Letters to the Editor: A World Without Horses

To David Heckerman's thought-provoking list of Defining Developments might be added another profound change which has occurred in the years since your first visit to Ellis Park.

Six decades ago, most Americans had some familiarity with equines of many breeds, not only in the countryside but in towns and cities. This was becoming increasingly rare, of course, but, as a youngster in the 1950s, I remember horse-drawn ice wagons on the streets of New York, and carriage horses and riding stables on the West Side. (Interestingly, television Westerns were at the height of their popularity through the 1960s, until they, too, galloped off into the sunset.)

But most important was the familiarity with the sights, sounds and smells of living equines. and the understanding of their strength, fragility, and contribution to the world they shared with humankind. People flocked to the racetrack for the gambling, yes, but also for the love of the sport and the extraordinary living creatures at its core. Many people do today, of course, but in numbers that have plummeted.

What a challenge it must be to “market” Thoroughbred racing to a majority population that, for two generations at least, has lived in a world without horses.

Michael Burns
Cambus-Kenneth Farm
Danville, KY