{"id":5004313,"date":"2017-12-13T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/time.com\/?p=5004313"},"modified":"2020-01-14T15:14:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T15:14:19","slug":"horse-photographs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mane Event: LIFE’s 25 Most Memorable Horses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horses are majestic creatures who have played many roles in American culture. They’re athletes (Seabiscuit), movie stars (National Velvet<\/em>), military troops, and farm workers\u2014not to mention beloved companions. In one 1952 gimmick, a horse that supposedly possessed clairvoyant powers even composed a headline for a LIFE story about herself. (She was clairvoyant, but not creative: the headline was “Talking Horse.”)<\/p>\n

To celebrate horses now and then, here’s a look back at 25 of the most memorable horses in LIFE’s pages.<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n \"Polo\n
\n

Polo ponies at the Peachtree Ranch in Texas, 1939.<\/p>\n

Carl Mydans The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Championship\n
\n

Championship horse Seabiscuit after winning the Santa Anita Handicap, 1940.<\/p>\n

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Doctor\n
\n

A doctor listened to a horse’s heart at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, 1940.<\/p>\n

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Moroccan\n
\n

A Moroccan soldier of the French expeditionary force held the General’s Arabian horse, 1940.<\/p>\n

Margaret Bourke-White The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"A\n
\n

A stallion tried to make friends with a barn cat, 1943.<\/p>\n

Hansel Mieth The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"These\n
\n

A man watched his work horse drink from a water trough, 1944.<\/p>\n

Fritz Goro The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Elizabeth\n
\n

Elizabeth Taylor posed with a saddle horse after her smash movie debut in “National Velvet,” 1945.<\/p>\n

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Boys\n
\n

These boys rode their horse to school, 1946.<\/p>\n

Bernard Hoffman The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Lucky\n
\n

A lucky horse joined the roulette action in Las Vegas, 1947.<\/p>\n

Jon Brenneis The LIFE Images Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Gene\n
\n

Gene Autry, astride his horse Champion, surveyed his Ranch, 1948.<\/p>\n

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Foreman\n
\n

The foreman of the JA Ranch, Clarence, Hailey Long, sat with his horse, 1949.<\/p>\n

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Mrs.\n
\n

Mary Breckenridge ran the Frontier Nursing Service in Leslie Country, Kentucky, 1949.<\/p>\n

Eliot Elisofon The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \""Lady\n
\n

“Lady Wonder,” a clairvoyant 27 year old talking horse, could count and spell its name by tipping over lettered panels, 1952.<\/p>\n

Hank Walker The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Child\n
\n

This child could look his miniature horse in the eye, 1952.<\/p>\n

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Baby\n
\n

Baby horses scampered down the stretch at Los Alamitos track, 1952.<\/p>\n

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"In\n
\n

The horse sailed gracefully toward its tank in Atlantic City, N.J., 1953.<\/p>\n

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Midget\n
\n

Midget thoroughbred filly, Big Bertha, and her mother on Woodland farm, 1954.<\/p>\n

Lisa Larsen The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"6\n
\n

A six-year-old cowboy learned how to shoe a horse, 1954.<\/p>\n

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Young\n
\n

This young girl rode her pony as a colt followed, 1956.<\/p>\n

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \""Misty\n
\n

“Misty of Chincoteague,” a wild horse, indulged before returning home to Chincoteague Island, 1957.<\/p>\n

Grey Villet The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Harness\n
\n

Harness racing at the All-Russia horse show at the Hippodrome, 1958.<\/p>\n

Howard Sochurek The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Trader\n
\n

Trader Horn nuzzled a young friend at Roosevelt Raceway, 1959.<\/p>\n

Donald Uhrbrock The LIFE Images Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Israeli\n
\n

Israeli children of the Habad sect at a farm village, 1960.<\/p>\n

Paul Schutzer The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Troika\n
\n

A troika race at Hippodrome, 1963.<\/p>\n

Stan Wayman The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n
\n \"Jimmy\n
\n

Jimmy the horse rollerskated in front of his farm, 1963.<\/p>\n

Joseph Scherschel The LIFE Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t say neigh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31476327,"featured_media":5004343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[252,838],"class_list":["post-5004313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","tag-animals","tag-horses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNational Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nowhere is the vital role of the horse in American culture clearer than in the archive of LIFE Magazine's great 20th century photography.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nowhere is the vital role of the horse in American culture clearer than in the archive of LIFE Magazine's great 20th century photography.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-13T09:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-14T15:14:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2017\/10\/best-life-horses-19.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1606\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Mane Event: LIFE’s 25 Most Memorable Horses\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T09:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-14T15:14:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\"},\"wordCount\":89,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2017\/10\/best-life-horses-19.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"animals\",\"horses\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Animals\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\",\"name\":\"National Day of the Horse: 25 Vintage Horse Photographs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2017\/10\/best-life-horses-19.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T09:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-14T15:14:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Nowhere is the vital role of the horse in American culture clearer than in the archive of LIFE Magazine's great 20th century photography.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/animals\/horse-photographs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2017\/10\/best-life-horses-19.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2017\/10\/best-life-horses-19.jpg\",\"width\":2405,\"height\":1606,\"caption\":\"Robert W. 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