Diving horse
Encyclopedia
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
would dive into a pool of water, sometimes from as high as 60 feet up.
History
William "Doc" CarverWilliam Frank Carver
William Frank "Doc" Carver was a late 19th century sharpshooter and creator of a popular diving horse attraction. He was born at Winslow, Illinois, to William Daniel Carver, a physician, and Deborah Tohapenes Carver . The parents had migrated to Illinois from Pennsylvania in 1849...
"invented" the idea of horse diving exhibitions. Allegedly, in 1881 Carver was crossing a bridge over Platte River
Platte River
The Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to...
(Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
) which partially collapsed. His horse fell/dived into the waters below, inspiring Carver to develop the diving horse act. Carver trained various animals and went on tour. His son, Al Carver constructed the ramp and tower and his daughter Lorena Carver was the first rider. Sonora Webster Carver
Sonora Webster Carver
Sonora Webster Carver, February 2, 1904-September 20, 2003, was an American entertainer, most notable as one of the first female horse divers. Webster answered an ad placed by William "Doc" Carver in 1923 for a diving girl and soon earned a place in circus history...
, William "Doc" Carver's daughter-in-law, joined the show in 1924. The show became a permanent fixture at Atlantic City's very popular venue, Steel Pier
Steel Pier
Steel Pier is a amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, located opposite The Boardwalk from Trump Taj Mahal.The pier was owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts until 2011, when it was sold to the Catanoso Family under the "Steel Pier Associates, LLC" name. The Catanosos previously leased the...
. There, Doc Carver's daughters and daughter-in-law continued the show following his death.
In 1931, Sonora Webster Carver
Sonora Webster Carver
Sonora Webster Carver, February 2, 1904-September 20, 2003, was an American entertainer, most notable as one of the first female horse divers. Webster answered an ad placed by William "Doc" Carver in 1923 for a diving girl and soon earned a place in circus history...
and her horse "Red Lips" lost their balance on the platform. Sonora survived the fall, but was blinded (caused by detached retina
Retina
The vertebrate retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...
s in both eyes). She continued horse-diving while blind. In 1991, Disney released a film titled Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken based on Webster's life and her memoir A Girl and Five Brave Horses
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
A Girl and Five Brave Horses is a memoir by Sonora Webster Carver published in 1961. It inspired the Disney film Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken which is based on, but does not exactly follow, the book. At the age of 20, Sonora Webster Carver joined William Frank Carver's Wild West Show which...
.
Animal rights
The shows received very strong criticisms of animal rightsAnimal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
abuses, which contributed to the decline of its popularity after World War 2. The horses sometimes dove four times a day, seven days a week. There are allegations of using prods, electrical jolts, and trap doors to get unwilling horses to dive.
See also
- Wild Hearts Can't Be BrokenWild Hearts Can't Be BrokenWild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is a 1991 film about Sonora Webster Carver, a rider of diving horses. It is based on events in her life as told in her memoir A Girl and Five Brave Horses...
film - Aquatic locomotionAquatic locomotionSwimming is biologically propelled motion through a liquid medium. Swimming has evolved a number of times in a range of organisms ranging from arthropods to fish to molluscs.-Evolution of swimming:...
- Steel PierSteel PierSteel Pier is a amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, located opposite The Boardwalk from Trump Taj Mahal.The pier was owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts until 2011, when it was sold to the Catanoso Family under the "Steel Pier Associates, LLC" name. The Catanosos previously leased the...
- A Girl and Five Brave HorsesA Girl and Five Brave HorsesA Girl and Five Brave Horses is a memoir by Sonora Webster Carver published in 1961. It inspired the Disney film Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken which is based on, but does not exactly follow, the book. At the age of 20, Sonora Webster Carver joined William Frank Carver's Wild West Show which...
External links
Images
- From steel-pier.com - http://www.steel-pier.com/DivingHorse.jpg http://www.steel-pier.com/gamal.jpg http://www.steel-pier.com/upeE0C1.jpg
- From petticoated.com - http://www.petticoated.com/pdqwinter04/otherdocs/divinghorsepanoramaW04.JPGhttp://www.petticoated.com/pdqwinter04/otherdocs/divinghorse1W04.JPG
- http://www.creationsdivinghorse.com/english/why.htm
- http://collections.ic.gc.ca/wjoliver/photobank/16-417.htm
- http://www.cityofatlanticcity.org/historical/gallery/pages/gamal_jpg.htm
