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By Root 1194 0

into whenever he started his rocking routine, so that eventually the horse learned to stand still. When he was on, he was unbeatable. Wayward Wind, the beautiful chestnut mare, was a good jumper, but Harry did not think she had the makings of a champion; she lacked a certain spark. He also saw potential in Night Arrest, a filly that belonged to one of his students. Like Sinjon, she was a talented handful—brilliant in flashes, but hard to ride. And, of course, there was Snowman, the implausible paddock jumper. He had scope, and personality in spades—but he was clumsy. Of all the horses in the barn, he was the least likely prospect. Harry planned to keep training him; maybe he could improve by spring. In the meantime, Snowy had gone back to lessons, taking the girls swimming and on trail rides; and as ever, he seemed to enjoy his life.

Harry had a winning summer season with Sinjon, leading in points for the green hunter championship. But at Sands Point, the week after North Shore, a judge pulled Harry aside and told him that the horse held his head too high and did not have the right manner to be a champion in the hunter division, where judging was based on a horse’s style. Harry was learning what it took to succeed in American horse shows. He understood jumpers, where the rules were clear-cut: a horse was penalized for hitting a fence or knocking one down; sometimes time was also an element. But hunter classes were like the talent portion of an equine beauty contest; the judges demanded a certain look as well as a good performance.

Harry felt sure that this touchy, erratic, hot-blooded horse had talent—and he wanted to give the bay gelding a chance to prove himself. Maybe Sinjon could compete in the jumper division; he was an excellent jumper with lots of spring, and in these classes no one would look at the way he carried his head. Only the ability to clear the fences would count.

But the short fall show season was nearly over now. The only horse shows left on the calendar were the top-flight competitions on the indoor circuit: Pennsylvania, Toronto, and the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden.

Harry pitched the idea to Sinjon’s owner, Mr. Dineen, the father of one of his students at Knox. The Pennsylvania and Toronto shows were too far away for Harry to make the trip. What if he tried out Sinjon at the National? It was a crazy idea. The National Horse Show was the top horse show in the country; called “the World Series of the horse show circuit,” it was on a par with the best shows in the world. The horse had never competed in a jumper class, so Harry would have to enter in the qualifying rounds that were open to all comers. Scores of horses were entered in a single class at the National; the qualifiers would compete in heats in the morning rounds. Each day, only the top twelve horses would make it to the nighttime championships, where they would compete under spotlights in front of a glittering crowd that numbered in the tens of thousands.

Maybe Mr. Dineen liked the young horseman’s outsized confidence—Harry could not get a whole week off from work, but he got permission to take Sinjon to the National to compete for a few days.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Entry was a long shot—not likely to lead to anything. Mr. Dineen and his daughter Eileen would be up in the stands watching. Harry vowed to do his best and make Sinjon’s owner think the trip had been worthwhile.

The seventy-fourth annual National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden opened on November 5, 1957, with its usual fanfare. The show brought together the top equine competitors from the four corners of the country, and from all over the world. In an era when horse transportation was difficult and most competitions were regional events, the National Horse Show attracted horses and riders from the Midwest and the West Coast, as well as six or seven international teams. The international teams, limited to amateurs, would vie against one another for the glory of their countries. In the open jumper division, only the top American professionals