Coree Reuter

Laura Goldman, 66, the fourth-placed finisher in the 1a individual test at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games last fall, suffered a setback in her journey to the 2012 Para-Olympics when she slipped and fell in her kitchen in early February, breaking her hip.

“It was an unfortunate glitch in her training plan,” said Hope Hand, President of the U.S. Para-Equestrian Association. “We all have these disappointing interruptions, but it’s a dream of hers, and she’ll get there. She has such a positive outlook, and we’re excited to see what her future will bring.”

When Tucker Johnson drove his horses through the final gate at the final obstacle in the final marathon of his career at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, he stood up in his carriage and saluted the crowd. After 25 years of competing at the highest levels of combined driving, Johnson was finally hanging up his whip.

“Tucker has been a real showman and a real promoter of the sport, and there’s something
in his personality that really attracts and appeals to the crowd,” said Edward Young, the chef
d’equipe of the U.S. combined driving team.

The dictionary defines versatile as: capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc. Bold Minstrel was the poster boy of versatile.

Born in 1952 in Camargo, Ohio, Bold Minstrel was by Thoroughbred stallion Bold And Bad out of Wallise Simpson, who was the result of a test breeding of an unknown mare to a young Royal Minstrel. William “Billy” Haggard III purchased Bold Minstrel as a 5-year-old.

“Horses and I have always understood each other,” said Sallie Sexton in a 1996 Chronicle interview. “Which is why I can still take the youngsters in the ring and stand them up. I only shake my bat at them and tell them to behave, and they listen. I listen to them too–we communicate with each other.”

A lot has changed since 1937 at the Chronicle. We’ve moved buildings, switched from typewriters to computers, film to digital cameras, black and white to color, and even dropped some disciplines from our coverage and added new ones. Advertising, despite its own changes in trend and style, has remained an integral part of our magazine since the beginning.

A star was born in 1926. But she didn’t know that one day she’d be regarded as one of the greatest event horses of all time. Back then Jenny Camp was merely concerned with frolicking about in the lush, green fields of the U.S. Army Remount Station in Front Royal, Va.

You can’t deny that there’s something a bit magical about a merry-go-round.

Sure, now that I’ve grown up it’s not as fun to ride one of the dancing horses that seem to plunge and leap as the carousel spins around to outdated organ music, but when I was a kid? Oh man. I always wanted to ride the prettiest horse I could find, preferably on the outside so I could grab the ring as I went flying by and throw it at the opening a few feet further down the track.

I was one of those kids who’d snoop for Christmas presents every year. By the time I was 10, I knew every single hiding place in our house—from my parent’s closet, to the craft room, to the downstairs coat closet way back behind the moving boxes that had been there since before I was born—it was pretty hard to keep a secret from me!

“Many kids would rather ride on the back of a horse… than pilot a spaceship to the moon.” – Walter Farley

I must have read Walter Farley’s Man O’War a million times when I was a kid. I pored over the pages so much that by the time the book finally found a more permanent home on my bookshelf—its spine worn and creased in comparison to the shiny hardbacks that flanked it—it was easy enough to tell which one was my favorite.

“I'm really thankful to have a couple of days off for Thanksgiving to RIDE my horse!” Susan Lee, Advertising

The inspiration for this blog burst into existence like a bright pop of a camera flash, illuminating the dusty corners of my desk and shedding light on the struggle I’d had with trying to think of what to write about for Thanksgiving.