You and the person from France, are so right. I guess what
you said is exactly what I was alluding to in my post, only I was too afraid to
be politically incorrect to come right out & say it.
I was a teenager in Chicago
35 years ago. I remember people waiting 3 hours
to rent a livery horse back then, it was so busy. Even tho I was lucky enough
to have a horse, my friends were the kids who took out the livery rides, (just
to have a chance to ride) because they didn’t have their own horse. &
I used to help out being a guide on those large rides even, as there was
sometimes 30+ people on a 1 hour rental trail ride, & the norm was 15
people.
Really! Every weekend it was like this for 4 years that I
boarded at that stable (Happy Day Stables in Norridge at Montrose &
Cumberland, for those who lived in Chicago
back then). At that time I lived in the first closest suburb outside Chicago & it was 2.5
miles from my house & I rode my bike there everyday, or walked in the snow.
My friends were there too, not at school. We used to call ourselves Barnies. There were 6 stables around there
in 1971. & each stable had a waiting list a year long to get into it, to board.
I remember Mr & Mrs Schmude owned one of those stables.
They showed Saddlebreds in the 1940s. They had a trophy room I saw once, the
notations on the trophies were from the biggest newspapers in Chicago as sponsors – the Chicago Tribune,
The Chicago Daily News. The shows were in downtown Chicago. Real Society Horse Shows back then. When
their stable closed they gave me one of those trophies. It was 3 feet tall.
In fact, I did some research in the origins of the bridle
paths in Chicago & Chicago’s lakefront paths that all the joggers now
use. I found a book about it in the Chgo library. They were built in the 1920s
by horsepeople’s political connections, money & drive, during the
depression era to give jobs to people. But, by 1975 all stables were gone &
replaced by shopping centers.
It funny (sad), they (the Cook County Forest Preserve
District) finally put up trail horse crossing signs at the most dangerous
intersections 2 years after all the stables had closed…
I had to move 26 miles round trip to the next nearest stable
(which is now also gone, I’ve heard – I left Chicago in 1992).
It seems it isn’t possible for kids nowadays to have
that nearness of a stable, & I’ve never seen those big rental rides
anymore anywhere even in Arizona,
since Happy Day.
I think the mindset of America has changed (I think for the
worse), & no average person even thinks about wanting to rent a horse for a
weekend 1 hour trail ride to have fun or take their girl on a date, etc.
By the time 1990 came around, I remember people saying to me
You have a Horse??? As if I owned
a dinosaur or something.
Sorry for the long post, I guess I’m just reminiscing
& sad how things have become…
