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By Root 1245 0

which would be covered on live national TV. The coming of television to the National Horse Show in 1957 did not make a notable change to the spirit of the event. One of the greatest international equestrian competitions in the world had always been run as a decidedly amateur affair. Spectators came out in droves, but no attempt was made to cater to the crowd. The most popular classes, the open jumper classes, often ran late into the night, the jump-offs sometimes going until one or two o’clock in the morning. The program was famed for dragging on, with lags between each class as dignitaries jostled to get their pictures taken for the society pages. The television, like the spectators up in the cheap seats, could peek in and admire, but no nod was made to ever pretend that the show was for them.

Harry did not get caught up in the hoopla of the event. He had a job to do, and that was to ride Sinjon in the jumper classes. The life upstairs, where society swells posed for the Vanity Fair photographers, did not concern him. Harry did not expect to make it out of morning elimination, and in the first class, Sinjon, spooked by the strange sounds and smells at the Garden, put in a lackluster performance. He was not selected to perform in the evening round. Harry sat in the stands, high up in the cheap seats, and watched the chosen warriors battle it out. With his trained eye, he carefully sized up the competition. These horses were seasoned competitors—all sleek and beautiful, all bred to be equine athletes. Harry believed that Sinjon could vie against these horses, but the courses at the National were tough, nothing like the ones Sinjon had been competing on over the summer. The fences were high, the ring was small, and the crowds were noisy and distracting. Sure, Sinjon could jump fences like this back in the practice ring at Knox, but horses who were used to the big indoor shows had a huge advantage. For a moment, Harry imagined that he was under the spotlights riding Snowman. The thought made him smile. The big plow horse probably wouldn’t mind the lights and the crowds, but Harry could practically hear the hoots of laughter that would greet their entry to the ring—the entire picture was so incongruous.

The next day, Sinjon was calmer, more settled. A new class was starting, and Harry had another shot. This time, Sinjon completed a clean round. On only his second time out, they had qualified for the nighttime class. That night, Harry would be facing off against some of the most seasoned performers on the circuit.

The experience of riding at night in one of the big indoor shows is like no other. The sights, sounds, and smells in the huge arena, under the lights, were completely foreign to a horse from a small rural barn. To get to the ring in Madison Square Garden, a horse had to be led from the stables up a steep wooden ramp. Adjacent to the stables, also on the lower level, was a cramped schooling area. It was narrow and crowded, filled with hotheaded horses weaving in and out. The schooling fences were set up in the center, with grooms in khakis standing by to adjust their heights, some holding broomsticks to rap the horses’ legs as they headed toward the jumps, an illegal practice that some trainers believed made their horses sharp. Upstairs, the horses due up next waited in a narrow corridor. Beyond a high gate, the arena was hidden from view, its interior glimpsed only briefly each time the gate swung open to let a competitor in or out. Once inside the gate, the horse beheld a spectacle. The footing was soft, rumored to be the same dirt used for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and many savvy old grooms spread Vicks VapoRub in their horses’ nostrils to block the scent—common folk wisdom had it that the horses were afraid of the smell of circus elephants’ droppings.

The arena in the Garden was smaller than most, with tight corners, giving the horses little room to maneuver. A walkway known as the promenade surrounded the ring; there, for generations, high-society New Yorkers had circled the arena, chatting with other box