and I attended P. S. 236 at Mill Basin in the 50's. I started first grade with Mrs. Rose in 1945. I lived on East 72nd Street, half a block from Avenue U. My old duplex home is still standing. It was so sad to learn of the stable fire. I kept my first paint horse, "Cherokee" there in 1956-57. I began riding at the stable next door "Ryan's Riding Academy" where learned English Horsemanship and jumping by a tough trainer Mike Ryan. He and his wife also ran a luncheonette right down the street. I also exercised race horses there for a Japanese trainer who stabled his mounts at Carroll's Stables across the street. Jamaica Race Track was still open at that time, but these horses raced at Aqueduct, later Belmont. I rode them on the flats at low tide on Jamaica Bay beach, taking care not to have my chargers fall over the migrating horseshoe crabs. The water was not polluted. I swam under the Mill Basin Drawbridge and dug for clams at the beach there. We also swam in Padergaat Basin, bordering Canarsie. We could ride to Canarsie over the landfill which are now houses, so we could avoid sneaking our horses over the bridge. NY's finest didn't like us to ride on the pedestrian walkway on the Belt Parkway. We did it anyway. It was a wonderful time and a wonderful place to grow up!
I used to ride at the Bergen Beach stables in the mid-1960's. The owners were Charlie and Bernice. The head wrangler was a guy named Whitey, who said he was from, I think, Oklahoma. He owned a gray quarter-horse named Shorty, who was very "hoppy," as we used to say, and just always wanted to GO. Shorty was the fastest thing I ever saw in a quarter of a mile. You didn't kick him or make any clucking sounds,you just loosened contact with the reins, and leaned up out of the saddle ever so slightly, and he was gone with the wind. I have so many great memories of BB stables. Would love to hear any memories people may have.
ReplyDeleteNext door to Bergen was, of course, Ryan's stable. We all used to saythat Ryan was for the rich people. Their stables did look a whole lot better than Bergen did, but we loved ours. I remember a man in his 80's, named Dr. Stack who used to ride at Ryans. I cannot remember the name of his horse, but it was a true dark beauty. Dr. Stack had been surgeon for the NYPD mounted unit, and when he retired they presented him with an official NYPD bridle which he used. It was gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI was "pusher" at Bergens, though we preferred the title "escort rider." We would take 30-40 riders out, maybe 3 pushers swinging shanks to keep the horses in a pack, take them out to the deadwood just past the first overpass, and stop them for a rest maybe 10 mins. Then turn them around and head to the barn.Needles to say the ride back was livelier than the ride out.
ReplyDeleteI rode at Carols as a child. My friend Jay Rogoff and I rode so often we never needed a pusher. Time takes all but memories......
ReplyDeleteI was a friend of the Carol family Who on the riding academy. I was a pusher and enjoy those days And memories.
ReplyDeleteI went on in my writing career to fox hunting and show jumping. What is listed with United States equestrian team. Well thanks to Brooklyn.