Did you know that Atlantic City, New Jersey, may see the return of the “Diving Horse Show” popularized there in the 1940s through late ’60s? It may seem odd, but the owners of the Steel Pier, which was once an iconic family entertainment destination, are bringing the act back, as part of their revitalization plan for the Pier.
If you’ve watched the movie, “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,” you’ll know the most famous of the divers was Sonora Webster Carver, who rode the diving horses for nearly a full 20 years, from 1923 to 1942.
While the show travelled around North America in the early years, it became a permanent fixture at the Steel Pier from 1929 on. At the age of 27, in 1931, Sonora was blinded with a retinal detachment, attributed to hitting the water with her eyes open, perhaps just once, or perhaps, one too many times. While she herself may have lost her sight she always insisted that the horses loved the dives as much as she did, and were in no way ever harmed, or for that matter, forced to jump.
She came into this incredible line of work by replying to a newspaper ad looking for girls who were “not afraid of heights and willing to travel.” Here’s a film clip of her.
The Diving Horse Show was invented by Dr. (Doc) W. F. Carver, who also had ties with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Many different stories circulate on how Dr. Carver came up with the idea, but the most popular is that one day he was riding across a bridge, which collapsed and sent him and his horse into the river below. The horse “dove” into the water and they swam safely to shore. This made him wonder if horses could be taught to dive, and the act was conceived.
Sonora signed on at the age of 20, and her sister, Arnette followed in her footsteps a few years later at the age of 15. The act was a great sensation of the times.
Sonora’s 1961 autobiography, “A Girl and Five Horses”, was the inspiration for the 1991 film. The diving horses were the iconic attraction at the Pier until being dicontinued in the ’60s following complaints from animal-rights activists.
A little known fact is Sonora was disappointed in the movie. Her sister, Arnette, remarked in a 1997 New York Times article by Bill Kent:
“They weren’t so truthful about the facts in that movie, either. My sister was so disappointed in it. I remember her turning to me in the theater after we saw it, and her saying, ‘the only thing true in it was that I rode diving horses, I went blind and I continued to ride for another 11 years.’’
She felt the Disney movie was over-romanticized. As her sister explained, “The movie made a big deal about having the courage to go on riding after she lost her sight,” she said. “But, the truth was, riding the horse was the most fun you could have and we just loved it so. We didn’t want to give it up. Once you were on the horse, there really wasn’t much to do but hold on. The horse was in charge.”
She also commented on the welfare of the horses in the same article.
“What impressed me was how Dr. Carver [manager of the horse diving act, and later, husband of Sonora] cared for the horses,” Arnette said. “Wherever we went, the S.P.C.A. was always snooping around, trying to find if we were doing anything that was cruel to animals. They never found anything because those horses lived the life of Riley. In all the years of the act, there was never a horse that was injured.”
The challenge for the riders, Arnette explained, was to remember “to keep your head tucked down to one side, so that when the horse raised his head as he jumped up at the bottom of the pool, you wouldn’t get smacked in the face.”
Apparently, the sisters lived the life of Riley as well. Arnette was 84 when she gave this interview in 1997, and her famous sister Sonora, died just a few months short of 100.
While Sonora may have downplayed her own courage, I’ve always seen these adventurous diving horse sisters from our history as spirited and inspirational.
This is the latest version, recently renovated on a chilly Saturday a few weekends ago, when the weather was just too vicious to bear much outside time, and reorganizing the kitchen shelves somehow didn’t hold the same appeal.
There’s a photo of myself cutting to remind me how much I love this sport, and inspire a return to it. Below it is tacked a poem Teenager wrote about my cutting mare, Iggy. Have I ever told you my Teenager is an amazing poet? She would probably prefer I let you know that the poem pictured above was written many years ago, not in her current senior high school year.
There’s the roots corner – an old drawing, the farm, my beloved barn, the chicken house. My mom, over a very many years nurtured hundreds of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys whose lives began in that tiny outbuilding. That long twig-like object is a vintage piece of tinsel, derived of foil and an incredibly fragile and thin glass. It once graced our Christmas tree.
Wee composes the odd poem as well, and this one is adorned with a couple of shots of my Dad. Those two were a pair – Wee and my father.
It just so happens I was recently scrounging through the Western Horse Review storage locker and discovered a box of goodies we really should think about dispersing, including a stack of Corb Lund’s vintage Hair on my Eyes Like a Highland Steer, which we’ve apparently been hoarding since 2005(?). Come to think of it, the photo on this CD cover illustrates an inspiration wall. As incentive to get you thinking about your inspiration board, and what is, or might be on it, we’ll do a random draw amongst the comments below and give away one of Corb’s CD’s.
While the horse-crowd favourite – Buck, the film about Buck Branaman’s life – did not make the short list of Oscar-nominated documentaries, a pair of Calgarian film-makers, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, were nominated for their whimsical, short animated film about a young Englishman who emigrates to Canada to become a rancher in Alberta.
It’s a rather forgotten part of our Alberta history – the remittance men who were sent here. A colorful aspect of our Canadian West.
I snapped it several years ago at one of my favorite locations in the world – Key West, Florida. For 10 days that beach was mine. I owned that hammock. Life was calm. Warm. And, simple. Man, I miss that beach right now.
• Nearly two years ago, we ran 
• Results, pictures and interviews from both the Team Roping Futurity and the Canadian Snaffle Bit Futurity, both held during Northland’s recent Farmfair.
• Winter chores the old-fashioned way is the theme of the photographic essay in this issue’s Out West. 
• Our health feature follow up on EHV – what top equine health professionals are advising as move-forward strategies. And leading Thoroughbred breeder and therapeutic equine care center – the impressive Bar None Ranches is featured in Horse Farm. 
This week, I admired these photographs by Montreal photographer, Irene Suchocki. Currently the top-selling photographer on Etsy, I’m in love with her series capturing the gentle nature and graceful power of the 
. . . attending the 
. . . and the seasoned cutting horse sale on Saturday.
You might remember this horse. The six-year-old Pepto Taz gelding, ridden by Randy Holman, which won the Classic Challenge at last year’s Canadian Supreme with an amazing 150 run, and returned this year to capture the championship again on the Saturday night with a 146.5. He sold at this sale for $54,000.
Saturday morning was also the Stallion Avenue, always a barn aisle-packed event and a great way to start off the final day of the week. I apologize for the photo . . but I just couldn’t help including it. I’d love to meet the creative brain behind this artwork, hilarious!
Earlier in the trip, we headed out to Weatherford, Cutting Capital of the World. . .
. . . and visited with Ian Chisholm at his place. Ian and Peggy have a beautiful ranch, just up on a rise a bit, incredibly functional, with gorgeous views of the Texas hills. The horses at Ian’s always seem content and quiet to me.
On our way back to Fort Worth, we stopped at 
Just to change it up, we rented a house on 
We headed to the historic Fort Worth Stockyards for some shopping.
And dinner at 
And then, there was the cutting.
Incredible cutting.
I have to thank my friend, Karyn for taking these photos. I was being lazy about hauling my camera around so she stepped in and snapped some fine shots of the action.
What a finals.
When RFD-TV bought Roy Roger’s original stuffed Trigger for $266,000, back in the spring at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum auction, I didn’t expect I’d run into him here. It was a cool display, fun photo op, and I’m glad Trigger is still getting out and thrilling modern day crowds.
The Hipstamtic, with it’s old-fashioned analog feel will remind you of your old Polaroid. Sort of. It’s much more, actually. With it’s wide range of film and options, be prepared to transform your shot into whatever mood or vintage flavor you’d like to impart it with.
I took both of these Arizona shots within a minute of each other while riding.
. . . and, I’ve tortured countless teenagers with it . . . including my own.
I love this effect, but I haven’t quite mastered it, this being my best try at it thus far. Here’s 
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