For 100 Years, Horse Diving Was A Thing, And Was Every Bit Crazy As It Sounds

Cowboy State Daily ^ | APRIL 20, 2024 | Jake Nichols

[Libloather]

Saw one at some NJ beach back in the day.

[rlmorel]

I will take sides in this. The horses appeared to love doing it. The same people who would be outraged by horse diving are outraged by horse racing.

And the horses DEFINITELY love to race against other horses.

Okay, I have taken “a side”!

[nwrep]

I love it. Would have loved to see it live.

[4yearlurker]

Saw the diving horse and rider a few times circa 1970 at Atlantic City. The show was at the very end of Steel Pier. First there was a clown act with guys doing a slapstick style routine with bicycles (with ropes tied to them) falling in the ocean and pushing each other with acrobatics. The diving horse and rider went up by elevator and the horse took his time and finally took the jump and almost splashed the above ground pool dry. They filled the pool with sea water using fire hoses for the next act.

[4yearlurker]

I will also say that the color picture of the diving horse from 1978 is completely different from the times I saw the act. The diving platform was on the other side of the pool and there was a big boxy elevator to take them up. Once on top the piece of plywood opened down and that became the platform the horse walked out on.

[iontheball]

The horses appeared to love doing it.
______________________________
I’m not so sure the horse ‘loved’ doing it, but some dog’s are known as water dogs so there may be horses that don’t mind diving in water as well. After all, some horses are quite acrobatic. Doing it safely would be a real concern for me. Whatever, the horse showed perfect grace in executing the dive. I was not aware of horse diving.

[bunkerhill7]

Nuttin New ....around 1757? Gen. Israel Putnam horsedived off a cliff near Whitehall, NY to escape some Indians.

[Bon of Babble]

Yes, horses that launched themselves from 60-foot wooden scaffolding

From the photos it doesn't look like the horses "launched themselves" - it looks like the platform was collapsed underneath them and they had no choice in the matter.

[Carriage Hill]

Glad I missed those years of horse diving. Oh wait, I arrived in 1949, but don’t remember any of that crazy stuff.

[ameribbean expat]

http://www.lostparks.com/aquafair.html

[Red Badger]

They were mainly at rodeos, fairs, circuses and carnivals....................

[wardaddy]

What’s the downhill horse race Indians do

That is hard on horse and rider

South Dakota maybe?

[Bob434]

Gone are the good old days where horses that wanted to dive could do so until some Karen decided they didn’t like seeing it. Poor horses had to live the rest of their miserable lives in a stall somewhere with nothing but fond memories of the past life.

[fini]

You cannot get a horse to do something that it doesn't want to do. It may not like it, but it is willing to do it. I was in the Marine Corps and I did a lot of things that I did not like, but I was willing to do it.

It has been my very limited experience that show animals are treated very very well. Usually having a very close bond with their rider.

[SunkenCiv]

I miss that pal o' mine (oh?).

[rlmorel]

The first time I had EVER seen a horse do anything like that was in the movie “Hildago” (I think, but I might be mistaking it for a scene in “Second Hand Lion”) which had a guy back in, I guess in the 1880’s or 1890’s, a fictional account based loosely on the legendary long distance rider of mixed white and Lakota descent, Frank T. Hopkins, who in the movie, travels with his mustang Hildago to compete against the Arabs in a cross-desert race.

In one scene, and it could have been (and probably was) CGI, where the horse Hildago, with Frank Hopkins riding (Played by Viggo Mortensen) leaps from the wall of a castle into water below, an astonishing height, and I thought “No horse would do that!”

But...apparently they do!

Both “Second Hand Lion” and “Hildago” are very entertaining movies!

[rlmorel]

Horses are pretty amazing.

In wars, they apparently would, most of the time with little hesitation, do what their riders asked them to do, simply because being pack animals with the leader of the pack riding their back...do what was asked of them!

(This is just supposition from someone who has only ridden but never owned a horse!)

[Mr Rogers]

You don’t MAKE a horse do something like that. You train them it is possible and take the ones who enjoy it and progress. But if someone has ever tried to load a reluctant horse into a horse trailer, you KNOW they have a vote!

[Mr Rogers]

” it looks like the platform was collapsed underneath them and they had no choice in the matter.”

Nope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfMRAzB-hnA