. I believe from the mid seventies.
![SisterSidesaddleHunt[1]small.JPG](/uploads/default/original/2X/5/5ab8561c6ea4ee77a62fd111380a2c0f629dfc18.jpeg)
Back when ALL women rode side saddle, they kept up with the hunt field- even in Ireland, where the jumps are, and were, ENORMOUS.
At alast years AECs, someone competed sidesaddle at the Training (3’3") level.
that sidesaddle pic is so cool. That must have taken ALOT of effort to get that good.
A bit late to the party…
But I will throw my two cents in anyway…Think Twice: That bay horse with the white star is simply hunter perfection. Any hunter trainer worth their name would look at that horse and rider and say ‘that is what you are striving for’. The style changes over time (same thing in Eventing where the technical fences rule today…galloping out of the hand and ‘flying over fences’ is out. Dressage has changed to; one could argue that Dr. Klimke and some of his horses would have a hard time being at top today, floppy legs and head would have gotten you killed on the rider coeffiecnt 20 years ago.)
But there are those times when we seemed to have gotten in right, and the 70’s were it in the hunter ring. A good blend of form and function got you pinned. I started riding then, and every good hunter barn had coops, logs, rails, and brush boxes in the outside riding ring. So many hunter princesses today don’t even know that you can ride a hunter on grass!
A friend was at a A show this weekend as was horrified to discover the hunter classis class had a brush box and a coop…all painted colors you find in nature. Horese has no idea what to do.
The thing to remember is that these horses all jumped big and high, might have hunted a few times a month, and had the hell hacked out of them. As a rule they were a bit corser (Not Think Twice’s horse) so they looked a bit less fancy, but that was the name of the game to keep them sound. You can’t really compare a hot house tomato and one grown in the field. The one from the hot house will look a lot better, but not taste as nice.
That is what I think when I ride a hunter today and one of the old goodies still out there. The older ones (and the young ones trained old school who now event, fox hunt) are not as pretty, but you know that you have a horse who jumps under you. When you close your leg at the base of a huge coop or log, I know that I am getting over it, because the horse knows how to jump a jump, not how to pose in the air.
I was a kid in the late 70’s early 80’s, and the picture of Think Twice was the kind that hung in the tack room as the ultiamte goal for any jump on any horse, on any footing.
Avery,
I rode with Davera in the summers of 1997-2000, and I remember her telling us that story! Thanks for the reminder, those pictures are phenominal!!!
Think Twice, I know everyone has said it before but…OMG that horse is to die for! The riding, jumps, and horse are all exquisite!
I wish I had pics of my Mom from the 60s-70s, she is always telling me stories of the big coups and roll tops of the Northern VA 1960s show circuit! The only pictures I could find in her things was one picture of her on the flat.
Hmmm, here is a 1953 photo showing a crest release.
[QUOTE=allanglos;2523422]
Hmmm, here is a 1953 photo showing a crest release.[/QUOTE]
Wow! :eek: Do you know who that is and where it was taken?
In the late 90’s/early 00’s my husband and I leased a barn in CT that was a popular place back in the 70’s and 80’s. While sifting thru the leftover jumps in an old barn on the property, we happened upon an exact replica of the “giant log jump”. It was daunting, it freaked out all of our students, our green horses eyeballs popped out of their heads, but damn it was fun to jump and once they got comfortable over that thing, nothing at a show looked scary!
MAN! These are all so cool! I wish I had an auto release like that…I’m working on it.
Good lord, where HAS she been showing??? Brush boxes and coops are still found in most hunter rings.
